hi all...managed to snap a few pixs of my tank and some of it's inhabitants the other night and thought I'd share 'em....comments welcome!!

300lt African community tank, 405 fluval which is keeping the water pretty sweet....30% water change weekly and all the tests are bang on! will be adding to the rock work in the next wee while just been flat out on other projects.

someone was asking about these blokes a few weeks back? they are just starting to colour up and are pretty neat fish in my opinion. Anyone know of any 5-6cm fems available???

Mum

Dad

one of Johannes + Lynn's offspring....coming along very nicely thank you!!!!!

from the reading and general opinion these fellas get pretty stroppy?....so far they would be even mellower than the E.Yellas?

anyhoo...work to do.

Great tank setup !

How big are the Greshakei now ? That male is coloring up nicely !

Great job!

Nice looking fish - and tank. Well done!

Very nice looking fish and tank congrats Watch all the zebra's mixing and the potential for hybrids/aggression, have known a few people who got rid of ice blues out of 6ft tanks because they destroyed everything.. However you only have mbuna so you might be lucky..

Demasoni, they are generally only nasty to their own type mine are little pussy cats even when breeding to every other fish but if any other other demasoni come near watch out!

cheers y'all!.....appreciate all the advice when getting set up a few months back!

Hi ya Lynn.....they'd be around the 4cm mark i'd guess....and also colouring up nicely....will try and snap a pix or two this evening.....brilliant orange fins and dark blue bodies....awesome contrast!

I LOVE IT...excellent job Kezza

Caper

very nice 2 bad mine looks like cra*p compared to that!

Fish & tank look awesome, well done

thanks for all the positive feedback!!

probably a newbie question that I've manage to overlook but the only algae the tank supports appears to be "brown"? is this OK for Mbuna?

I'm using the tubes that came with the set up...one is "blue" and the other is "yellow".....ol' bluey is on pretty much 10-12 hours per day and I very rarely employ the yellow as the blue one really sets the tank off nicely from a aesthetic point of view.

any advice appreciated.

Do you have any catfish or anything in there?

I don't think the mbuna will munch away at the brown algae, your red top should though because thats what they're designed to do.. It shouldn't affect anything just look ugly (some would say it looks natural) its over to you really..

thanks.....no catfish! should I?? and what sort?

All of the fish in the tank often "graze" over the schist which has the brown algae...as per the pixs....I don't mind it and is easy enough to keep the glass clean, but if there is something I can/should do to not promote it's growth I'm all ears...

Is green algae a better source of fodder for the little tike's?

where'd you get all your big rocks in the top pic from?

Hollywood Fishfarm.....something like $10 each

i need to find a few like that

Evening...a few pix of my tank inhabitants!

A few of these are showing up at feed time?.....guess they passed the test of natural selection...good strong genes these suckers!!!

Liking the way these huas are colouring up....striking!

Dems getting down tonight!

this fella has been working the room tonight!!

still looking for a couple (3) females?...anyone?.....currently have 2 males, 1 female.....not good odds.....keen but always getting interupted!

nice looking fish

Loking good Kezza

WOW The Borleyi are fantastic, and so very Red ! They are doing so well! great to see !

Great looking setup African setups are better than viewing television I reckon (unless Nip/Tuck is on) :lol:

Congrats on your tank anyway, can only get better when your fellows pack on some size

thanks ladies and gents.....

I think what spurred on a hefty dose of "getting jiggy" with it in the tank over the last 24 hours is yesterday I broke the tank down and got rid of all the brown algae that had formed on the schist and rearranged the rock work plus a good o'l 50% water change...t'was like dumping an industrial size quantity of viagra in to the thing!

As Afrikan said the TV didn't even get switched on last night...soo much going on!!

Anyhoo quick question....at what stage do juvenile Africans turn in to mature adults?

From our experience.

It all depends on individual fish For example Crytocara moorii are supposed to mature at 2 years, but I have 3 females 6-7cm that are breeding at about 1 year of age !

At about 8cm from mabuns , I have seen Peacocks breed at 5-6cm and have had E yellow's holding at 5cm

Just depends !

:lol:

Yeah depends on breeding how they were brought up how they stand int he tank etc etc etc..

I dont think anyone can put a time frame or size on it..

As mentioned blue dolphins are supposed to take ages to mature and its been true for me and others we've had them for years and had no luck got them to a huge size but some are breeding them at like 7-8cm's half the size of mine and mine have only just started to breed..

thanks for info....appreciate it!

a couple of my P.socolofi have bred successfully and the females would be no bigger than 5cms.

Great to hear !

I personally think if the condition are right they will breed when they ready.

Keep us informed on the progress.

those are my newbie thunks as well Lynn....when the conditions are right they do their thang!!

also happened to stumble across 3 Redtop females at Jansen's (3 Kings) this morning that just had to come home with me....very helpful and friendly bunch down there as it happens

so have introduced them to the tank and all is good with the world.

Was also given a bunch of "Marble Peacock" fry which are in my holding tank and doing well...mostly hugging the substrate but most are also going for the odd swim about the joint.....I don't know much about these....any advise appreciated?