Ktttk Posted January 7, 2008 Report Share Posted January 7, 2008 hi all, I decided to turn one of my tanks into an African setup and have gone with malawi species. The tank is a tall 3 foot tank and holds about 200L. The substrate is silica sand. I decided to use bricks for the rock work as I managed to find some at placemakers for 50 cents each! For the plants, I have used a few bunches of Java fern. Filtration: A Fluval 304 and an Aqua one CF 1000. Stocking: 15 Yellow labs 20 Demasonis 6 Aulonocara baenschi and a few GBAs. I am really enjoying the vibrant colours of this tank at the moment and look forward to observing how the behaviour of the fishes develop and change as they mature. Some are already establishing territories and mini territorial disputes are breaking out every now and then. Thanks for viewing. Hope you all enjoyed it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antwan Posted January 7, 2008 Report Share Posted January 7, 2008 very cool Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cichlid7 Posted January 7, 2008 Report Share Posted January 7, 2008 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kd123 Posted January 7, 2008 Report Share Posted January 7, 2008 I like the bricks....did you need to do anything to them before using them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted January 7, 2008 Report Share Posted January 7, 2008 That tank looks awesome man Im glad to see the fish are doing well, how big are the dem's now? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheesejawa Posted January 7, 2008 Report Share Posted January 7, 2008 Y plants??? I think when people put plants in african tanks it ruins them. But still i love the bricks, plenty of caves for the fish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danilada Posted January 7, 2008 Report Share Posted January 7, 2008 Looks great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ktttk Posted January 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2008 That tank looks awesome man Im glad to see the fish are doing well, how big are the dem's now? A few are hitting about 3cm, the rest are around 2.5cm. I only just added them to the tank this past weekend - they were in a 40L tank since I got them from you. Y plants??? I think when people put plants in african tanks it ruins them. Well I think the large-ish Java ferns add a bit of colour and structure to the tank setup - plus they were left over from the previous tank setup and it took me a while to get them to grow to this size so I didn't want to get rid of them.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tropheus Posted January 8, 2008 Report Share Posted January 8, 2008 Different but cool and the plants look healthy. Where the plants from??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted January 8, 2008 Report Share Posted January 8, 2008 Awesome its good to see they're doing well They grow pretty quick I have some from your batch left here im going to add into my colony when they're big enough not to become food for the dolphins and giraffe.. I like the plants all of my africans eat them though so any I add seem to just be food or uprooted and get chewed on until they're nothing or get stuck to filter intakes etc.. Looks like those ones are well attached Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smidey Posted January 8, 2008 Report Share Posted January 8, 2008 looking good! Anyone know how the demansoni will get along with the more peaceful fish as they get bigger? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted January 8, 2008 Report Share Posted January 8, 2008 Mine are with peacocks yellows etc and even when breeding they let tje others push them around I have only seen demasoni be aggressive to their own kind which is why you keep large numbers of them and they're fine I personally think their bad rep is unjustified well maybe not unjustified they will attack their own type but maybe just misunderstood.. Have had people come out and see my tanks to buy fish and gone oh those stripy ones are the real agro ones thinking they're going to wipe out all the fish in their african tanks.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ktttk Posted January 8, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2008 Different but cool and the plants look healthy. Where the plants from??? Thanks. These plants came from a seminal bunch of Java fern that I bought about 5 years ago . As they grew, they kept sprouting little plantlets from the old dying leaves and these ones I have now are probably the 3rd or 4th generation plants that have survived. I like the plants all of my africans eat them though so any I add seem to just be food or uprooted and get chewed on until they're nothing or get stuck to filter intakes etc.. Looks like those ones are well attached Well these guys haven't eaten any of the leaves yet - fingers crossed they'll continue to leave them alone! The roots of these java ferns are well attached to small flat rocks or a small bunch of gravel - so they stay anchored quite well without the need to actually plant them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glen Posted January 8, 2008 Report Share Posted January 8, 2008 I like it, well done. plants look fine, as said they add colour. My dems mowed out a few plants but if they do just take the plants out, easy as that. Nice tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ktttk Posted January 8, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2008 I like it, well done. plants look fine, as said they add colour. My dems mowed out a few plants but if they do just take the plants out, easy as that. Nice tank. Thanks Glen. How many dems do you keep together in your tank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glen Posted January 8, 2008 Report Share Posted January 8, 2008 10 dems and 10 electric yellows, as ryan said they only really give each other a hard time. I've had them since very small and had no casualties with them or the yellows. I remember reading about a guy having a 1/2 inch male chase a medium sized venustus for over 6 feet just because it showed abit of interest in the dems cave! thought that was pretty funny. :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
my4age Posted January 8, 2008 Report Share Posted January 8, 2008 where do u get those silica sand from? tank is looking good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ktttk Posted January 8, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2008 10 dems and 10 electric yellows, as ryan said they only really give each other a hard time. I've had them since very small and had no casualties with them or the yellows. I remember reading about a guy having a 1/2 inch male chase a medium sized venustus for over 6 feet just because it showed abit of interest in the dems cave! thought that was pretty funny. :lol: Cool. My dems are only half the size of my yellows at the moment. Can't wait till they get bigger and 'fill up' the tank more! where do u get those silica sand from? tank is looking good! Thanks my4age. I got the silica sand from placemakers but they should be available at other hardware stores like mitre 10 and Bunnings. I got a bag of about 20kg for $16 I think off the top of my head. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peanuts Posted January 8, 2008 Report Share Posted January 8, 2008 just spotted this.good to see another african convert.demasoni and yellows seem to be the flavour of the month,when you see the colour mix its easy to see why.awesome tank.is this the first of many? glenn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ktttk Posted January 8, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2008 just spotted this.good to see another african convert.demasoni and yellows seem to be the flavour of the month,when you see the colour mix its easy to see why.awesome tank.is this the first of many? glenn Thanks Peanuts. I think this will be the first and only african tank for a while. I plan to keep it as it is for a year to see how the colonies develop. I have reached somewhat of a nice balance (in terms of time spent on maintenance and health of the fishes) with my 5 tanks at the moment and plan to keep the harmony. I just hate it when you don't have time to keep up the maintenance schedule and you end up with dead/unhealthy fish which is a a real waste. One fish that I have seen on other forums which seems interesting is the Pseudotropheus saulosi - the females are bright yellow and the males turn blue with stripes - a tank of them will look just like a dem/yellows tank! But I haven't seen any available in NZ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted April 21, 2008 Report Share Posted April 21, 2008 I would love some Saulosi too But haven't seen or even heard of any around.. Anyway just posting on this to ask for some updated pic's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcase Posted April 21, 2008 Report Share Posted April 21, 2008 Hi any issues with chemicals leaching from the bricks & affecting the fish .... or did you raet them in some way prior to use. regards Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ktttk Posted April 21, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 21, 2008 hey Ryan, Just grabbed my camera and took some shots - but its taking an age to upload the pics cos I went over the limit for downloading stuff this month and they've slowed down my line :evil: ... I'll hav them up sometime tomorrow.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ktttk Posted April 21, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 21, 2008 Hi any issues with chemicals leaching from the bricks & affecting the fish .... or did you raet them in some way prior to use. regards I've had no issues with the bricks at all - I just gave them a bit of a wash with the hose to get the dust off and popped them straight in the tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ktttk Posted April 21, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 21, 2008 In the mean time, here's one I took last week.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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