Donk760 Posted December 15, 2010 Report Share Posted December 15, 2010 Thanks to Trade Me I now have a 1.8m 450l, 1.2m 250l, 0.9m 135l and a small 0.6m 60l tank as well as a full 40l enclosed set up that the kids are using for their tadpoles. I want to look at keeping shell breeding cichlids but would like suggestions as to the best tank size and species mix to do this. Should I stay small and keep few or use the big tank and increase the territories available? I am running a mixed asian tank with Kuhli and Pakistani Loaches, Harlequins, Cherry Barbs and a couple of Angels. I am aware Angels are not asian but my daughter bullied me into getting them instead of gouramis. Whichever of the larger tanks I do not use for cichlids I will use for the existing fish. We use bore water from a tank which is quite hard so I want to steer away from soft water fish and want to see some interesting breeding behaviour. The current set up just sees the Pakistanis eat anything and everything so I wouldn't know if there were eggs. With cherry barbs I would assume we have had some but they would have gone straight down the terrorists gullets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smidey Posted December 15, 2010 Report Share Posted December 15, 2010 welcome there are others that have more experience with the gold ocellatus shellies but i am sure the 3 footer will be plenty big enough for them, i doubt you will need many to get a breeding pair & once that happens you will have more than you know what to do with if you choose to separate them from anything that can eat them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted December 15, 2010 Report Share Posted December 15, 2010 I think I was watching that auction too, it went for a good price well done If you are interested in africans feel free to come out and have a look I have all sorts setup out here, even breeding shellies so plenty of options and ideas lol you could even do a nice hap tank in the 6fter and shellies in the 3fter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donk760 Posted December 15, 2010 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2010 Thanks. I don't want to get too ahead of myself but my intention was to consider a Tanganyikan community as the end result. My thinking was that I could set up open sand, shell and rock territories in the 1.8m tank which could be filled with different varieties. If what I have researched is correct the Tanganyikans will live and breed in a community tank as they stick much more to their respective territories than their Malawi relatives. Research is one thing but reality another. I know very little about cichlids so hence the post. Can I start with something like the shellies and add other varieties to the different niches as I go or will that cause conflict? If I am correct what is the best way to allocate space to the different niches and what species are available in NZ to fill them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted December 15, 2010 Report Share Posted December 15, 2010 You could do a wicked tang tank in that 6fter You would have to do tropheus and shellies, in a tank that size you could also do some jullies or maybe brichardi. But in a mixed tank I don't fancy your chances of having large numbers of fry survive, it is probable that some of the substrate spawners will get free swimming fry which you might be able to siphon out, and tropheus would hold and you could catch and strip them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smidey Posted December 15, 2010 Report Share Posted December 15, 2010 mixed tang tank fabulous idea! in my 2.0m tank i have T Dubs, T Moliro Firefox, alto comps & i plan to see how the shellies get on when mine get bigger. I will also consider leleupi, julies or brichardi to. I was surprised at what was available for a tang only tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donk760 Posted January 4, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2011 1.8m tank is set up. Filter is cycled. Just allowing new water to settle and ready to go. Does anyone know of a source of Tanganyikans close to Hawkes Bay? The LFS is waiting on some new cichlids to come out of quarintine but he cannot tell me what he is expecting. Really want shellies to be the focus. I have split up three rock territories with 2 large sand areas and have a little bit of Corkscrew Val along the perimeter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zev Posted January 4, 2011 Report Share Posted January 4, 2011 Hi and welcome. Shipping of fish to you should not be a problem if you cannot source any close to Hawke's Bay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smidey Posted January 4, 2011 Report Share Posted January 4, 2011 1.8m tank is set up. Filter is cycled. Just allowing new water to settle and ready to go. Does anyone know of a source of Tanganyikans close to Hawkes Bay? The LFS is waiting on some new cichlids to come out of quarintine but he cannot tell me what he is expecting. Really want shellies to be the focus. I have split up three rock territories with 2 large sand areas and have a little bit of Corkscrew Val along the perimeter. nice work & impeccable taste in fish to! there are a few shellies around as i understand it, i have some juvies but it seemed a few people on here got lamprologus ocellatus gold & they bred very readily & numbers have increased very well. it don't know how easy it would be to make shellies the focus as they are very small & quite agro. your tank is a good size & i think you would struggle to make them the focus. I have a tang tank that had troph duboisi, troph moliro, alto comps & when the shellies are bigger i will see how they go in there. It provides a good mix of sizes & colours, the trophs are constantly hooning around & the altos are quite settled most of the time so there is plenty of variety. i think the shellies will add another dimension to the look with their bottom shell dwelling nature but it may be a bit of an experiment with the altos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donk760 Posted January 5, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2011 I see 10 Tropheus sp. "Black" Bulu Point on Trade Me at the moment. Starting price of $180 for 10 @ 20-30mm. Do you think they would be a good choice? Reading up on them I wasn't sure if that was a bit ambitious for a newcomer to cichlids. My thoughts were to get some shellies established first before introducing other fish. If I do it the other way around does anyone foresee any problems there? I have a couple of smaller tanks set aside for the Shellies to breed in as well, as soon as I can bring myself to sell the Bolivian Ram I got given with the new tank. He has grown on me very quickly and, if it wasn't for the naturally hard water from the bore, he would have convinced me to go with South American dwarves. When I said "focus on Shellies" I was meaning more that I would also keep seperate species and breeding tanks for them as opposed to making them the star of the big tank. I find their breeding habits interesting and want to see it first hand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted January 5, 2011 Report Share Posted January 5, 2011 The tropheus would be a good choice, I would be inclined to get more bulus than 10 though they are nasty little buggers.. I have found the tropheus harder to keep but worth it, I have had a few cases of bloat and lost a couple, and I am yet to have them breed but they will get there one day The shellies will breed in a tank with tropheus too, my shellies breed happily in my tank with tropheus dubs, columbian tetras and clown loaches I just remove the shell when the fry become free swimming, I usually miss a few fry which the parents continue to protect and they hide quite well so it is good to watch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smidey Posted January 5, 2011 Report Share Posted January 5, 2011 picking which tropheus you get should be made carefully as different tropheus species shouldn't be mixed except with duboisi. i chose not to keep bulu points as they are the same colour as pembas just alot less of it. as long as you setup properly & feed the right food you shouldn't have any dramas. my ph is low for what is ideal for these guys but mine still do fine so i would say as long as your filtration & food are correct they should be straight forward. before i got tropheus everything said they must be in groups of 12 or more or it will end in tears. i keep duboisi, moliro & pembas & all of these were kept in groups of 9 or 10, my dubs are down to 8 adults at the moment & everything has been fine. some will say the ratios of males to females must be a few males to many females but with my dubs i have 5 males & 3 females. i simply haven't had the trouble that most keepers advise you will have in certain situations. in saying this i may just be the luckiest troph keeper ever, they are just my experiences. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donk760 Posted January 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2011 Thanks to Ryan I should have (hopefully) 8 juvenile shellies shortly. I will add Tropheus at some stage, once Shellies have settled and budget is adequate to buy a colony at once. In the meantime I am looking for a third species. I have my eye on 3 juvenile Julidichromis Transcriptus on Trade Me. If I add 3 of these now will I have problems adding to the colony later? Open to other suggestions for something to compliment the Shellies and Tropheus. I have avoided Altos as I thought they might be a bit hungry to have the shellies in with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donk760 Posted January 13, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2011 8 tiny shellies and 6 juvenile Masked Julies have settled in nicely. Took awhile to locate where all the shellies had taken up residence. Tank looks the size of an ocean with these little fellas in it. Found the two missing ones had moved to the far end of the tank from where all the other fish have settled. Worry that they are getting the food okay but they seem happy and active and the shellies have started picking shells. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smidey Posted January 13, 2011 Report Share Posted January 13, 2011 nice work, it won't take long for them to get some size on them. i struggle to see mine in a 4 footer, let alone a 6 so that would be an intent search to find them. there seem to be more & more troph fry available as time goes on, there are a couple of sellers on TM (also from here i think) that have been regularly listing fry which is great for the hobby. you won't regret getting trophs & tangs in general i think, they are so active all the time there is never nothing to draw your attention. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donk760 Posted January 15, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2011 Can anyone tell me whether the outlet current from the filter should dissapated across the surface. My outlet is angled diagonally along the tank so there is quite a bit of water flow around the whole tank. Do the ocellatus require stable water around their shells. I was about to alter the outflow to spread it across the surface but cannot find anything online to suggest whether this is correct or not. Have found an article suggesting the Julies like good water flow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted January 15, 2011 Report Share Posted January 15, 2011 It doesn't really matter about your flow.. Generally it is a good idea to have the filter disturbing the surface it aids in the gas exchange (like an airstone) but not a good idea to rely entirely on it (ie if your filter fails and the surface isn't getting disturbed all your fish die). This wont be an issue in a tank your size with your stocking but can become an issue in hotter weather in heavily stocked tanks. Shellies seem to handle a bit of flow I am not sure what they like in nature I am sure you can find some articles on it somewhere, or maybe videos of them in the wild to compare it to but they seem very tolerant, same with the jullies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donk760 Posted January 20, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2011 All fish now feeding well. Does anyone know if I should be concerned about the bright green algae patches appearing on the sand? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted January 20, 2011 Report Share Posted January 20, 2011 without seeing a photo of the algae I would say yes. I suspect cyanobacter (sp?) which comes up as a blue green sheet. If in the early stages you can suck it out I would do say otherwise you may end up having to use an antibiotic to get rid of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donk760 Posted January 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2011 If I cannot get it all by sucking it out can you recommend an antibiotic? Tangs are supposed to be very sensitive to water quality. Will they be adversly affected by an antibiotic? I can keep the filter cycling in another tank so can protect the filter bacteria. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smidey Posted January 21, 2011 Report Share Posted January 21, 2011 i'm sure one of my tanks had that at some point but i have never medicated or had any trouble with fish health. if you can't suck it out, suck out the substrate it is on & leave it to dry in a bucket or something to kill it. i recommend not using meds if there is no great need for them. If I cannot get it all by sucking it out can you recommend an antibiotic? Tangs are supposed to be very sensitive to water quality. Will they be adversly affected by an antibiotic? i have not found it difficult to maintain water quality with tangs at all. If you set up your tank properly in the outset you won't have any trouble. filtration should be around 6 times the tank volume per hour, temp anywhere from 25 to 28 & plenty of aeration. My ph is around 7.4 & mine do very well with plenty of breeding & good colours & health. Tangs aren't hard to keep as long as you set up well & feed good food. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donk760 Posted January 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2011 i'm sure one of my tanks had that at some point but i have never medicated or had any trouble with fish health. if you can't suck it out, suck out the substrate it is on & leave it to dry in a bucket or something to kill it. i recommend not using meds if there is no great need for them. Thanks. I will try that first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donk760 Posted January 26, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2011 Sucking out the cyano didn't work. Thought I had it all only to find it reappeared the next day as comprehensive as ever. I have started a course of Melafix today. The LFS tried to tell me I could get rid of it with an anti algae product. Can't see how that would work for a bacteria. With advice like that I hope I have bought an effective antibiotic. On the bright side the fish are vigorous and growing quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted January 26, 2011 Report Share Posted January 26, 2011 I am not sure if furan works the usual recommended one is Erythromycin.. The algae doesn't seem to bother fish fish just looks ugly especially on white sand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshlikesfish Posted January 26, 2011 Report Share Posted January 26, 2011 I am not sure if furan works the usual recommended one is Erythromycin.. Furan worked for me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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