My african tank log - will be photo heavy

[Ymir]

On reading other peoples various logs, I think I need a place to keep mine in a place where I can keep a track of what I have been up to. If fellow African cichlid keepers find this helpful along the way, then glad to help out.

Tank :

1500 x 500 x 500 mm approximately 375 litres

Filter:

Eheim Professional 2224 (Thinking about getting an internal filter as well.)

Lighting:

5ft fluorescent light

2ft aqua-one twin fluorescent tube light.

Heaters:

2 x 300w aqua-one

Substrate:

Calcite gravel

Decorations:

Rocks, wood, two ceramic caves, and soon to be added bamboo tubes.

My current residents are:

Fish

5 x Neolamprologus leleup Fry, approximately 1.5 to 2 cm last time I saw them out

12 + x Pseudotropheus demasoni From breeding adults to fry.

9 x Tropheus duboisi Breeding adults (Well truth be told, teenagers trying it on with no clue and no success so far :facepalm: )

5 x Otopharynx lithobates Fry growing out and looking good

1 x cuckoo syno with four more coming very shortly :happy1:

2 x Aulonocara baenschi (for sale if anyone is interested, pretty sure male and female :nfs: )

3 x Botia almorhae Pretty sure I have a female with 2 males. Their sole purpose is to keep the snail pop under control. Which is not really working out

9 + x GBA Algae control.

I realise these are not all Africans but if MAF ever let in some decent African algae eaters, the GBA will go. Finally, if people have a guaranteed way off knocking of the damn Malaysian trumpet snail without adding nasty and dangerous chemicals please tell.

The fish I desire

Altolamprologus calvus (Black)

Protomelas sp. "Steveni Taiwan" (Taiwan Reef)

I have had Altolamprologus calvus (yellow). However, a lacks in checking the tank properly one morning lead me to miss the spray wand, which had fallen into the tank. Coming home from work discovered that due to lack of oxygen, I had succeeded in wiping out three-quarters of my tank. :an!gry :an!gry :tears: :tears: I did learn that Dem's can gasp like a goldfish, who would have thought?? eitherway, thank god otherwise it would have been a 100 percent loss.

In regards to the Altolamprologus calvus (Black), you know who you are. I have one message for the fry: grow baby grow.

Plants

Cryptocoryne wendtii

Anubias sp.

Microsorum pteropus (there types: narrow, normal and windlow.)

I have tried the three types of java available in New Zealand. I had a particularly stunning example of narrow leaf. However after getting the dubs, they soon took quick care of that. They even ate the normal java and the windlow just did not like my tank.

I have had three or four types of anubia species but the only one that has not rotted is the ‘nana’. The nana seems to go through periods of growing well in my tank to almost looking like it is about to die (not sure why yet). When I get my tank completely stocked. I will start working on trying to keep my plants alive, if the water chemistry fits within the water requirements of the Africans. Either way, Anubias is just too expensive to experiment with until then.

Cryptocoryne wendtii has been a success story. A lot of the dem fry like to hide in it and it makes keeping track of them a little easier. However, the other day the trop dubs decided it looked like breakfast, lunch and dinner time rolled into one and they pretty much ate the lot. :an!gry :an!gry

I am getting some more from various people and will try again. :happy2:

Photos will come, I have to clean my tank and have made it look respectable first. :oops:

Ymir aka Malcolm

[ryanjury]

Looking forward to pics mate

My tropheus ate any plant I stuck in front of them too They seemed to reach an age when they just ate everything..

Here are some calvus for you

[Ymir]

Well time for a update finally.

Today, I got some Java and Xmass moss :mbh:

The reason I am trying to grow plants in the tank is as much as I like African cichlids, their tanks almost alway look so damn Stark. :-? This has been a semi-expensive exercise so far, mainly due to death or being eaten.

Currently, I am waiting on a fluval U4. I brought this from ebay ($109 including shipping :happy1: ). Yes I know this will be overkill but I study extramurally, work full-time and working on the house. Time is not always a friend, so I am not as regular at doing water changes as I should and want to be.

Once I save some spare money I am going to upgrade my light to this: http://www.thereefshop.com.au/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=5_8&products_id=1549

If the lighting setup works out and I finally start getting some sucess with growing plants, I will try a couple of the more exspensive anubia species again.

Does anyone have any Neolamprologus leleupi Fry for sale? :slfg: I was doing a water change a couple of weeks ago and I knocked over the breeder net I was keeping them in (due to their size ) and have not seen them since. :facepalm:

I am still waiting on calvus and taiwan fry. :cofn: :spop: :cofn: (Thinking about sending up some type of crazy growth stimulant to Auckland.)

This is a video of the tank. Please excuse the crap video and picture quailty. I am going to have to learn to get better.

Java moss and Crypts

Xmass moss No. 1 site and surviving anubias

Xmass moss No.2 site

[Coral]

Hi Ymir

The tank looks great!

The Duboisi reached good size too and looks like the Neolamprologus leleupi are hiding under the rocks. I have some more, but you mast wait few weeks. :digH:

Good luck with the Java and Xmas moss, but... duboisi will have good lunch and it will not grow good in high Ph.

But good luck anyway.

Coral