My 1st African Setup

Hey folks.

I have never kept Africans cichlids of any kind before but these in fact are the fish that got me into this hoppy in the first place, I just never got round to keeping them. After selling off my planted and marine setups, and taking a few months off from water chaanges, Im back in the hobby and starting up a Malawi tank. I had planned on a tropheus setup but she weighed in and Malawis it is, but got the go ahead for another setup down the line .
Here is a few pics of my tank as it has progressed so far. Its a Clearseal 350ltr. Rock is Howth stone, a type of sandstone taken from a quarry nearby, thanks Kev . Substrate is coral sand. Lighting is 2 x 38w T8, one blue one white. All input appreciated.

Jay



Here is the filter, an FX 5 from Fluval. Im very impressed with this canister.





Here it is after the eggcrate went in.






Rockwork done. Not an easy task given the size of the stones and the design of the tank. It has sliding glass covers to reduce evaporation and heat loss and they can be difficult to work around.





I have rearranged the rockwork a bit to try and hide the intake and provide some more caves. I first placed the large piece upright in front of the intake but it didnt look great next to the rest of the rocks which had been arranged into caves. It looked like it had been just dumped to the side so I instead stacked a couple of smaller pieces to hide the head of the intake and placed the large piece back on top to cap them off. The fish have since become much more active and have brightened up considerably. I put this down to them having more places to hide when the big OB Peacock decides to throw his weight around, plus he is probably a bit confused after I rearranged his territory. Anyway here is a pic of the rockwork and a couple of shots of the current residents.




Alunocara baenschi



Alunocara jacobfriebergi



Alunocara stuartgranti



OB Peacock



Firefish Peacock



Some random shots







I took these on my old point and shoot Casio Exilm. I picked up a Nikkon L120 bridge camera thats supposedly a good starter for taking proper shots and Im about a third of they way through the manual but the weekend slowed my progress :wink: .

Jay

Cheers John,

Its was about time I has something swimming in the house again.

Jay

Looks amazing have a just set up same tank they are a very impressive thank

Nice one Guns,

Im impressed to bits with this tank, it is great at retaining heat and moisture given the sliding glass top under the hood which helps with the leccy bill plus it has generous space in the stand. Very strong tank given all the braces so Im very happy with it.

Jay

thanks for sharing jay. tank looks very calm and fish look nice.

Great stuff Jay looks cracking good to have u back man

Cheers guys, its coming along nicely so far. See what happens when the mbuna go in .

Jay

Great looking tank and fish Jay. Good to see you are back in the hobby

Very nice Jay, the rock is cool. I just spent a fortune on landscaping rock as I couldn't get my hands on anything like that.

Lovely peacocks too.

Lookin good Jay. Keep up the good work. The rocks are deadly.

Lovely looking setup, nice rockwork. You need to be careful mixing mbuna with haps, some of the more aggressive mbuna will beat the crap out of them

Thanks for the comments folks. I plan on introducing a hareem of yellow labs and another of yellow tailed acei as they are mellow as far as mbuna go so Im hopefull it will work. If not, I have a backup plan. I also plan on getting some synos for the bottom.

Jay

Viperbot wrote:

Thanks for the comments folks. I plan on introducing a hareem of yellow labs and another of yellow tailed acei as they are mellow as far as mbuna go so Im hopefull it will work. If not, I have a backup plan. I also plan on getting some synos for the bottom.

Jay

the above species are non territorial and perfect with haps. just avoid the rough herbivores and compatibility issues will be manageable.

Glad to hear that from you Derek, I had my eye on a few other little gems but thought better of it as they were high on the psycho scale and this being my first foray into africans, I walked away. I may put in others but there is much reading to be done first...

Jay

lookin very well good luck with it

Hi Jay; welcome back! glad to see another fellow malawi fishkeeper. The pics are lovely mate; more to follow i hope.

regards;
amdrew

well done ! looks very nice ! I like the stones, are they from mountain? Im going to create the african world very soon so will be looking for some nice stones.

Dejwys wrote:

well done ! looks very nice ! I like the stones, are they from mountain? Im going to create the african world very soon so will be looking for some nice stones.

Thanks man. The stone is a sandstone called Howth Stone. Its taken from the quarry in Howth owned by the Clarkes. I purchased them from a member here but I believe there is a showroom up there where you can pick some up. Worth a look in you are after something special .

Jay

just re reading the original post jay and noted you mention the ob peacock and its behavior. the reason for the heightened aggro is beacause the obs are developed (i believe) by crossing with mbuna (fuelliborni for ob?) which appears to make them unpredictable. they can be a bit hit and miss re aggro and are usually best kept with the rougher haps and mbuna. just keep an eye on him.
the sandstone as an inert rock is also suitable for soft water tanks.

so its no harm to use sandstone? Im a landscaper myself, doing sandstone patios all the time, there is plenty of sandsone peaces at the yard, and I can cut them any size. but some sandsone is softer and other is harder. lights colour stone is very soft, just wonder can you use soft one in the tank? and question: why to use eggcrate ?

i have used sandstone for years with breeding angels, discus, tetras, corys etc. with no problems. it is my understanding that all sandstone is inert and dos'nt leach to water but if unsure use the vinegar test.
one of the nicest and safest rocks to use is washed slaty coal if available. the black rock looks fantastic in contrast with light sand or gravel.

derek, why need to use eggcrate? to spread the weight or o protect glass from cracking?

derek wrote:

just re reading the original post jay and noted you mention the ob peacock and its behavior. the reason for the heightened aggro is beacause the obs are developed (i believe) by crossing with mbuna (fuelliborni for ob?) which appears to make them unpredictable. they can be a bit hit and miss re aggro and are usually best kept with the rougher haps and mbuna. just keep an eye on him.
the sandstone as an inert rock is also suitable for soft water tanks.

Yeah this guy is by far the most aggressive fish in the tank. It is my hope that when the mbuna go in, they will level the playing field somewhat. He trys to keep the others in corners but is yet to really nip and they all eat. I had thought that the OB was a natural morph but I guess Im wrong there. Im aware the Firefish is line bred, but I couldnt resist the colour and no females will be going in. Ive been told that the firefish can get pretty fiesty when they mature too. I guess its a matter of striking the right balance with whatever else goes in so I will be keeping a close watch on the goings on. Thanks for the heads up.

Jay

Dejwys wrote:

derek, why need to use eggcrate? to spread the weight or o protect glass from cracking?

both of above i guess and it also helps to contain anaerobic bacteria with better circulation.

Eggcrate spreads the weight on the base of the tank. I use slate on the tank sides to buffer the weight of any rocks lying against the sides. Another trick is to build a cage with eggcrate and cable ties to 'fill out' the rockwork, reducing the weight. It also provides a sanctury for fry/smaller fish from harassment from bigger fish who wont be able to reach them

jay, virtually all available aulonacara are either man made or accidental hybrids. they will hybridise with almost any other malawi cichlid even when housed with own species. most of the manmades such as reds, calicos, obs, firefish etc. are beautifully coloured grow larger and quicker and are very popular, whereas most of the naturally occurring species are relatively (predominantly blue, sometimes yellowish males, very little red except anal fin area and no ob) plain coloured. so commerce rules and obs are even passed off as wild or f1, lol. i have no problem with the manmades and sometimes keep them myself as short of diving in malawi with a net to catch my own, there is little chance of getting any pedigree ones.

derek wrote:

jay, virtually all available aulonacara are either man made or accidental hybrids. they will hybridise with almost any other malawi cichlid even when housed with own species. most of the manmades such as reds, calicos, obs, firefish etc. are beautifully coloured grow larger and quicker and are very popular, whereas most of the naturally occurring species are relatively (predominantly blue, sometimes yellowish males, very little red except anal fin area and no ob) plain coloured. so commerce rules and obs are even passed off as wild or f1, lol. i have no problem with the manmades and sometimes keep them myself as short of diving in malawi with a net to catch my own, there is little chance of getting any pedigree ones.

Thanks for the insights, I had been led to believe that it was fairly easy to accuire wilds and F1's, but that they would naturally command a higher price. Of course, knowing what it is you are looking at goes a long way when it comes to africans lol. To be honest, I would feel better having tank bred specimens as they are lesss likely to carry parasites and adapt better to the home aquarium...I hope.

Jay

nice setup !! can i ask were you got the eggcrate, i'm have trouble finding some.

I was looking for some eggcrate in blanchardstownd yesterday but couldnt find anywhere