Thanks for the compliments guys!! I can't wait until I get my new intakes and then I'll change the crappy background. I don't want to change the background unil I put my new intakes on b/c my new background is actually just foam posterboard(got the posterboard idea from dawn*thanks dawn) and I don't want water dripping all over it.
I haven't decided what fish I want to add yet....definitely some monomorphic. Since I have 17(or something like that) in there right now that only the boys show color I want more monomorphic. I'll be adding the yellow labs to the main tank as soon as I decided what to get. I don't want my 29 gallon to uncycle itself sitting empty while I'm making up my mind, so that's why I'm leaving my labs in it. (Then I won't have to move my sponge filter either). I don't know...we'll see!

You're welcome, I'm just cheap and I figure why pay a lot for a plain background, plus you don't get a reflection when taking pics.

Tank is looking great, have you thought of getting any m.estherae? The females are a gorgeous red-orange and the males are a paler orangey-yellow, some even have a blue sheen. I think they'd be a nice color addition with the purple, blues, and yellow.

Thanks, dawn. I'll look into those fish! I don't believe I've seen any in my lfs, so I'd have to go online. I'll post a pic for everyone of what they look like...later. It's 4:30am here now. The baby woke up and after I settled him down, I thought I'd come look around on TTF for a few min. It seems this is when everyone else is on!

Here's a pic of them taken from here: http://www.tropical-fish-pictures.com/metr...a-estherae.html

The site shows males as blue, but you usually find orange males in the hobby, they're quite rare in the wild (males are usually blue), but fishkeepers prefer the orange color so that's what has been bred.

I'm always on early in the morning, I work 3rd shift so I have a screwed up sleep schedule.

Oh ,ok thanks. It must be the red variety Here. I will look into them and see if I can find them locally or if my LFS can order them. If not, I may have to mail order. Dawn, do you know anything of the Johannii that I posted about on the forum?

Yeah, the red variety is more common in the LFS trade, blue males in the trade are mostly wild-caught.

I'm not sure if the johannii can differentiate stripe patterns or not, but I think your tank is large enough to support both them and the afras.

Really ? Thats interesting. I never knew that.. How was that managed then ?? Turning males from blue to orange through breeding ??

Here's a link that talks about the color metamorphasis.

Thanks for that kj..

So the colour of the males wasnt changed through breeding, but a cppl of the "rare" red coloured males were imported and used to breed all the red zebra's we have today..

But if the blue males are so popular in the wild, you'd think they'd be popular in the hobby aswell as the red males... Ive never seen one in places that stock wild caught.. or maybe i have but not noticed because of the colour LOL

I just called my lfs and they are going to try and get 2 albino bristlenose plecs and 5-6 Metriaclima estherae. They said they'll call when they find them....fingers crossed.

--edit
I really need my plecs bad!! LOL As you can see from the video above. I do clean the front of the glass and sometimes the side. But it's too hard to clean the back...but my fish kinda eat at the back anyway.

Thanks again dawn! The orange will be a real nice contrast with the black slate and the black background I'll be putting on!

I'm still waiting for my intakes. I just got ahold of drsfosterandsmith and they're updating something right now, so she can't check on my order...go figure. She said it'll be back up tomorrow.

This post has been edited by kj23502: May 1 2008, 02:06 AM

I think its probably due to two things; there are a lot of blue mbuna so red/red species would be very desirable, and I imagine a lot of the blue males get misidentified at m.callainos as they are fairly similar.



You're welcome, looking forward to your next set of pics.

I'll post new pics when either happens:

1) I get my intakes and change the background

2)I get the estherae and bristlenoses in (in which case I'll put my yellow labs into the 125 so the new fish can quaratine in the 29 gallon)

*I've been thinking about doing a journal when I switch over my 29 gallon tank to a planted SA Puffer and Bumble bee goby tank....nothing spectacular. Do you think people would like seeing it? I don't know if I should do it in the brackish or planted section, as it will have a sg of about 1.003-1.005 w/brackish fish, yet it will be semi-heavily planted???

This post has been edited by kj23502: May 3 2008, 04:33 PM

Two of my yello labs just died!! No idea what happened. I checked ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and they were 0, 0, and 10-20 respectivley.

I just did a 9 gallon water change after I took the 2 dead fish out. They never seemed sick and didn't look funny. I don't know what happened?

Could of been killed? They aint the toughest of Mbuna

They were still by themselves in the 29 gallon quarantine. One of them was one of my bigger ones. There were 5 total and now I'm at 3.

Unfortunately that occasionally happens. Since you've ruled out water issues and with no marks it obviously isn't aggression, it falls into the category of sudden unexplained death. That's part of the reason QT is a good idea, I'd definately keep a close eye on the remaining 3. If it is some sort of disease the stress of it starting and a new environment might have weakend the 2 and killed them before the appearance of symptoms. So, just watch the surviviors closely and you should be able to rule out disease in a couple of weeks.

this thread owns! i want a african tank now!!! i read every post like it was my job. it was just very interesting.