Setting Up A 125 Gallon Malawi W/pics-going To 75 Usg Now

[katatoniq]

thanks for the advice. i think i will get a few more or let one of the males win rights to the females...

anyway i opened up my own journal looking for some advice.

click here

 

[kj23502]

Ok, i think I have an issue Maybe internal parasite or something??

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=253519

 

[kj23502]

We finally started building the 75 gallon stand today. I decided that I'm going to have my 29 gallon tank sitting below the 75 gallon. The 29 is going to be a saltwater tank and the 75 will be my beatiful cichlids

 

[kj23502]

Here we are building the new stand. We just started on it today.

It's replacing the old one w/the ugly towel on it I'll be moving the plants on the right also. I set the smart cycle in front of the T.V. stand to keep our 1 year old out of it We still have a lot more to do. It's 36" tall. It's so tall b/c my 29 gallon tank will be sitting on the bottom and I wanted enough room to be able to get into the bottom tank if I needed to.

This just shows the interlocking corners. We are going to put 90 degree bracing on all corners to help hold it also.

That's our ledge on the bottom. It's on each side and we're going to put braces across the long way w/a couple supports underneath. We'll lay ply would on the ledges and supports for the 29 gallon to sit on. The 29 gallon tank will sit in the middle on the bottom and we'll have a cabinet door on the left and right side for access to the 75 gallons 2 eheim filters.

Any input anyone??

 

[kj23502]

I pmd ferris about fish stocking. Here's the pm and his answer.

I was wondering what your professional opinion is for fully stocking my 75 gallon. We about have the stand built and will be ready to move things after a little while. Most of my future fish (demasoni and c. afra) will be around 3" long...at least 11 dem and 3 afra. The others only get 4"-5" except for my lone crabro. I was thinking 27ish +/- on the high side. I'll have the 2 eheim pro II 2028's on the tank and will add a massive hob filter to get larger filtration capacity to handle the extra bio load. I'll plan on 25% wc a week when fully stocked. Is this alright or am I cramming to many fish in?

Thanks
KJ

Hi KJ,

Good question but I would say 27 is way too many. Your 75 is not much bigger than my 65 and i wouldn't dream of adding anywhere near that number. I know you are going for the smaller species but try to imagine 27 full grown adults in a tank that size.

All the Africans in my current tank are full grown adults (13) and even ignoring the catfish, it's pretty crowded. Personally I would aim for a max of 20 for your tank with the suggested species. You have plenty of filtration - that wouldn't be a problem, it's literally swimming space i'm thinking of - it's easy to take overstocking too far with Africans.

Hope that helps

F

 

[Ace Of Spades]

All looks like exiting stuff is happenning in your tank, and I kind of agree with what Ferris says although we all dream to have lots of fish ...

 

[kj23502]

I think I'll skip the demasoni then. I don't want half my tank to be just of them w/only 2 or 3 other species. Plus I want to keep my nyererei and afra....we'll see.

Fish suggestiosn anyone?

 

[kj23502]

I think it's safe to say that the crabro is male. I went through looking at pictures of males and females and it's definitely darker than female pictures. I haven't vented yet, but I'm going to call him a he

We never get any of these in our lfs.(I take that back...I bought mine @ petsmart, but they don't have any in the locally owned shop) Maybe I'll vent to make sure and get "him" a few females and look into breeding them to sell in the shop. I'm sure they'd sell pretty good. Another thing is they never have any estherea's in either. Maybe I could skip the yellow labs(to prevent hybridization) and breed estherea's too!

We'll see. My head is swimming w/ideas

If only I could get it to settle down.

 

[Ace Of Spades]

I think it's safe to say that the crabro is male. I went through looking at pictures of males and females and it's definitely darker than female pictures. I haven't vented yet, but I'm going to call him a he

We never get any of these in our lfs.(I take that back...I bought mine @ petsmart, but they don't have any in the locally owned shop) Maybe I'll vent to make sure and get "him" a few females and look into breeding them to sell in the shop. I'm sure they'd sell pretty good. Another thing is they never have any estherea's in either. Maybe I could skip the yellow labs(to prevent hybridization) and breed estherea's too!

We'll see. My head is swimming w/ideas

If only I could get it to settle down.

Omg looking through again KJ you have one of my favourite mbuna and yours is a real looker aswell (C. Afra (Coube)) Im really disapointed with mine as he is getting a tough ride from the other afra and Tropheus.

The new stand is looking good just need the OH to get busy so you can present me with pictures of your SW aswell as your new Malawi tank

 

[kj23502]

King, my c. afra, is getting aggressive with my bumble bee every now and then. They will face each other starting about 9" apart and the afra rushes at the the bumble bee. Sometimes the "bee" just moves forward and inch or so and then back to "his" spot. It's funny the afra is rushing toward him, stops just short of contact, backs up and then rushes again a few times. The bee pretty much doesn't move a whole lot. It seems he stares at the afra and I imagine him thinking "Dumb a$$" b/c the bee is bigger and probably stronger than the afra too. I find it hilarious. To my knowledge, no contact has been made yet.

 

[kj23502]

Well, I cleaned both filters today...yes both

I know they say not to clean both at the same time, but all I did was rinse off the efimech and efisubstrate w/straight tank water, changed the filter wool junk and put them back together. That's why I just did them both, b/c I didn't change any of the efimech/efisubstrate. I think it'll be just fine. I'll find out when I test the water tomorrow.

btw, the water was really dirty in those things...lots of brown poop I think I'll do it every 4 months.

 

[chr15_8]

new stands looking good. i wanted to build one but had to buy an new one as it would take to long to build how i want it.

yopu got any recent pictures?

 

[Ace Of Spades]

Whats happend KJ? Is the stand built, have you got more fish, moved them out of the 125 Gallon. Have you conquered the world? WE MUST KNOW!!

 

[kj23502]

Still working on the stand...lol A guy is picking up some of my fish this weekend. I'm going to keep my bumble bee +4 afras. Then I'll move them when my stand is done. I'm pondering sticking my 125 in the basement instead of selling it. Save it for later just in case




Kj

 

[kj23502]

Here's a video I sent to the guy that's going to pick some of them up. Towards the end where you see the upside down triangle cave....that's what king (my male afra) is defending most of the time. That's his domain

You'll also hear various noises from the kids My 1 year old is playing the piano The other 2 kids are being boisterous and silly



edit===

by the way, all my fish made it through the treatment that I did. Cleaning the filters went just fine w/no ammonia, or nitrite issues. I didn't think there'd be any since all I did was rinse the gunk off w/aquarium water.

Also, yes I did tell the guy I treated them with stuff. I don't hide things like that. I'd want to know if that was the case when I bought fish from someone. I'm kinda wondering if the gunky/filthy filters could've been the main factor in causing their illness