Fallen In Love With Tanganyikan

[jonnyuk]

i was looking through the members photo's and saw a Tanganyikan style setup. i instantly fell in love with it and the colourful array of fish you can have.

i have just ordered a bigger tank and really hoping i could have a few Tanganyikan lake fish in it.

my tank is 87ltr 24x18x12, will be using an external fluval filter and aquabeam led lights.

i was hoping i could fit in a 2 shell dwellers (pair), 2 rock dwellers (pair) and if there is room a couple of open swimmers.

thanks

 

[kiriyama]

i was looking through the members photo's and saw a Tanganyikan style setup. i instantly fell in love with it and the colourful array of fish you can have.

i have just ordered a bigger tank and really hoping i could have a few Tanganyikan lake fish in it.

my tank is 87ltr 24x18x12, will be using an external fluval filter and aquabeam led lights.

i was hoping i could fit in a 2 shell dwellers (pair), 2 rock dwellers (pair) and if there is room a couple of open swimmers.

thanks

Is the 18 the height or the width of your tank ?

 

[jonnyuk]

hi,

length is 24"
width is 12"
height is 18"

i dropped abit of a boo really because i could of actually made it longer but its now made so nothing i can do.

 

[kiriyama]

With the height you could have a choice of rock dwellers, but it really depends what you like yourself. I'm not suggesting all of these fish or a mixture of these fish (although it could be done), the most important part of the equation is the footprint of your tank , length and width.
Suggestions....
Julidochromis Dickfeldi
Julidochromis Transcriptus (have a look at Gombe/Gombi)
Neolamprologus Leleupi
Neolamprolohus Caudopunctatus

As said I'm not suggesting all off these together, I would go for a shell dweller , you might get a Julidochromis in there also if plenty of rocks at one end or a back corner, my own tank is 30Lx12Wx15H and has had a mix of Tanganyikan in there, it didn't go without problems....
The best suggestion would be start with a small group of Neolamprologus Multifasciatus , not the most colourful but more fun than you can throw at a ten or twenty gallon it will fill uop in no time, they will use shell, hide under and in rocks, and will use the open space
Here's a link to some shell dweller info...
http/www.cichlidrecipe.com/shellweb/shell_intro.htm
Here's a link to another friendly website that deals with shell dwellers and Tangs..
http/www.shelldwellers.com/
Hope this helps a bit, don't want to bombard you with info

 

[ian]

Please don't quote the spam messages! It's hard enough as it is to clean then up.

 

[jonnyuk]

thanks for the help kiriyama, well chuffed i have a tank to do this. i can now go and do a ton of reading knowing it can be done.
some of the fish are stunning and love the biotope.

cheers

 

[elisew]

I`ve just changed from Tropical to Tangs and have found the info I got here to be excellent! Hopefully the Tangs will catch on a bit more as I honestly think they`re underrated. In a way I wish I`d changed my stock before I did.

The multies are fantastically entertaining, feisty but cute little guys. I have 8 of them in my Tang setup and I can`t stop watching them

 

[jonnyuk]

elise, it was your new tank i saw in the photo section and i instantly loved it.

i'm slowly gathering information and have drawn up a list of fish i would like.

i went to my local MD today and they said a ph of 7.5 from my tap should be fine. everything i have read has said it needs to be 7.8 +???

i'm off to wharf aquatics tomorrow to pick my tank up so will have a good look round and question the hell out of them, hoping i can get some coral to smash up and put in my filter (if i do indeed need to raise my ph), also want to pick up some nice rock all been well.

if i do need to raise my ph could i put crushed coral then sand as my substrate? i'm also going to have a few low light plants (not strictly tang but i think a few vallis will be nice), could i use a small fert substrate, then crushed coral with a plastic grid on top, then my sand? Doing this to maybe stop the plants being ripped up.

 

[elisew]

elise, it was your new tank i saw in the photo section and i instantly loved it.

i'm slowly gathering information and have drawn up a list of fish i would like.

i went to my local MD today and they said a ph of 7.5 from my tap should be fine. everything i have read has said it needs to be 7.8 +???

i'm off to wharf aquatics tomorrow to pick my tank up so will have a good look round and question the hell out of them, hoping i can get some coral to smash up and put in my filter (if i do indeed need to raise my ph), also want to pick up some nice rock all been well.

if i do need to raise my ph could i put crushed coral then sand as my substrate? i'm also going to have a few low light plants (not strictly tang but i think a few vallis will be nice), could i use a small fert substrate, then crushed coral with a plastic grid on top, then my sand? Doing this to maybe stop the plants being ripped up.

I`m glad my tank helped you to decide

If you use Ocean Rock in your tank (I think I`m right in saying) it will raise the ph anyway, mine was generally around the 7.6 when I had Tropicals yet now my ph is 8.2.

The way I set my tank up was to place the egg crate (plastic drain grid) into the base of the tank first, then put the sand in to cover the crate, then put the Ocean Rock on top of the sand. You may find that you won`t need to use crushed coral at all but if you do I`ve put some good seller links from ebay at the bottom of this post.
I did a hell of a lot of reading before deciding on making the change to a Tang setup and which fish to stock with but the most valuable advice I got was from kiriyama, doresy and bullit

Vallis is probably the closest you`ll get to the plants found in a Tang environment apparently, I`ve got a couple of Anubias in my tank at the moment but I`m dithering whether or not to take them out as they don`t really look right to me, one of my leleupi seems to really like the Anubia though. I may look at putting some Vallis in the tank instead.Not sure if you would need to use ferts as Vallis is a pretty hardy plant anyway, I think Vallis can actually melt when some ferts are used

Hope you do decide on the Tang route, it`d be nice to see someone else keeping them

Egg crate, cheapest seller around:
http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=390161172308&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT#ht_780wt_907

Ocean Rock, I used just slightly under 75kg in my tank:
http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/25kg-NEW-OCEAN-ROCK-MARINE-CHICLIDS-MALAWI-/170576638499?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Fish&hash=item27b728f223#ht_1894wt_1141

Coral Sand, although I have Unipak 'Congo' sand in my tank:
http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/25Kgs-New-WHITE-Coral-Sand-1-2mm-Cichlids-marine-/170576638504?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Fish&hash=item27b728f228#ht_1586wt_1141

 

[kiriyama]

I have coral gravel covered with sand,
coral gravel in a media bag in external filter,
ocean rock
tufa rock
in another tank I have the caribsea cichlid sand
pH from my tap is bang on 7
the coral in the filter will give you a constant buffer, you can only add so much aragonite then it stops raising the pH any further...
with a mixture of these methods my pH sits at 7.8, I had my Multies and caudpunk and juliin 7.4, they were fine, the secret is to keep it constant/steady and not fluctuating which will do more harm....
Go for it, you wont be dissapointed mate,

 

[jonnyuk]

thanks for the links, i think i will try and get the ph up, seems to be what every body does. i'd rather go with the masses rather that what my lfs said.

based on the fact i'm going to raise my ph, how long would it take for it to rise and stabilise? if i use ocean rock and coral sand it could push the ph to high, maybe? (just read your reply you wrote as i was writing this)

for my shell dwellers i'm thinking of Lamprologus similis, maybe 6 of these and see what happens in terms of pairing up.

i would love a couple of rock dwellers and some of the Cyprichromis family to fill the up layer.

i have vallis in my planted tank and they are the best growers, i do want to try and incorporate them in my tank.

 

[kiriyama]

Sims would be an interesting choice, I think they behave a bit different from Multies with regard to breeding and colonies but don't quote me on that, I'm wrong about most other things, just ask my Mrs
Not sure how long the pH would take to go up but I had my Multies in plain old tap and then added rocks at a later date, hardy little blighters...TOUGH...
vallis is fine , I only have Java Fern because I kill everything else Not sure about adding the other species, best do some homework on them first, have a look at the link and the forum I sent, see what you can pick up there, theres also a cichlid forum (think its called just that) , pick up sime info there, good luck bud, looking forward to seeing what you come up with

 

[jonnyuk]

thanks for the tips guys, kiriyama notice in your picks that you have some snails. what type are they, i also always assumed snails/shrimp don't mix with cichlids as they would become dinner, is this right?

think i have decided on crushed coral then sand on top, crushed coral in my filter and see how it goes. there is a type of sand i'm going to use. its not play sand which i have read can make the tank look like a sand storm.
when i find the link again i'll post it up. if i need to add ocean rock then i will, reason i'm not adding straight away is i want dark/textured rock and i've not seen the colouration i'm after in ocean rock yet.

thiking of having a two sided cliff face rock arragment effect (not able to swim through) and sand beds each side for the shell dwellers, hopefully this may break up the terotories for both shell dwellers and rock dwellers.

picking up the tank, so excited

cheers

 

[kiriyama]

thanks for the tips guys, kiriyama notice in your picks that you have some snails. what type are they, i also always assumed snails/shrimp don't mix with cichlids as they would become dinner, is this right?

think i have decided on crushed coral then sand on top, crushed coral in my filter and see how it goes. there is a type of sand i'm going to use. its not play sand which i have read can make the tank look like a sand storm.
when i find the link again i'll post it up. if i need to add ocean rock then i will, reason i'm not adding straight away is i want dark/textured rock and i've not seen the colouration i'm after in ocean rock yet.

thiking of having a two sided cliff face rock arragment effect (not able to swim through) and sand beds each side for the shell dwellers, hopefully this may break up the terotories for both shell dwellers and rock dwellers.

picking up the tank, so excited

cheers

Ah the thrill of the new tank, I'm still itching after picking uo one yesterday, it's basically a spare hood and base at different sizes so the tank was made "funny" shape to use them
The snails are Assassin Snails, I added them to elimimate some MTS and pest snails, I was over run, guilty of overfeeding...it's funny to watch the Multies lift them away from near there shell and dumo them unharmed at the other end of the tank...I have sold most of the baby assassins but theres still a few in the tank, if you havn't sourced your shells yet I have some unused Escargot boxed ready for posting and lots of used eascargot,turbo,and a few tonna
Have you decided what species your adding yet ?

 

[Mystil]

Good luck!

If you do decided to buy ocean rock I personally would phone your local maidenhead (if you have one) and they may do ocean rock in sacks, not individual and it costs £30 for 25kg. I have not seen ocean rock in the colour you want. It does dull down after a while due to the algae.

Also Argos sand costs almost nothing. Aquatic sands as you probably know cost the earth!

I have had it in my Mbuna tank for over a year with no problems. To stop the sand storm effect just make sure it is very well swilled and cleaned in a bucket out in the garden till the water runs clear.

The only problem I had with Coral sand is that it really scratches the glass if you are not careful about cleaning and it is abit of a pain to clean around rocks. I did try to mix coral sand and normal sand in my mbuna tank but gave up as it just turned into a huge mess as the fish dug it all over.

Not sure about shelldwellers digging abilities.

Keep us updated.