Fallen In Love With Tanganyikan

[jonnyuk]

i spotted this today, was unsure about it. may get some now.

put the shells in the tank kiriyama, thank you very much. i have put 6 one end of the tank, 2 the other. the bigger brevis though thinks they are all for him (assuming him for now). he won't let the smaller brevis near any of them. until i put the shells in they swam together. hope they won't cause problems in the tank now.

 

[jonnyuk]

think i have sorted the aggression, i added a small pile of rocks in the middle of the tank at the front, by doing this i haver broken the line of sight and also broken the sand into two sections. fingers crossed it lasts.

i also spoke with mike today who said in my tank i could fit

Cyprichromis leptosoma (not the jumbo), maybe a 1m/2f or similar and also a pair Lamprologus ocelatus (i think this is what he said).

i thought the leptsoma would need far more space but mike said they should be ok given i have shell dwellers, lots of rock and open top water.

i've also canceled my juli order for now

 

[kiriyama]

Sounds good mate, the breaking the line of site thing is always a good bet, be nice to see some pics. with the new additions whatever you choose

 

[jonnyuk]

well today i went to a5 again, came away with 2 more danio's. came home and had a think about something i'd seen.

two hours later i was back buying a young pearl white calvus (so the label said). they had 4 in a tank, 2 big ones, 1 smaller one and then a very small one, i'd say no more than 1 - 1 1/2".

the smallest one was up against the side looking very sorry for its self, initially i thought it was ill but after watching some more it looked like it was been pushed out/bullied.

given i wanted a small female calvus and that it actually had the best colours (given its young age thought this was a good sign) i bought it, also thought i'd give him/her a good home.

its settled in very quickly, already coming out to the front of the tank. i've took some pics so will try and get them up over the wekend.

i'm in a real dilema about what else to put it (if anything), the small julies still appeal to me but after talking to mike the Cyprichromis leptosoma is appealing to me, they are far more active, stay small and not very terrortorial or aggressive.

 

[simonas]

very interesting thread and making me wonder about converting my bracksih tank to a similar set up. I will watch how you get on with great interest

Simon

 

[bullit]

Im sure the label said pearl calvus meaning black when i saw them Did you buy 1 or 2?
On the cyp suggestion, you dont really have any open water in your tank and from all of what ive read, they wont thrive in small tanks. Also the ocelatus are shellys aswell so your more than likely gonna have problems there.

 

[elisew]

Looking forward to seeing pics!

I thought one of my calvus was a white but they're actually both black, despite one being cream/pink . I don't really care whether they're black or white calvus though because they're both great

Post a pic on the other forum to get a confirmed Id maybe?

The cyps do get to about 5" in length so as has been said, they may not be the best idea but I can't say for certain. It sounds like you're getting there though

 

[jonnyuk]

you maybe right bullit about the labeling, i only bought one as my tank is not big enought for two (when it starts to get big i will have to sell it on anyway).

i have read very similar things to you bullit regarding the cyp, thats why i thought i was a non started. again i was under the impression any more shellies would be trouble, maybe mike did not fully understand my setup

simon go for it, i've come from a planted back ground (and still have it) but there is somthing very clean and simple about my tang tank, it looks just stunning in the flesh and even though you can get tropical fish with lots of colour, the depth of colour in cichlids is almost as good as marine.

i'll try and get pics up tonight.

elise, how are your plants doing? not sure if i need to add any ferts, how long to leave my light on etc???

 

[elisew]

Totally agree with the look of a Tang setup compared to a planted tank. I wasn`t sure if I would like the 'emptiness' of just the ocean rock and sand compared to the heavily planted tank I had before for the tropicals but I really like it

The anubia I have in my tank has done well, I put it in from my tropical setup but the vallis is looking very sorry for itself at the moment, however there are new leaves growing so I`m not too concerned. If it grows ok then I`ll be happy to leave the vallis in the tank but if it carries on looking bedraggled then I`ll simply take it out and go back to just the rocks and sand. The fact that I can`t reach the botton of the tank to plant the vallis in very well has helped and when I`ve been cleaning the sand a couple of the plants started floating
I don`t really think the fish give a hoot whether there`s plants in there or not to be honest

I don`t think vallis reacts very well to ferts so I won`t be dosing any. I have my lights on anywhere from 6 hours to 10 hours.....yes I have a bit of algae but I give the front and sides of the tank a good clean, I tend to leave a bit on the back though

 

[jonnyuk]

guess time will tell with the plants, they have not been in long enough, my fern and anubia are tied to rocks and the vallis is in a pot with rock in it, hopefully should stop them floating away.

did my first water change tonight, did aboutr 17ltr, temp matched my water and put it in. checked my ph after and it was still at 8.2>8.5 (its about 7.8 out of the tap).

also raised my water level to 2" below my light, the tankhas took on a diff look now, lots of shimmer effect going on

 

[elisew]

Nice!! Looks very similar to the second calvus I bought and that is a black one, I wasn`t sure as it was a total contrast to the first one I bought so had them both id`d on Mikes
I do 30% water changes twice weekly because of the cyps. The last batch being poorly has made me a bit paranoid about the ones I have now. I think I`ll try and extend the time between water changes slowly so that I`m down to just 1 a week. I have a painful shoulder and do find it a bit difficult lugging buckets to and fro twice a week

All you can do with the plants is give it time but it all looks good so far

 

[bullit]

looking good.

 

[jonnyuk]

over the weekend things came to a head, my male brevis had pushed all my other fish into a small section of the tank, it was also fighting non stop with the other male and stressing out the whole tank. with this in mind i decided it had to go and so yesterday it went back to the lfs.

it was a right mission to get him out, 3 hours later and a totally stripped tank he was out. In the end both brevis went because i could not tell the difference, i could normally tell by the markings, colour of the gills and also where they hung out in the tank but because they where both stressed they looked the same. i also thought i'm not going through this again so whilst i had the chance get them both out.

it took me another couple of hours to the get looking how i like, in the end i have given more floor space for shellies (to the right hand side with a cliff face to separate it from the rest of tank). i have also made allot more small little caves rather big open caves to swim through.

i think it actually looks better now, will take some pics tonight.

i'm now left with my calvus and danio's.

i'm now in a right pickle about stocking, i'd like a juli (this is why i created allot more smaller caves because i've read they like to hang in them), this leaves me with a choice of either some punks or proper shellies, decisions, decisions.

i'm gonna start another thread about the punks.

 

[kiriyama]

Sounds like a bit of courting or breeding going on there, that's when the aggro starts
100% voting for punks, you won't be dissapointed
If I hadn't got sidetracked I'm sure I would have them by now, in fact I'm thinking of them for a 20gall project
Punks mate, you'll love them

 

[elisew]

Sounds like a bit of courting or breeding going on there, that's when the aggro starts
100% voting for punks, you won't be dissapointed
If I hadn't got sidetracked I'm sure I would have them by now, in fact I'm thinking of them for a 20gall project
Punks mate, you'll love them

+1 for the Punks