Help With Mbuna Set Up

[ANIM4L]

I am going to be setting up a 60 gallon mbuna tank. I have been reading and reading and reading and so far i have found that i have most of everything, i need a substrate, and i will be adding an emporer biowheel ontop of my rena xp2 cannister, but iwth the substarte, i was going to use tahitian moon black sand, but now i dont want to, because it wont look natural. I can easily get my hands on crushed coral and aragonite. How do you clean these? Like sand half an inch above, or like gravel stirring? are these the most pleasing to the eye? and in a 60 gallon how many pounds would i need? I wouldnt mind getting play sand, but it is just so hard to clean, but i dont mind which one, whatever you guys think looks and is best. What else would i need to do? How do i set up rocks so that they dont fall over? The rocks i have are like dead rock from a fish store, its for freshwater, and they look amazing, very unique. im new to the whole mbuna thing, but i have kept community, angels onl tank, things like that. any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated. also any suggestions on fish? and how many? Thanks!

 

[freddyk]

Most of your questions are about personal preference. I can tell you I think crushed coral looks ugly and is usually chosen for it's buffering abilities, but that won't help if you don't agree. Brown is generally the color of the sand in there bio-tope if you want natural looking. For rocks I've always just stacked them up, but some people silicone glue them together for a sturdier formation. Have you checked out the pinned artical yet?

 

[ANIM4L]

ya i checked out the pinned article. after lots of reading i went with the crushed coral, i think it may still look ok. i got 60 pounds of it. now for the ornaments, how do i make them stay on the base. i read things about "egg-grates"whatever that is, styrafoam, or whatelese can i use?

 

[keane]

ya i checked out the pinned article. after lots of reading i went with the crushed coral, i think it may still look ok. i got 60 pounds of it. now for the ornaments, how do i make them stay on the base. i read things about "egg-grates"whatever that is, styrafoam, or whatelese can i use?

Hi,

When I first set my tank up I went with sand.

Hated it!! Looks bland and dark when the lighting isn't on, gets dirty too quick and makes the tank look ugly.

I then changed to Marine gravel.....

Does a good buffering job, fish have more fun digging with it and, IMO, looks far better than sand (with lights on and off). Easy to clean aswell. Same way as you would standard gravel

Eggcrate, is a term used by Electricians. It's what they use to hang lighting on. You can get it but it's quite expensive.

I used this.....

Its actually used as a base or something in pond filtration.

I have just tried to look at the link but it doesn't exist anymore, sorry .

Have a mooch on the web for places that do pond filtration and you should find some.

HIH

Steve

 

[Luke & Penny]

some nice rocks you have in there keane, I went with the gravel that was in the tank when i got it, nothing wrong with it along with mature water it helped me steer away from new tank syndrome allowing me to get all my malawis in one go.
As for the rocks animal, like freddy said you can silicone them together, just stack em or use milliput which is what i did, at first it looked a pale off white colour once it had hardened but now over time its starting to get covered like the rocks are and soon you wont be able to tell, i didnt attach them all together in one big chunk i did lots of little seperate cave formations.
ive put some pics below to try to give you an idea. Youve come to the best place, i wouldnt have managed this not been for the help i got on here.

View from the side

Some of the fish

Excuse me for the algae on the back have to get some new razor blades for the scraper so it was left like that.

 

[keane]

Lookin' good Luke.

Would suggest you take out the Clown Loach(es) though.

They are omnivorous and require a protein filled diet, whereas the majority of your Mbuna are herbivorous.

Your clowns will require food stuffs such as bloodworm and other high protein stuffs to have a healthy life.

These foods are dangerous to Mbuna because their digestional systems cannot break down the proteins, resulting in the infamous Malawi Bloat and subsequent death.

steve

 

[freddyk]

how do i make them stay on the base. i read things about "egg-grates"whatever that is, styrafoam, or whatelese can i use?

I've always put the rocks on the glass bottom and then placed the substrate (if you place the rocks on the substrate the mbuna could dig under them). Aquariums are designed with this type of weight in mind, you can use precautions if it makes you sleep better, but you don't need it.

 

[ANIM4L]

ok i could get my hands on some of that pond stuff, but what do i do? Do you set the rocks on it so that they cant dig under the rocks and then place the gravel ontop? I just wanna make sure i dont wake up to a flooded room cuz a rock fell. I got my hands on a lot more lace rock, so i can make lots and lots of cool caves now, but i havent set it all up yet. I am waiting till after christmas and then i will set upi the tank and then a week later, after some algea grows for them, and the tank matures better, ill think about the fish. So ya, what do i do about the rocks? this is what i have for the tank:

~ 60 pounds of CaribSea Geo-Marine Florida Crushed Coral (Fine rocks, not sharp! )
~ Rena 200 Watt Heater (May exchange for a 250, just to stabalize temp easier)
~ Rena XP2 Cannister Filter
~ Emporer 280 Bio-Wheel (I know it is for up to 50 gallons, but that is close to my tank water in gallons cuz of the ornaments and what not, plus, it is a damn good filter, so you think it will hold up fine iwth the rena, or should i get the 350 for up to 80 gallons?)
~ Over 90 Pounds of Lace Rock, so i can mix and match and do whatever
~ 3X40 Watt Bulbs ( 40 Watt LifeGlo2, 40 Watt PowerGlo, 40 Watt MarineGlo)
~ Massive amounts of live plants from my live plant tank, ill try different ones, see what lives, and if it gets eaten, then no big deal. I will be putting in Java Fern and Anubis Plants.

anything else i need??? ad ya, the rocks, what to do about them falling?

 

[Luke & Penny]

hiya keane

My clown loach feeds on the tropical flakes i give him and the catfish sinkers, and will have a chomp on algae wafers.

my malawis eat spirulina flake and cichlid pellets and i also get a special malawi cichlid frozen food. although saying that they will take bits of prawns aswell.

Not sure if thats right or wrong but no one else has corrected me otherwise even the bloke in my LFS, now your getting me worried hope i aint done anything wrong, i do know that other mbuna keepers have kept clowns in with them too.

 

[freddyk]

I just wanna make sure i dont wake up to a flooded room cuz a rock fell.

If rocks fall to the bottom then the substrate will cushion the fall. If it falls against the side of the tank then you're out of luck. If you don't want a rock to fall, make sure you build them up in a sturdy formation. The point of egg crate in theory is to spread out the weight a bit better across the bottom of the tank, but it won't save you from a sloppy rock setup that collapses.

L&P, it sounds like your doing fine - you're feeding a variety of stuff and nothing inherantly bad for the fish. Plus you'll be pleased to know that the larger portion of mbuna are actually omnivores.

 

[keane]

L&P, it sounds like your doing fine - you're feeding a variety of stuff and nothing inherantly bad for the fish. Plus you'll be pleased to know that the larger portion of mbuna are actually omnivores.

i stand corrected.

 

[Luke & Penny]

Thanks freddy, i was getting worried for a minute there. I know that they cant have some frozen food like the bloodworm even though it says on the back for cichlids but only mentions angels etc, the one i get is brineshrimp enriched with spirulina, and on reverse its states only really suitable for malawi cichlids.

Thank you though Keane for the concern, its nice to know people will speak out and bring stuff like this to your attention rather than worry about making a mistakein front of people.

I suppose we all learn something new everyday, im still way down the bottom of the chain when it comes to this type of fish.

Animal, with most of my ocean rock that i have in my tank its stacks quiote easily with it being weirdly shaped, but if your not sure dont take the chance, get some silicone or milliput ( ie Aquascape ), its cheap enough and that way you can sleep a little easier.
Some of my rocks were stable to a certain point in my mind but i was thinking ahead when the fish get bigger and therefore more clumsier and stronger being able to topple these rocks.
hope this helps