Mbuna Tank

[BORDER]

Hey

I have had my Tank going with fish in for 3 weeks today, after having some issues with the water readings i got some media from my LFS and added it seems to have done the trick very nicely, i now have ammonia and nitrite readings of 0 and my ph is smack on 8.2, so i am very happy with the water quality at the moment. i started with 4 fish and yesterday purchased 4 more. i dont want to buy any more until i am 100% happy that the media from LFS has done its job ( however i do need to introduce more fish to make more media - so i have done this by adding a few more juvenilles )

these are the fish i have now ( juvenille - all no larger than 1.5 inches )

2 x melonochromis johannii
2 x pseudotropheous demasoni
2 x labidochromis caeruleus
1 x psuedotropheous crabro ( smallest in tank - 1 inch max )
1 x synodontis multipunctatuts

I have a 3ft 120 litre tank with ocean coral/rock and fine grade aquatic sand, there are plenty of hiding spaces for them all and everything seems to be going very well, they all are fit healthy looking fish.
i understand that 120 litre is a base level tank and muna are better suited to a larger one, and in the not too distant future i will look into upgrading to a 4/5 ft

( before its pointed out ) - i do know the CRABRO is a bigger fish in adult form than the others, and i am bearing this in mind, hopefully i will upgrade to a larger tank before he out grows my current tank or my LFS have said as long as he is in good condition they are more than willing to take him back ( so his size isnt an issue at the moment )

so what i would like to ask is ..

with the situation in my tank as it is , what sort of NITRATE readings should i be expecting and what sort of readings are considered normal ( ok ) ...and not normal ( need water change )

I am aware that i must change the water every week as mbuna are messy eaters and S*&T alot...lol , but i would just like some advice on what sort of nitrate readings some of you get in your tanks, hopefully this will give me an idea.

Thanks


managed to get a few pics of them today ( normally they are shy ...lol )

 

[dthoffsett]

Looks good so far. I'm glad to hear you are willing to upgrade as it will become necessary as they start reaching sexual maturity (around 2.5" for most of them, p.demansoni will be at around 1.5" I believe).

My only concerns at this point would be the m.johanni, while they are on the lower end of aggression for melanochromis; those species are among the most aggressive mbuna.

And the p.demasoni, through much trial and error (mostly error ), experienced demasoni keepers have found they do best in groups of 12+, or just kept as a single specimen. They tend to ignore any species that doesn't look like them, but they are hyper aggressive towards conspecifics. The fighting can get nasty in groups smaller than 12, and you usually end up with only one fish in the end.

There has been much debate over nitrates, it is believed that no long term damage occurs in nitrate levels of 400ppm or less, personally I try to keep them under 50. The best way to determine when to do water changes is to test you tank daily for a couple of weeks, if your nitrate raises 25ppm or more, do a water change. By doing this for 2 weeks (or more if you want), you'll get a good sense of how often to do water changes, just remember this will change as they grow and/or you add more fish.

Having excellent filtration will help as well, it's generally recommend to have a total tank turn over rate of 10x or more.

 

[BORDER]

Thanks for the answer

I guess it could be going ok then as my nitrate's are at about 50 at the moment, after a water change drop to about 25 ( ish ) so from what your explaining thats not too bad.

as for the johannii, when i visted my lfs i explained exactly what fish i had and asked them which would be better between the johannii or powder blues , and was recomended the johannii.
( maybe that was a mistake on their behalf )...but for the moment i will stay as is and keep a close eye on the activity in the tank, its in my front room so the fish are on display alot. If it appears they are getting to big for thier boots i will return them to the shop .

i guess it is alot of trial and error ( hopefully with help from people here there wont be too many errors ... lol ) and seeing which fish seem ok with others, although at the moment there is a small amount of chasing its nothing that i find concerning and all the fish seem to be ok.

filtration i have an eheim 2334 which is good for a 200 litre tank ( mine is 120 ), plus i do also have the inbuilt filter working so i would hazard a guess that my filtration is adequate.

It has also been exlained that in a tank of mbuna sometimes heavily stocking can help deal with the agression ( but obviously no more than the tank can handle ) so i am aiming at around 12-15 fish in total ( i have 8 at the moment ), and i will be looking for more less agressive to add , possibly going for more yellow labs as they seem to get on with everyone else just fine .

again with the upgrade i am aware these fish will grow and that the stocing of the tank will be more important in a few months when they start to reach their adult size. which brings me to a question i have, how long in general does it take for these fish to reach their adult size, are they generally slow growing fish or quick. this might help me with determining the amount of time i have to prepare for a tank upgrade.

i have already been looking into what would be a next step given the space i have available for a new tank , and my lfs do make custom tanks at a very good price so on my next visit i will start asking.

thanks again for your help it is appreciated....

 

[dthoffsett]

IME crabro's grow very quickly, mine when from about 1 1/2" to 5" in just a couple of months. Labs seem to be the slowest growing, taking 6 months or more to reach adult size, again that's IME. A lot of things can effect growth, frequency and size of water changes, genetics, feeding, etc.

 

[BORDER]

I have recently got some new fish and added them to the tank, I had to get rid of the melonochromis johannii ( they got too big for their boots ) thankfully my LFS are very good at taking fish back.

at the moment all the fish i have seem to get on very well.

I have had a small change around in the tank by adding some more rocks and removing the tree root.. ( i decided i didnt like it ) and i think it looks alot better now , still have some things i want to add but as far as fish go i think i will stay with 12, seems to be a nice little community i have now.

Recently spoken to LFS about a custom tank and all being well i should be able to upgrade considerably for about £300 , going from a 120 litre 3ft .. to .. 250 litre 4ft

i have a little saving to do but hopefully i will get them to start building it very soon.

hope you enjoy my pics they arent the best but i am getting better

Tropheus Moori - Tanganyikan

Iodotropheus sprengerae

Pseudotropheus estherae

 

[Ace Of Spades]

Woahh your tank is looking awesome mate welldone, I am currently is the process of researching fish for my new tank, as I am new to Cichlids and wanted a nice community of them, new tanks is going to be about 118 USGallons I think I particually like the Tropheus Moori and P.demasoni how many do recon I could keep in a tank this size?

 

[BORDER]

Thanks

I am becoming very happy with it so far , i want to add a little more height to it with a few more smaller rocks, but its almost where i want it now.

I cant comment on how many to have, some say 12 demasoni's or a single specimen, it seems malawi's are alot of trial and error hopefully with not to many errors...

one thing I can say , melonochromis johannii are very agressive in my short experience ... however I really do think alot of the aggression is actually down to the fish themselves. some are mild tempered some seem more agressive ( same species ) so i would recommend to steer clear of them until you are more experienced.

I would suggest as others say , getting all your fish in a short period of time, this from what i understand does help with the agression and the pecking order in the community.

yellow labs are great fish and do very well with others , and from what I have found so are rusty malawi's they also seem very mild in agression, also very beautifull under a good light.

alot of people seem to say the Crabro is an agressive fish , but in the time i have had mine, I have yet to see any agrression at all from him..maybe that might change with age...

With regards to the moori , since i have got mine ...i found out they are more prone to BLOAT than malawi's and tend to harbour more things like this...having said that...its a mild mannered very nice fish that will turn into something very stunning when its older....( i hope )

hopefully more experienced people here will be able to point you in a better direction..

but good luck

waiting to see some pics

 

[kj23502]

Looks Awesome!! You did a great job taking pics as well!!