Nanochromis teugelsi

[anewbie]

On march 9th i purchased a pair of Nanochromis teugelsi that were near adult size and put them i a 10. While the two of them have been not too aggressive with each other every day i felt a little guilty putting them in such a small aquarium.

I don't really have space for a new aquarium but i scooted some things over and it measured 35 inches so i figure i could squeeze in yet another 29.

So earlier this week i purchased a few items:

I consider the aqueon stand a bit over priced but it is reliable and better reliable then regrets later. Normally i would not buy a canister filter and use a corner matten filter but i have a lot going on and in the end they were about the same price.

Friday i drove over to pet smart and picked up a 1/2 price 29 (I do have a spare 20 but prefer a 29 - and it was cheap - well cheaper than everything else):

Later today i will drag it outside and wash it out with a hose and either today or tomorrow or maybe monday setup the stand. Then i'll poke around the closet and wave a wand and find some substrate and maybe a light. So pictures to follow. For now this is the pairs 10:

And this is the male wrapped up in his favorite leaf:

I didn't see the female this morning and i know earlier this week the male dug a cave under the driftwood so i'm a little worried she is nesting; if that is the case it might be a while before they get moved to their new home.

 

[anewbie]

So at 2:30pm i went down stairs and decided to move forward; i took down a few trusty tools only to discover none of them are useful:

This is what the stand looks like out of the box:

This is what it looks like partially assembled (nothing screwed in); turns out i didn't take a full picture but this shows the corner that needs 3 screw (there are 2 corner so 6 screws). I had forgotten that they screw into the metal which has insert but not screw holes so a power drill is best for putting them in.

but upstairs to get the power drill:

H

I don't do a lot of screwing around so i hadn't used it in a while - couldn't say how long - but probably a year. Needless to say it lacked the juice to do the job so....:

Time to charge up the battery pack. I also noticed this issue:

It is of course very minor but being a dot your i cross your t lazy sob rather then contact amazon i shot off an email to aqueon support. If they say it won't compromise the tank (i'll save the message and sue their asses off if it does); then i'll use it - else i'll have to return it.

In other news i rinsed out the 29:

Around 3 i gave up and fed the fishes turned off the lights and went back up stairs. aqueon won't respond till next week so things are stall till then. Chances are i will have to return it for replacement which will delay things a week or 10 days.

 

[anewbie]

Rather than wait for an aqueon response - i went ahead and boxed the stand up and am doing an amazon return with the expected replacement on the 28th. If it arrives on the 28th i'll do some screwing around on the 28th or 29th. While waiting i found some driftwood in my closet and will soak that with a partial bag of carib sea substrate that was open. It won't be enough so i'll mix it with something - just hope the wall doens't fall down in the closet as i remove wood.

 

[anewbie]

So i found some drift-wood and these were the two options i came up with:

And i chose the 2nd one - the big reason is that piece of drift wood on the left has wonderful carved out bottom:

The phone doesn't really do a good job of showing the 3d of the wood but the area under it is deep enough for the height of a fish; though if they choose it they can dig a bit more to make it roomy. I've never been a fan of unnatural caves like pots or even coconut shells but prefer more natural ones with wood and rocks.

 

[GaryE]

My teugelsi wouldn't use coco caves. They liked to dig out a cave, so I would put two rocks on the bottom glass with a flat rock set to settle on them as the digging got serious.

I'm trying not to get excited as I'll know this week if I can get a few pairs to keep them again. THose, Nannochromis transvstitius and N parilus... fingers crossed. I've bred them all before, but I just like them.

 

[anewbie]

My teugelsi wouldn't use coco caves. They liked to dig out a cave, so I would put two rocks on the bottom glass with a flat rock set to settle on them as the digging got serious.

I'm trying not to get excited as I'll know this week if I can get a few pairs to keep them again. THose, Nannochromis transvstitius and N parilus... fingers crossed. I've bred them all before, but I just like them.

So you don't think they would dig under the driftwood and make their own cave? In the past all west africans i've owned loved to dig out a cave. While not the most exciting this is one such cave:

 

[GaryE]

They might. My understanding, which may be wrong, is that they come from rocky habitats along the margins of the Congo. There should be wood there. I don't use a lot of driftwood here, and the slate caves were always a hit with Nanochromis.

They probably also come from small streams and tributaries flowing into the great river. They seem built for that world. I think if we tried to keep these fish in a bare tank, they'd do nothing but fight. With sand or gravel, their excavations become very busy. It's part of the breeding ritual. So the coconut cave type set up is too prefabricated. They like to make their own caves. They like to dig.

Pelvicachromis love coco caves.

I need to go out and get some slate. The only local deposits I've found are off limits, on parkland. I'm surrounded by massive shale veins, but I don't quite trust it. What shale is varies so much, and this has seemed stable when I've put it in water and tested over a few weeks. There has to be a continuum of shale becoming slate with historic pressure. I guess. I'd love to use this stuff.

 

[anewbie]

yea around here there is tons of shale but getting slate that is aquarium suitable is difficult. I was able to source some large pieces for my clown loach caves which they generally share with others. I have a small box of smaller slate but i've never trusted it so i'm reluctant to use it.

 

[anewbie]

New stand came today of course the box had a nice hole in it:

On the bright side it made a nice little hand hole to carry the box down stairs; they are kind of akward to carry and aqueon should put a handle on the box. asus or lian put handles on their case boxes. Anyway took it downstairs and put it together - should have taken 10 minutes but took 30 - the issue is that the screw for the corners - the lower screw are difficult for the drill to get to - my bit is about:

3 inches long - and you really need 6 or 7 to get the right angle on screw #3. Of course aqueon could put a little cut on the opposite edge to allow the bit (or screw driver) to go straight in but they didn't. Another engineering oops.

One nice thing about the aqueon stand is the notches on the 4 corners to help align the tank - i have another metal stand that you just set it on the top and hope it fits right - here there is still room for error but it is smaller.

We have the tank - i put in about 1/4 to 1/2 inch of water to make sure it doesn't leak from the bottom and tomorrow i will add substrate and maybe get the canister filter running as well as the drift wood into the tank - maybe some of it will be done thursday - i can be pretty lazy.
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I went back and removed one of the corner and put on the decorative panel:

Hum. You can flip them for a sick orange if sick orange is your preference - i prefer black - the bottom they say a 10 will fit but in truth because of how it aligns on the bar you either need a board for a 10 or just go with a 5 if you want to put something on the bottom.

Not a great stand and probably my last aqueon product. I'm pretty happy with fluval but never been an aqueon fan.

Anyway in other news i have to deal with this mess:

Those little streaks you see below her are well one giant mess to be. They get the left over bbs after i feed the much prefer n. transvestitus which are actually in the tank next to them. Also the n. transvestitus are much better parents giving their kids hugs and snacks while those guys will leave the kids for a while and go play volleyball.

 

[anewbie]

Some more setup pictures:

First i set up the fluval 207 - it comes with 3 media baskets - they insist you should rinse them out which is not a bad idea:

Top basket has phosphate pad and carbon media - kind of worthless except in some very special situation - i replace it with a piece of 10 ppi sponge. The sponge i use is not quite as tight as i could (should) have made it so some water will flow around it. I have a lot of spare sponge so could replace it; leave it or buy fluval's sponge if i want to spend $14 to buy some sponges from fluval give or take 4 dollars depending on where you buy it. I might buy some when i replenish my fish food from kens if they have it for cheap. Right now it is $12 but i would need a larger order for free shipping.

2nd basket has bio-balls. Not a fan of bio-balls for many reasons - out they go and in goes more sponge.

3rd basket is their polishing filter with a sponge below it. Usually i remove the polishing pad because it can clog but i left it for now.

I did consider adding some peat in filter bag to the 2nd basket but not really needed here and didn't want to open one of my few remaining boxes (though one can always buy more if they want to spend money).


Next i need a source of air for the sponge filters - the 29 is next to the 120 which on the other side has one open valve on thingy so i will use that - since i have a pre-cut piece of tubing laying around that is long enough to reach the 29....

we get this - this setup is kind of sloppy as the there is a long tube that goes ....

from here which is way over to the left of the tank it runs behind the discus tank around the corner along the way all the way past the 120 to the thingy. That thingy runs two sponge filters for the 120 and the matten filter/sponge filter for the 29 to the right of the 120 - now we are going back left to feed this new 29. This little ol pump runs 13 aquariums that are filter with air alone along with sponge filters in the 120 and discus aquariums. Pumps are the best !

This morning we added some substrate and this after-noon just before mucking with the canister filter we added substrate and driftwood to the 29:

I learned that it is now difficult to lift a 50lb bag above an aquarium to pour it in - just two years ago i was doing bag after bag - oh well how we weaken when we forget to lift out substrate. The ruler shows it is approx 2.5 inch deep:

For the driftwood on the right i can only slide it left or right as it is too long to rotate and still fit in the other piece. So unless someone has a bold suggestion on how to change it i'll leave it the way it is.

The spray bar also offer an interesting issue - if i want both pieces in the tank i have to cut the other a bit shorter (not a huge deal) and if i want more current i can run the bar low as this is a species that like current though the dithers might feel otherwise. Right now i'm thinking 15 jelly beans and 6 to 8 Neolebias ansorgii; neither actually found with this fish (though perhaps n. ansorgii is as it wasnt' clear from what i read); hopefully both will stay in stock for ordering next week.

game plan - tomorrow fill the tank and start the filter running and add the top. friday or sunday add some plants and a light (still need to check what i have). mid next week swap the sponge filters with ones that have been in use for 5 or 6 months and add some small fishes - then i will check daily for ammonia to raise above 0.25 and do water changes et all as needed. This typically takes 3 to 5 days and the tank will be fully cycled by the week after. Then wait an extra week and see if the n. teugelsi want to join the party - if they say no - keep sweet talking them until they change their mind.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

You are over filtered, imo. The two cube-filters run on air would likely have been enough for a well stocked 29. I ran 40 breeders well stocked with plecos using two 5x5x5 inch cubefilters.

As part of my downsizing and tendency to overbuy, I have been selling a lot of stuff. Last Friday at my club meeting I delivered:
1 Mattenfilter 20ppi, 12”x3”x113/4” w/2 x 8” Jetlifters. Used
1 Mattenfilter 30 ppi, 12”x2”x113/8 w/8” Jetlifter. New
1 Sheet Orange 20 ppi, 12”x3”x12” New
1 Sheet 30 ppi, 12”x3”x12” New
3 x Sheets 20 ppi, 12”x2”x11.5” 1 Used, 2 New

I charged him $100. I have a pile of assorted ppi, used cubefilters with cubelifters to go as well. They are 3x3, 4x4 and 5x5.

 

[GaryE]

I'll argue you aren't overfiltered, since it's a Nanochromis teugelsi tank. It has nothing to do with stocking - you could put two small teugelsi in there alone and still need heavy water flow. They can at times become very rowdy around breeding time, and the extra energy burned in moving water seems to solve that. That water should move for a species from the edge of the Congo River.

Alas, my attempts to get teugelsi have fallen to geopolitics, as all airlines to my province have downsized their aircraft to save fuel, and fish as cargo are out. I'd have to drive a fair distance and gas would equal the cost of shipping. Plus the time. So I'm taking one filter off the tank I'd prepared for them, and giving it over to cory group fish.

 

[anewbie]

You are over filtered, imo. The two cube-filters run on air would likely have been enough for a well stocked 29. I ran 40 breeders well stocked with plecos using two 5x5x5 inch cubefilters.

As part of my downsizing and tendency to overbuy, I have been selling a lot of stuff. Last Friday at my club meeting I delivered:
1 Mattenfilter 20ppi, 12”x3”x113/4” w/2 x 8” Jetlifters. Used
1 Mattenfilter 30 ppi, 12”x2”x113/8 w/8” Jetlifter. New
1 Sheet Orange 20 ppi, 12”x3”x12” New
1 Sheet 30 ppi, 12”x3”x12” New
3 x Sheets 20 ppi, 12”x2”x11.5” 1 Used, 2 New

I charged him $100. I have a pile of assorted ppi, used cubefilters with cubelifters to go as well. They are 3x3, 4x4 and 5x5.

So this comment on what you sold is not relevant. What you might be commenting is buying used filters from you is cheaper than the canister filter but that is a comment on price not filtration level. As to whether it was orange of black is also not relevant.

As most of my aquariums have matten filters i am well familiar with them but again there are trade offs.

Certainly if you were willing to drive down here and provide me the sponges for a reasonable price that would be cheaper but you weren't willing to drive down here and when i made the purchase decision when shipping and other trade off were considered i found it just easier to put this aquarium on a canister.
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As for filtration level well it might be more then i need but it might not - one of the factors i was considering ... next post.

 

[anewbie]

I'll argue you aren't overfiltered, since it's a Nanochromis teugelsi tank. It has nothing to do with stocking - you could put two small teugelsi in there alone and still need heavy water flow. They can at times become very rowdy around breeding time, and the extra energy burned in moving water seems to solve that. That water should move for a species from the edge of the Congo River.

So again filtration level vs current flow are not directly related though using a canister filter for current as oppose to wave maker, power head or what have you is a different discussion.

Having said that one concern is that most of the current with the canister filter is surface current vs mid level current which is actually fairly relevant here given your comment. Conversely if i stick with 15 jelly beans and 6 to 8 Neolebias ansorgii as dithers neither of these species is going to want strong current creating a bit of a conflict. I do kind of want to stay below 1 to 1.5 inch for the dithers as i don't like the larger fishes esp in an aquarium as small as a 29. I didn't have much luck finding cohabitant list for n. teugelsi. There is the bumblee barb which is around 1.5 size and frequently found with n. teugelsi (Enteromius hulstaerti) or jae barb (Enteromius jae) though the jae barb is not a fan of strong current and neither are availalb.e

 

[GaryE]

Whether there's filtration media or space attached to a pump is immaterial. I'll run an HOB or a canister if I want current. I can also run a powerhead or a wavemaker, if I have one around. They all do the job. A little extra bio or mechanical filtration never hurts.

Neolebias ansorgii, jellybeans, hulstaertis and especially jae are poor 'dithers' for teugelsi, as they share the same niche. Jellybeans are the least substrate oriented of the choices, but the barbs and Distochodids like the bottom of the tank as much as Cichids do.

It's a bit of a trap in a tank. If you go with Phenecogrammus or Bathyaethiops, the larger Characins seem to dominate. I had almost no spawning activity from Parananochromis gabonicus until I moved my not especially large adult moon tetras to another tank. As soon as the Characins were out, the gabonicus started courting. And there, we're talking a heavily planted 75 gallon with 8 Characins and three gabonicus.

I've been pushed into geocheating with South Amerian Characins as my target fish for some African rainforest dwarfs. It's partly availability for me, but even if I could get them all, it would be hard to choose function fish like that.

I bred up a pile of black neons that are now adults working safely in the dither trade. I don't like mixing fish from different regions, let alone continents, but even having Phenacos or moons with gabonicus is regionally wrong. Where we caught gabonicus, there were no shoalers and the water was only a foot deep.