Thinking Of Changing From Tropical Community To Mbuna Or Tanganyikan

[elisew]

i lost my shellie fry for a second time. They all hatched but died in this fry thing i made (well i saved a couple but they died after a few weeks for some reason. I ve just moved my spare 2 males out so theres just mum and dad in the 35 now so will leave it to them this time. She looks like she gonna drop any day aswell.

Elise how are you finding your calvus for entertainment? I think im gonna get some comps you see. Also any chance of describing your other fish aswell . It might give me some ideas.

Sorry to hear about your shellie fry. I was disappointed when all of my multi fry seemed to disappear when I moved them out of the big tank so can sympathise with you
Fingers crossed that things progress with just the Mum and Dad in there

It`s a bit difficult to give a description on the lucipinnis as I`ve not had them long and haven`t been lucky enough to see them at their best yet but I can say that they`re striking in their markings and activeness so far.

My calvus are placid, very laid back but can protect themsleves if the punks have a go at them. They`re very interesting in the way they protect themselves, they curl their bodies outwards so that their scales stick out and it makes it more difficult for the other fish to hurt them. Both of mine seem to have become more friendly and the second one I bought sits outside of one pile of ocean rock watching the other one who sits inside, it`s quite funny when you see it first hand

The cyps are very active compared to the first lot I had, they swim all over the tank, majoritively around the top but they`re happy to swim down too and they seem to hang around the rocks too.

The ventralis are very active and zip around all over the place. They occasionally give each other a quick nudge but there`s no aggression at all.

The multis are in a separate tank so the interaction is obviously between themselves. They`re funny and feisty and really cute. They`ve completely redesigned the sand in the tank in just the shirt time they`ve been in there, there are mounds of sand all over the place. They`re real little workers who never seem to stop. I hope they`ll breed again soon.

Then there`s the punks......an entertainment all by themselves!! They`re lovely to look at, but boy are they feisty
They seem to be great, protective parents so far and at the moment I have some vallis growing near where the fry are and it`s so funny to watch the parents attacking the leaves of the vallis because it`s swayed too close.....I can sit for hours watching them all together. My Husband wasn`t a great fan of the Tropical setup I had but he loves watching the Tangs and has found them to be so interesting.

All of my fish will colour up as they mature, so with the entertainment value and the coming improvement in colour, I am absolutely chuffed to bits that I chose the Tangs over the Malawi

 

[bullit]

cheers for that. I will def need some open water swimmers for the top. A cyp of some sort. I fancy a group of goldheads but dont want them just sitting around lol. I have one pile of rocks so whether i can have comps and something else, i dont know.
Since ive put the 2 shellies in the 4ft they seem to be load braver. They normally ran for cover before so thats good. It will be home for them for a while though as i dont know when ill be putting anything else in yet. Im glad your enjoying them

 

[woody88]

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[elisew]

So when is "EliseW's Tanganyikan Aquatics" opening up?

Sucessfully raising some fry was a great positive for me as I'm sure it is for many, especially after some of the low points I've had during the last nine months. Congratualtions!

lol@ EliseW`s Tanganyikan Aquatics

Having a breeding pair of punks is great but it`s also frustrating at times, I do sympathise that some things could have been better this last year for you. Chin up Goat.....things will improve

cheers for that. I will def need some open water swimmers for the top. A cyp of some sort. I fancy a group of goldheads but dont want them just sitting around lol. I have one pile of rocks so whether i can have comps and something else, i dont know.
Since ive put the 2 shellies in the 4ft they seem to be load braver. They normally ran for cover before so thats good. It will be home for them for a while though as i dont know when ill be putting anything else in yet. Im glad your enjoying them

Have you considered the Nigripinnis? I don`t know if they could be a viable option but I`m sure someone will be able to help, if not then the ventralis could well be an option as they`re active and do whizz through/in and out of the rocks. You could also look at a single julidochromis as they like to hug the rocks

I know it`s frustrating when you first start out, it`s very difficult to know which fish are either the most enteraining or interesting but it`s also the levels of aggression that are difficult to know

 

[kiriyama]

The more I look through this thread the more I think about scrapping getting the bigger tank for the Tropheus and just getting an external filter on the 20 gall and a small group of those punks they look great
Seen these on the web today, mmm, more tanks ?

 

[bullit]

Have you considered the Nigripinnis? I don`t know if they could be a viable option but I`m sure someone will be able to help, if not then the ventralis could well be an option as they`re active and do whizz through/in and out of the rocks. You could also look at a single julidochromis as they like to hug the rocks

I know it`s frustrating when you first start out, it`s very difficult to know which fish are either the most enteraining or interesting but it`s also the levels of aggression that are difficult to know
[/quote]

Ive looked at them but there not a massive appeal, plus the price of a group. The ventralis look cool though. I thought about just having a big shellie tank or another singular species. A species tank does quite appeal to me rather than a community. hmmmm lol. Im in no rush.

 

[elisew]

Have you considered the Nigripinnis? I don`t know if they could be a viable option but I`m sure someone will be able to help, if not then the ventralis could well be an option as they`re active and do whizz through/in and out of the rocks. You could also look at a single julidochromis as they like to hug the rocks

I know it`s frustrating when you first start out, it`s very difficult to know which fish are either the most enteraining or interesting but it`s also the levels of aggression that are difficult to know

Ive looked at them but there not a massive appeal, plus the price of a group. The ventralis look cool though. I thought about just having a big shellie tank or another singular species. A species tank does quite appeal to me rather than a community. hmmmm lol. Im in no rush.

I would say there`s no point in rushing but I can`t.......I think it would be extremely hypocritical of me if I did

The ventralis are very active, they never seem to stop zipping around, I actually forgot to say when I went to MA last weekend I decided to up the numbers slightly instead of looking at other species and I came home with 3 more small ventralis. From the moment they went into the tank you`d have thought the new ones had always been with the older ones and they haven`t been apart since

Apart from possibly adding another couple of lucipinnis to encourage the others out a bit more, I think my tank is all done (stock wise)
The punk fry that were left in the big tank are growing really well and the parents seem to be coping with protecting a smaller number too. The fry in the 20L are doing well, they`re static on the sand until the light goes on and then they`re swimming all over the place for their liquifry and finely ground flake......they`re all so cute



kiriyama....what are those in the pics? They look......strange...not sure I like them

 

[kiriyama]

I only know them as "orange scribble"
Telmatochromis, shell dweller, big and mean

 

[elisew]

I only know them as "orange scribble"
Telmatochromis, shell dweller, big and mean

Yeah, big, mean and ugly Definately not 'pretty' or cute enough looking for me

 

[elisew]

I finally managed to get a pic of the lucipinnis, it`s not great but I`m surprised it didn`t scoot off as soon as I got close to the tank

 

[kiriyama]

Cool looking fish, I didn't realise the spots were so large and pronounced on them, very nice...
If only I had the room

 

[elisew]

Cool looking fish, I didn't realise the spots were so large and pronounced on them, very nice...
If only I had the room

The spots do look large in that pic but as the lucipinnis are only actually about 2-2.5" the spots aren`t that big really

I`m not sure if I`ve made a bit of a boo boo this afternoon......we went over to MA this afternoon as hubby has now got to the point where he likes looking at all the fish whether I buy anything or not (he`s hooked now)
Anyway, a guy came in asking if the staff would take 2 fish that he had to get rid of, staff said due to new stock having just come in they couldn`t really take them as no room. Guy says the fish are calvus so my ears pricked up and after earwigging and realising this guy couldn`t give the fish away to MA I asked if I could have a look. Long story short, I now have 2 small yellow calvus in my tank I think they`re calvus anyway and I hope I haven`t cocked up by taking on 2 comps instead
I`ll get some pics once they`re settled, one of them seems very, very stressed so after acclimatising them I`ve put them into the tank and will leave them alone for a while with the lights off. My smallest black calvus has already decided to have a go at the stressed yellow one but yellow has found a quiet, dark area to sit so hopefully it`ll be ok after a while

 

[kiriyama]

WOW free Tangs, WOW other half hooked on fish,,, how do you do it ?
Looking forward to seeing the pics... I was looking at Calvus today (Tinternet)
Black , white , yellow , I think on the cichlidforum.com if you look in the profiles it gives you an idea, I try to avoid google images as they are not that accurate

http/www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/category.php?cat=12

Hope the link helps

While I'm on here, any aquascaping tips, I changed the rocks THREE times and I still hate the way it looks

 

[elisew]

WOW free Tangs, WOW other half hooked on fish,,, how do you do it ?
Looking forward to seeing the pics... I was looking at Calvus today (Tinternet)
Black , white , yellow , I think on the cichlidforum.com if you look in the profiles it gives you an idea, I try to avoid google images as they are not that accurate

http/www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/category.php?cat=12

Hope the link helps

While I'm on here, any aquascaping tips, I changed the rocks THREE times and I still hate the way it looks

I`ve had a look at the profiles, thanks for the link I have a horrible feeling that I have 2 yellow comps, not calvus as I first thought but as you say it is really difficult to tell for sure

Yep, hubby is hooked and don`t ask me how because I have no idea I`m definately not going to complain though because he was asking at MA today about the tanks and cabinets, he`s thinking of buying another tank like the one we have for the living room, normally I wouldn`t object but until we move to a bigger house we really don`t have room

Aquascaping, hmmm, I don`t really know what to suggest seeing as I was dithering for a while before I was happy with mine. It was literally just a case of moving the rocks around until I could stand back and feel ok about it. I think the difficulty with your tank is that you have the black sand which is going to either look too dark with dark coloured rocks OR it`s going to be a huge contrast between the lightness of ocean rock and the sand. That`s just my thoughts on it though.
Apart from changing the sand which I know you don`t want to do, I really don`t know what to suggest

 

[bullit]

Try post a pic when you can. If you look at the head shape you might be able to see. If its a comp it will be shorter and wider (compressed). Also its not advised to mix them due to cross breeding. (though that would be a while). I suppose you could put them in that new tank lol.