tetrin
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Hmm…let’s see. I had actually no intention of setting up a 75g in the beginning. That’s why I bought about 9 juvi labidochromis caeruleus and put them in a 29g, with the intent of settling with a 1m/3f ratio when they mature. But then there is always the terrible curse of this hobby, called the ‘impulse buy’, which forced me to get an incredibly gorgeous peacock (probably an aulonocara koningsi, but maybe a hybrid too). This new guy started terrorizing my poor labs to the point where they were confined to the farthest corners of the small tank. That got me thinking (which never leads to anything good).
The tank –
After consulting a number of websites, I decided on buying a 40g long for the labs. My aim was to convert it into an mbuna tank, with possibly one or two more species. Since mbuna (with the exceptioin of pseudotropheus acei) generally stick to the rocks, so the added height of a 55g would go wasted if I didn’t stack the rocks to the top. Since I didn’t want that much rockwork, the 40g was the obvious choice.
I found labs will go along great with almost any mbuna. However, Melanochromis auratus do seem to harass them a little because of the similar coloration. After going through a number of profiles, I fell in love with pseudotropheus demasoni. Great colors and an interestingly destructive (did I mention I love war movies? well not really…) attitude made them an obvious choice. Since conspecific aggression was their sole motto, packing them in large numbers seemed to be the only option; 12 seemed to be the general consensus.
As luck would have it, the day I went to buy the tank from my lfs, they had a 75g on display. My friend, who never goes there with me, was unfortunately present with me that day. And finally that resulted in me having to part with a lot more cash than I would have thought. But I am pretty lucky to have a number of friends who made some sizeable donations to the cause. So, I returned the cheap iron stand (also it was bowed in the middle) and decided to order the expensive but sturdy pine stand. While I was waiting for the stand to arrive, I started thinking about the décor.
The décor -
All the recognized sources of information on Malawi cichlids profess using rocks and sand as the sole décor in the tank. I also studied some pictures taken while diving in Lake Malawi (http://www.sydneycichlid.com/gallery/malawi_lee_miller among others), which reiterated the facts. So I went searching for rocks, and immediately struck gold, err…rocks. There was this small pit filled with unused granite (possibly), leftover from building a stone sculpture in my apartment complex. And so I took some pieces as inconspicuously I could. Here is the initial layout of the rocks –
. Although a lot of people keep the rocks stacked on bare glass, I was pretty scared to do so. I also didn’t like the white color of the egg-crate used by some people. Mbuna are known diggers that would definitely expose it. Of course, one option is to silicone the substrate onto it. But I decided to go with the plain tiles from lowe’s. For substrate I chose the medium sand (pool season was almost over and the only local pool supply store was out of sand), again from lowe’s. I had to be a little more persistent while cleaning it, but 50 lbs of sand was finally clean in about an hour.
The background –
Then came the time for the biggest decision; whether to go with the standard black or blue background, or to create one that I have always dreamt of. After a lot of deliberation I decided to take the plunge. The major thoughts that I had before building it were, to minimize water-displacement, to provide small caves that the demasoni would fit in and to provide a continuous transition from the rocks to the background. I drew a lot of inspiration from www.cichlid-forum.com and the pangea flatrock series of backgrounds. Shaping the Styrofoam was the toughest part. Since I had a very small thickness to work with, the features had to be fine enough to create the effect I desired. Here are a few pictures of just the background on the way.
I used 4 thin coats of cement to achieve this final result – I also used a floating piece of driftwood for the pseudotropheus acei colonizing the tank.
Filtration and heating -
For filtration I knew I’d be bringing in the fluval 304 (rated at 260 gph) from my established 40g breeder to ease the transition of the labs. And I already had a penguin powerhead (rated at 170gph). So I chose the AC300 to complete a total of around 10x filtration recommended for mbuna tanks. That proved to be a mistake. The AC300 is rated for tanks upto 70g, and they don’t fit over the lip of a 75g. Since my order had already arrived from www.bigalsonline.com and impatience is a dominant trait in me, I filed off a nice chunk off the lip. The background had a portion on the back earmarked for the filters and the heater, which was an ebo jager 250W monster.
The lighting –
Since my tank was to be predominantly blue, I bought the satellite 2*65W 50/50 fixture (The actinics are supposed to make the demasonis glow).
The light has not arrived yet. So, I can’t post pictures with it. But here are some taken with a 20W halogen lamp.
.
Last night 8 labs completed the move after an hour of acclimation (one is holding in the QT). Accompanying them were 4 clown loaches. All of them immediately started cruising the tank and exploring the nooks and crannies, and filling my heart with lots and lots of joy.
I’ll update the thread as the lights arrive and the tank is fully stocked. Thank you all who read through this terrible drivel and reached the end of this never-ending post
.
The tank –
After consulting a number of websites, I decided on buying a 40g long for the labs. My aim was to convert it into an mbuna tank, with possibly one or two more species. Since mbuna (with the exceptioin of pseudotropheus acei) generally stick to the rocks, so the added height of a 55g would go wasted if I didn’t stack the rocks to the top. Since I didn’t want that much rockwork, the 40g was the obvious choice.
I found labs will go along great with almost any mbuna. However, Melanochromis auratus do seem to harass them a little because of the similar coloration. After going through a number of profiles, I fell in love with pseudotropheus demasoni. Great colors and an interestingly destructive (did I mention I love war movies? well not really…) attitude made them an obvious choice. Since conspecific aggression was their sole motto, packing them in large numbers seemed to be the only option; 12 seemed to be the general consensus.
As luck would have it, the day I went to buy the tank from my lfs, they had a 75g on display. My friend, who never goes there with me, was unfortunately present with me that day. And finally that resulted in me having to part with a lot more cash than I would have thought. But I am pretty lucky to have a number of friends who made some sizeable donations to the cause. So, I returned the cheap iron stand (also it was bowed in the middle) and decided to order the expensive but sturdy pine stand. While I was waiting for the stand to arrive, I started thinking about the décor.
The décor -
All the recognized sources of information on Malawi cichlids profess using rocks and sand as the sole décor in the tank. I also studied some pictures taken while diving in Lake Malawi (http://www.sydneycichlid.com/gallery/malawi_lee_miller among others), which reiterated the facts. So I went searching for rocks, and immediately struck gold, err…rocks. There was this small pit filled with unused granite (possibly), leftover from building a stone sculpture in my apartment complex. And so I took some pieces as inconspicuously I could. Here is the initial layout of the rocks –
The background –
Then came the time for the biggest decision; whether to go with the standard black or blue background, or to create one that I have always dreamt of. After a lot of deliberation I decided to take the plunge. The major thoughts that I had before building it were, to minimize water-displacement, to provide small caves that the demasoni would fit in and to provide a continuous transition from the rocks to the background. I drew a lot of inspiration from www.cichlid-forum.com and the pangea flatrock series of backgrounds. Shaping the Styrofoam was the toughest part. Since I had a very small thickness to work with, the features had to be fine enough to create the effect I desired. Here are a few pictures of just the background on the way.
I used 4 thin coats of cement to achieve this final result – I also used a floating piece of driftwood for the pseudotropheus acei colonizing the tank.
Filtration and heating -
For filtration I knew I’d be bringing in the fluval 304 (rated at 260 gph) from my established 40g breeder to ease the transition of the labs. And I already had a penguin powerhead (rated at 170gph). So I chose the AC300 to complete a total of around 10x filtration recommended for mbuna tanks. That proved to be a mistake. The AC300 is rated for tanks upto 70g, and they don’t fit over the lip of a 75g. Since my order had already arrived from www.bigalsonline.com and impatience is a dominant trait in me, I filed off a nice chunk off the lip. The background had a portion on the back earmarked for the filters and the heater, which was an ebo jager 250W monster.
The lighting –
Since my tank was to be predominantly blue, I bought the satellite 2*65W 50/50 fixture (The actinics are supposed to make the demasonis glow).
The light has not arrived yet. So, I can’t post pictures with it. But here are some taken with a 20W halogen lamp.
Last night 8 labs completed the move after an hour of acclimation (one is holding in the QT). Accompanying them were 4 clown loaches. All of them immediately started cruising the tank and exploring the nooks and crannies, and filling my heart with lots and lots of joy.
I’ll update the thread as the lights arrive and the tank is fully stocked. Thank you all who read through this terrible drivel and reached the end of this never-ending post
.
Congratulations and nice job on it. 8) 
