Ok we are stocked :)) YAY!!!

[fibreheart]

I went shopping today!!! My 90gal is stocked up )

Before I show pics I know I am overstocked a bit but there is a reason. The Mbunas that I got from LFS were apparently too small to tell which were male or female so once they get a little bigger I can take any extra males back to the LFS. Except my Kimpuma. I love those guys. They are so pretty

I also had my friend, who has been raising fish for like ever, come over with his high tech water testing kit to test my water for me. I didn't have an API kit but I had a smaller version of one. I was testing my water for the last few days and no numbers were changing at all. So my friend tested my water and my numbers were still ammonia 0, nitrite 0 and nitrate 40-80 like I was testing so he declared my tank cycled! Yay me. I will still have to do PWC for a bit to cover the extra bodies. I may even have to start up my Tetra 300 HOB filter but we'll cross that bridge.........

So, I did go a little overboard but I had the advice of my research and my LFS(who have always been really stern with me regarding my livestock purchases-even refusing to sell me something based on what I had-so I trust them)

Here's my breakdown*don't hit me now*
90 gal long 48x18x24
Rena xp3
Fluval 300w heater
daylights and moonlights
Tetra deepwater air pump.
30gal rated powerhead
3 LED bubble wands and bubble snake
20lbs of cichlid sand
30lbs of aragonite sand
approx. 90lbs of various river rock, lace rock, sponge rock, honeycomb rock

I don't like the traditional black, blue, or pictured backgrounds so I took some stencil cutouts I use for my needle felted Ukranian Easter Eggs and stenciled a black pattern on the top and then spraypainted the whole back with satin nickel krylon paint.

I have the lights on from 7am to 6pm then it is LED moonlights from there set on a timer.

Ok Livestock

6 yellow labs
6 red zebras
6 kimpuma
6 acei
6 albino haps(these are the hubby's only in until he gets his tank-he never thought I coud, but I hooked him LOL)
2 demasoni
2 electric blue haps
2 snow white zebra
1 sailfin pleco(this is Jewel, my daughters pleco-was told I was NOT allowed to get rid of her-I may have to sneak her to LFS while shes at school)
2 bushynose dwarf plecos(only grow 4"!!!)
2 albino chinese algae eaters-told they get 2" at most
2 weather loaches

All are doing awesome! I have had 3 mating attempts since this afternoon. Territories have been made and stolen yes but for the most part everyone is playing nice.

Oh I also put my 2 convicts back as they seemed to not like my daughters 29 gal too much. They were doing mating dances in my 90 and when I took them out they were just sitting on the bottom, not sick, just not doing anything. Just not happy. And when I put them in with the mbuna they were happy again. Went back to the little cave they made and were doing mating dances all over. I know, you could have knocked me over from what I read here. My daughters tank is fine and has been running with various fish in it over the last 2 yrs. There is nothing in it now. I might make it a fry tank.

So anyways. That's it. Don't be too hard on me. This stock, I'm sure is changing once everything settles. My LFS said they will be more then willing to work with me with the extras

So here it is my 90 g

 

[fibreheart]

More pics I love the courtyard!

 

[fibreheart]

And some more....My Kimpuma Men are truly beautiful!! I didn't realize they were dominant males...

 

[fibreheart]

Just a few more

 

[Viper]

A chinese algae eater can get up to 8-10" long. I don't know where you got your information but they can quickly become agressive towards each other and other tank mates.

Also, just for clarity, I don't believe there is such thing as "Dwarf bristlenose plecos". Although the 4" is pretty accurate. Could get up to 6".

Also, with all of those substrate dwelling species you have, you should definitely make sure that they all get their fair share of food. Even though they are commonly sold as "algae eaters", algae isn't the only thing they will eat. There won't be much algae with that many of them so competition for food will be fierce.

EDIT: I just read the part about the Convicts. Many people on here will tell you that it is not a good idea to mix American and African Cichlids. I also know that convicts become ferocious after breading. You could have total anarchy eventually in that tank. A bunch of incompatible species in there IMO.

 

[fibreheart]

Thank you for your response

Yes. The convicts are just temporary residents really. I plan on moving them to a new tank later. But my daughters 29 is not suitable for them. They weren't as "happy" as they are in my 90.

I always have the tabs, veggies and even a shrimp or two lying in wait for my bottom feeders of course

As far as the algae eaters go. I am still trying to decide on weather to keep them or not. I wanted a scavenger that would have no problems getting floating food and such from between my rocks. My big Pleco can be a bulldozer when she wants but if she can't fit she can't fit. My LFS didn't have the bushynosed plecos when I was there last. These dwarf plecos are apparently new. I hadn't heard of them before either so I double checked and yep they can get 4" on average. There are other dwarfs that only get to be around 3" The Gold spot dwarf pleco is one of them. It's size is 3".

Thank you again for looking

 

[NODAK1979]

Roughly 50 fish in there?? Holy cow!! I don't feel so bad about my 26 fish in a 60 gallon anymore. In fact, perhaps I should be adding.

 

[Viper]

Thank you for your response

Yes. The convicts are just temporary residents really. I plan on moving them to a new tank later. But my daughters 29 is not suitable for them. They weren't as "happy" as they are in my 90.

I always have the tabs, veggies and even a shrimp or two lying in wait for my bottom feeders of course

As far as the algae eaters go. I am still trying to decide on weather to keep them or not. I wanted a scavenger that would have no problems getting floating food and such from between my rocks. My big Pleco can be a bulldozer when she wants but if she can't fit she can't fit. My LFS didn't have the bushynosed plecos when I was there last. These dwarf plecos are apparently new. I hadn't heard of them before either so I double checked and yep they can get 4" on average. There are other dwarfs that only get to be around 3" The Gold spot dwarf pleco is one of them. It's size is 3".

Thank you again for looking

Hmm I had never heard of a Dwarf Bristlenose Pleco. In fact I never even thought of it because "normal" Bristlenoses only get to 6" at most. So the difference between the dwarf and regular versions doesn't appear to be that much

As for the CAE (Chinese Algae Eater): I bought one as the first occupant in my current tank. He never bothered anyone and I unfortunately lost him in a stupid accident. I bought another one that was normal in color at first but then transformed into the Golden variety. He was pretty aggressive and chased some of the other fish all over the place. I think I was lucky with the first CAE as it wasn't aggressive. But I think the chances of you having 3 non-aggressive specimens is pretty slim...

 

[fibreheart]

Yea I had to look it up too )

I only have 2 albino CAE. I actually haven't seen much of them really. Course I have so much rock in there even my fish sometimes disappear There is a lost of hand sized rocks on the left and they are placed in such a way that there are hundreds of nooks and crannys for all kinds on little things to hide in. Mind you this will only help until they get bigger. But again, I still might take them back. All I really wanted was a clean up crew for what the cichlids spit out their gills and what they miss. Because from what I see so far they are not the most agile locators when food is floating across the sand. and a creature or two to mess with the sand that won't get dug up. I have a good 5" "walkway" in front plus a "courtyard" that won't really get dug up because there are no rocks against the front glass. So something to stir up the sand there would be helpful in between gravel vacs. I thought of MTS but do I really want to go down that road. )

 

[Viper]

LOL I've been contemplating MTS for my next tank whenever I get it and get it set up. I've heard some people love them and some people hate them. There never seems to be any in-between!

The CAE are pretty good scavengers but I feel there are smaller and less aggressive species that will accomplish the same goals that you are hoping for. And sorry for the mix-up, I thought I had read that you had 3 not 2

 

[fibreheart]

Roughly 50 fish in there?? Holy cow!! I don't feel so bad about my 26 fish in a 60 gallon anymore. In fact, perhaps I should be adding.

Yeah I know. It`s so hard to tell M and F when they are so small. Some are easier though. The recipe for a 75 is I think 30 and I have a 90g. Some of them are temporary residents too.

First is the 8" Sailfin Pleco. Jewel needs a new home.

My hubbys 6 Albino Red Eye Haps will need a tank for sure.

And my Convicts.

These are all moving soon. Just excuses for new tanks right

 

[mfdrookie516]

I would ditch the demasoni, or get rid of another species and up the demasoni to about 12... I would also get rid of the algae eaters, and loaches. Otherwise, looks great

 

[fibreheart]

I wanted to get a lot of demasoni. But my LFS can never keep them up in numbers. They get them in and they are always like 2 or 3 left. They are very popular in my neck of the woods. And they are hit or miss. I may have to talk to them and see about back ordering. Though I would hate to get rid of the others. They are all my favs. This hobby is so hard sometimes LOL. There is never a tank big enough. Until you need to start applying for zoo licensing that is
You may be right about the loaches and CAE.

 

[mfdrookie516]

Demasoni will wreck havoc on your tank if you don't get the numbers up. Even if you have to get a couple at a time, you need to get them up to 10 or so

 

[fibreheart]

Do they have the same M/F ratios as the others? I know you can't really tell because both look the same but once you figure it out is there a number of males I should keep. Right Now I believe I have 2 males.

 

[MC1973]

Wish I could have a tank this big Nice landscaping!