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Rebooting My Old 4Ft For Some Tanganyikans!

Tangs Tanganyika

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#1 Christopher

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Posted 30 September 2014 - 11:36 PM

With my last school holidays of high school i decided to start what i've been wanting to do for the better half of this year and setup the empty 4ft ive had laying around since i retired my malawis. This time with some tanganyikans! Stockpiled the money from some aquarium sales and general savings to stock the tank with fish a bit pricier than previous :P I managed so far to have the tank back in my room, clean and now with a hardscape of limestone that i got from Gezza on the forum. Also scraped off what remained of the old painted background and repainted the whole back with as dark a grey as the lady at bunnings could mix up for me haha, type of paint they recommended for glass didnt come in black

Tank was made @ Morley and thus is top quality :P

This is only the 3rd or 4th hardscape ive ever done and as you'd expect isnt too impressive but ill pop up some pictures of what ive done so far.

Also just realised after taking photos that scape looks worse on pics than in person :'( haha

 

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The substrate will be a fairly fine white aragonite gravel (going a bit heavy on the white i know, just hope it doesnt wash out colour too much. black background should help)

Also am keen to find anyone selling leleupi, juliodochromis and most importantly any Cyprichromis. Ive only looked @ Morley (Have leleupi + julies but no cyps in decent numbers) so if anyone knows some other LFS with some good stock of any of those i'd be greatful to know aswell as any of you guys who'd be able to sell me some :)


Edited by Christopher, 14 November 2014 - 09:43 PM.


#2 Mattymak

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Posted 01 October 2014 - 12:34 AM

The scape looks awesome dude. Don't stress. :)
Well done :)

#3 Michael the fish fanatic

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Posted 01 October 2014 - 05:51 AM

Beautiful scape :)

#4 ice

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Posted 01 October 2014 - 06:02 AM

Looking good so far dude! I was at Aquotix the other day and they had a fair few Cyps.



#5 malawiman85

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Posted 01 October 2014 - 06:14 AM

Hi Christopher,

Scape looks good but if you're not happy with it, fiddle with it now before its too late otherwise you will kick yourself. You can change it once the tank is full and stocked but its harder.

Paint for backgrounds can be any cheap paint... usually applied with a roller. The better the paint the harder to get off later.

Good luck with the tangs, they are cool fish. Generally they are more interesting than malawis. Keep us posted.

#6 Christopher

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Posted 01 October 2014 - 05:02 PM

Got the substrate down and filling the tank as I type this. Substrate was surprisingly not as difficult as i anticipated with all the rocks in before substrate but a handy paintbrush helped get it into all the nooks and crannies. Even though if tangs are anything at all like my malawis ill be seeing barebottom within a week of putting em in :P Am much happier with the scape now that the substrate is in though, just meshes everything together 

Tank has been lying around for so long that I'm going to have to cycle it over again. Am going to run some sponges from my fry tanks to give it a bit of a boost at least, regardless ill probably be dropping into Morley tommorrow to grab some fish to start the cycle!

Heres a pic of the substrate in prior to filling

 

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and one of it full! water is still clearing as the aragonite on top of all limestone expectedly clouded the water but still isnt too bad.

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Got the flow coming out of the canister really nice and have put one airstone in, probably what im most unhappy with is the airstones. The airline tubing annoys the hell out of me. Wish it came in opaque black or grey haha but will still be playing around with that, any tips on hiding airline would be great.
Am thinking about adding a few clumps of shells in a few spots. Tempted to order some escargot shells off ebay or something as i really like the look of those.

Overall tank is full, dechlorinated, buffer added and heater is working away!

Edit: the pics are kinda oddly discoloured as phone photo and focusing issues with ambient light. The lights are white/blue Beamworks LED, absolutely love em. also has blue only setting for some moodlighting ;)


Edited by Christopher, 01 October 2014 - 05:04 PM.


#7 Michael the fish fanatic

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Posted 01 October 2014 - 05:08 PM

Nice

#8 Christopher

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Posted 06 October 2014 - 05:51 PM

Bought 2 Neolamprologus Caudopunctatus and 5 Julidochromis Regani today from Morley.

They are in the tank and just have the lights off to let them settle in. Will put up some pics when I can. From what Paul could guess we think the Caudos might be a male/female which would be awesome.

Also put in my import order for some Cyprichromis Leptosoma Mplungu which is incredibly exciting for me but took a whole lot of convincing for myself as its pretty much my entire stock budget, but am happy with my decision and am ultra excited for that.



#9 Christopher

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Posted 06 October 2014 - 09:44 PM

Some pics of the new residents. Managed to 'borrow' my sisters DSLR, didnt wanna change her settings heaps so just made do with what they were on.

 

 

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Edited by Christopher, 06 October 2014 - 09:49 PM.


#10 Dr Cucumber

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Posted 06 October 2014 - 10:13 PM

Looks great. My tip. Just get rid of the air stone. No need G or one as long as outlet from canister agitates the surface...

#11 ice

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Posted 06 October 2014 - 10:35 PM

Good choice on the leptos mate they are gorgeous when they colour up and start breeding!

#12 Michael the fish fanatic

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Posted 07 October 2014 - 06:43 AM

Letops look awesome, great choice :) how much $$$$ did they cost??

#13 Christopher

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Posted 07 October 2014 - 08:21 AM

Quite pricey, $68 per 5-6cm I believe they were.

Light of current events helped persuade me to get some quality stock for the future.


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#14 Mattymak

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Posted 07 October 2014 - 09:28 AM

Looks great. My tip. Just get rid of the air stone. No need G or one as long as outlet from canister agitates the surface...


Leave the air stone if you want to Chris, I have them in every tank of mine ! I love them. The look of then is cool IMO too

#15 Christopher

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Posted 07 October 2014 - 02:33 PM

Am still undecided about the airstone. Currently air pump is running a cycled sponge filter to give the tank a boost so will be leaving the airstone and sponge on for quite a while. Bubbles arent the issue for me, its just the airline, will try and find a way to have them tucked away, and probably get some clear tubing rather then this clouded blue that i have.

 

Current fish are doing well, Julies have already started a bit of digging and the biggest male seems to have set up shop under what i call "Julie rock" haha, basically a rock where underneath is one massive cave. When i first put them in they all just sat under there chillin, still usually 2 or 3 if the big guy doesnt chase em off. They have these sick yellow pectoral fins which are just sweeeet, way they sit on the substrate is pretty neat aswell, almost goby like.

Absolutely fallen in love with the caudopunctatus, they are quite plain visually but they just patrol around the whole tank, all fins out with the pretty yellow stripe across the dorsal. They hang out almost all the time, no more than 10-15cm away from eachother (fingers so crossed for a pair), keen to grab some shells for em asap, will probably buy some escargot shells when I can as they look pretty sweet and not sure how interested i am in roaming around the beaches trying to find shells big enough.

Cheers for all the comments guys, looking forward to sharing more of the tank once some cool stuff happens! (cant wait for my cyps!)



#16 Christopher

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Posted 14 November 2014 - 09:36 PM

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First pic of the new cyps as I peek over the back of my chair trying not to disturb him working his moves on the ladies :P

It's crappy coz it's on my phone will take out the DSLR when they are more comfortable and less skittish. It's the dominant male in the pic, subs territory is confined to the edge of the tank near filter outtakes

Wish I could film him doing his little shake in front of the females. It's just so cool, like whole body ripples and is so pretty with this tail and dorsal really popping and he's not even started eating properly yet so he hardly has the colour he could!
It's all very exciting haha

Edit: Figured i'd do a bit of an update on the rest of the tank, Julies have become much more comfortable with the small school of cyps hanging out at the top, the bigger Caudopunctatus is a bit less happy with the new residents :P He had the whole 4ft to himself before so whenever the cyps start hanging a bit lower he chases em and nips a bit. One of the female (i have sneaking suspicions its an undercover sub male if cyps even do that) cyps had a decent bit taken out of her tail fin, cant really pinpoint the culprit but the Caudo is being a bit more violent as opposed to the male cyps who are just very chasey. Would be a shame If i had to remove the Caudos as ive loved the two I have but these cyps are most expensive fish ive ever bought so they are top priority within the tank.


Edited by Christopher, 14 November 2014 - 09:41 PM.


#17 Riggers

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Posted 14 November 2014 - 10:33 PM

Very nice mate! I like the led unit, really nice looking tank.. The cyps are beautiful fish :)

#18 extend

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Posted 15 November 2014 - 10:17 PM

looking forward to seeing more of the cyps.  I have some my self and I would love to see more people keep these really pretty fish



#19 extend

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Posted 24 November 2014 - 08:44 PM

Update please? ?



#20 Christopher

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Posted 19 December 2014 - 01:28 AM

 

 







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