African Mbuna tank

8/25/07

Ok, I'll admit it right up front, I have never had Africans. I had one briefly, but only because someone dumped him on me. He was mean and I found him a new home quick.

But I was at Wet Spot a couple weeks ago and told them I'd like a mouthbrooder, and that I only had a 15g tank for them, so could they point out something small? They ended up showing me Yellow Labs, and so I brought a group of six little ones home and set them up in their new tank. They're cool! Very pretty! Very active! What neat fish! I love them already!

But obviously a 15 is not going to be enough room. I've been studying up on them - something I normally try to do BEFORE I bring them home. They are Mbuna - rock dwellers. They need rocks, caves, and sand, and specially buffered water. They need a big tank dedicated to their special conditions and needs.

So I found someone in the club selling a 55g acrylic aquarium and brought it home. I bought some slabs of slate from another member, and picked up some special eco-complete sand from Wet Spot. It's supposed to buffer the water. I set it all up and filled the tank with water.

Hmm, not exactly the result I was hoping for.

A day later, I've added a 4 ft shop light and had a Magnum running on it filtering out the fine particles

Well, it's getting better.

I set up the rocks to make a low pile of caves, and on the other end I'm going to plant a bunch of val out of the plant tank, and set down one big 'focal point' rock. I figured this will be a good experiment, because the val is hardy, I have a ton of it, and it grows like a weed. Plus I read that these fish are sometimes found in the val beds of their lake in Africa. So it's also a natural habitat for them. Rocks and val should make them feel right at home. If they don't destroy the val right away I'll bet it can spread enough to catch on, and then the babies will have a place to go to hide. Or I might pull the mom out and have her release the babies into a 15g tank and deal with them there. I haven't decided yet.

8/28/07

Three days later and I can see the rocks again. The big rock on the right I picked up on a hike this weekend. I thought it would make a nice accent to the small stack.

I cleaned off the sediment that had stuck to the inside of the tank walls, and that made it look quite a bit better. I went ahead and transplanted most of the val out of 'natural planted tank 1'.

I don't know if the fish are going to destroy the plants, or just uproot them. I think there's enough val in there it would take some pretty dedicated efforts on their part to really ruin it. If they do I'll just pull it out, no big deal. The tank looked pretty cool with just the rocks too.

I think it looks pretty cool, it's almost a shame to add fish. On the other hand, I can't wait to see what they do.

8/29/07

At the fish club auction last night I picked up 6 young Pseudotropheus 'Red Top - Ndumbi' for a whole one dollar! Wow! Obviously, the bidding for them was a little subdued, basically I was the only one. But what a perfect addition to the tank. So I added them and let them be the test fish to ensure the tank was safe (don't worry, I checked everything with a test kit first).

Since everyone was still ok this morning I went ahead and moved the Yellow Labs into the new tank as well. Then I fed everyone. Feeding frenzy! Here's what most of my pictures of this tank look like. These guys never sit still!

Once the food was gone they started exploring, and soon it seemed like the Red Tops were happy in their rocks, and the Labs are happy hanging out in the plants. They are nibbling away at them, it looks like they are eating algae off the leaves.

September 25

The val is growing, algae is starting to take hold, and the fish are happy and active. Looks like things are doing great. The yellow labs in particular love the val forest, and can be seen hanging out in there. The Red-Tops prefer the rocks.

Oct 15, 07

Added 6 small Pseudotropheus saulosi. Not colored up yet, so they are all yellow/orange. They are a bit smaller than the other inhabitants. I got them from another GPAS member and saw the parents, the male was brilliant blue. It's going to be fun to watch these guys grow.

This is our favorite tank in the house. The fish are always doing something interesting, and they are beautiful! Scenes from around the tank: