Show Me Your Tank...

[y2blade]

Rib said:

just had a good look over them this morning and it looks like one of the labs is holding!! eek that was quick! like bloody rabbits!

They are like rabbits one of my Female Rusties is holding at the moment too, only had them a few weeks.

[y2blade]

Rib said:

nice choice of fish you have there I love the rusty (i'm guessing thats the purpley/bluish one with yellow belly and fins), very understated and the yellowing has come on so much after the initial stress of moving the tank. lovely looking tank you got there!

Thank you
They are great to watch...I often end up watching them feed for longer than I should and end up cutting it close getting to work on time.

[otolith]

Rib said:

just had a good look over them this morning and it looks like one of the labs is holding!! eek that was quick! like bloody rabbits!

Our cichlid tank was started in January 2008 with pairs of about half a dozen cichlid species, including a pair of Labidochromis caeruleus (canary cichlid), a couple of Synodontis multipunctata and a big plec who had outgrown another tank.

Now, nearly five years later, having recently lost the plec, the tank contains the two synodontis and somewhere in the region of twenty Labidochromis caeruleus from less than an inch long to full size - and nothing else. I think the gene pool in there is getting a little funky, we get the odd fish that definitely has a look of Norfolk about it.

The canary cichlids have basically pushed everything else out, breeding prolifically.

When I get round to it, I would like to return the tank to a more interesting assemblage of fishes. I could probably do with introducing a more effective form of birth control than the two catfish we have at the moment - there are some predatory haps which might do the trick, otherwise maybe just some sufficiently robust mbuna to elbow their way in there and restrict the territory availability. Introducing new fish will probably require adding some more ocean rock and rearranging what there is, to break up the territories, and possibly offloading some of the canaries.

So yes, sometimes like rabbits, and it can be a nuisance.

[englisharcher]

My plec



My other betta

[y2blade]

Took these pics today.

[Grayham]

This is our big tank which is roughly 350litres.
I have a load of river rock to add tonight & I am removing the plants as they are not doing well in the brakish water I will add updated pics tomorrow.

Edited by Grayham on Tuesday 23 October 17:26

[Grayham]

All plants removed and rock added. Still have a couple of pieces to add, but I am nervous about the weight.

I've added a few close up of some of the fish in there. I don't know what any of the catfish/pleco's are. So if you do could you tell me.

I think I am going to swap the crushed coral for sand at some point soon.



We are lucky if we ever see this guy.










I got home last night to find this miserable little bugger with a Neon Tetra in his mouth. He then stared stalking one of the others They have lived happily together until now. I gave him some prawn which seems to have calmed him down.

[JFReturns]

Lovely fish! Fighters can't be trusted with anything they can fit into their mouth, I've also learned that from experience.

[Grayham]

Thanks. I realise now how bad the fighters can be,

[y2blade]

Grayham said:

All plants removed and rock added. Still have a couple of pieces to add, but I am nervous about the weight.

I've added a few close up of some of the fish in there. I don't know what any of the catfish/pleco's are. So if you do could you tell me.

I think I am going to swap the crushed coral for sand at some point soon.



We are lucky if we ever see this guy.










I got home last night to find this miserable little bugger with a Neon Tetra in his mouth. He then stared stalking one of the others They have lived happily together until now. I gave him some prawn which seems to have calmed him down.

Re: the catfish id
Stunning Panaque nigrolineatus (Royal Plec), Liosomadoras oncinus (Jaguar catfish)and Synodontis multipunctatus (Cuckoo catfish)



You have some very interesting species in that big tank, more pics of the other fish please

[Grayham]

Thanks for the names.

I also have one Rocket Gar


2 of these


4 Shark catfish



4 Indonesian Datnoids



5 Scats



An assortment of Nerite Snails


The pics were taken with my phone so they are not the best.

[revrange]

4 Shark catfish



Excellent how do you find the shark catfish to keep? was thing of adding a pair to my tank once i have some room!

[Grayham]

They are no problem
They seem to be the most placid fish in the tank.

I don't think it will be long before they becom too big for their current home. I will defiantly replace them with some pups when they out grow this tank.

[HerrSchnell]

stickyr6 said:

Not mine but good idea!

It seems the Troy McClure fetishist storyline wasn't so far fetched after all.

[y2blade]

Grayham said:

Thanks for the names.

I also have one Rocket Gar


2 of these


4 Shark catfish



4 Indonesian Datnoids



5 Scats



An assortment of Nerite Snails


The pics were taken with my phone so they are not the best.

Great collection you have there, really interesting fish.

[y2blade]

I've been busy this morning...new Tetratec EX1200 (filter), I put some of the old media from the Fluval 305 in it and I'll run the internal Fluval4 for a while too.



It is a bit taller than the old Fluval 305 so won't go in the cupboard, but then I knew that when I ordered it...My 2013 tank will be using two of these big boys

Fish seem happy about it, nosey as ever.

[Roberty]

Here is my effort.

It is set up as a South east Asian Rainforest Stream.

[dxbtiger]

Grayham said:

I've added a few close up of some of the fish in there. I don't know what any of the catfish/pleco's are. So if you do could you tell me.

The other Pleco (not the stripy one) is Peckoltia snethlageae I think.

I woulnd't keep either of them in brackish water tbh and crushed coral will take the pH above where I would like to have it for them I would imagine.

Mixing African and South American is always going to be a compromise.

[Grayham]

dxbtiger said:

The other Pleco (not the stripy one) is Peckoltia snethlageae I think.

I woulnd't keep either of them in brackish water tbh and crushed coral will take the pH above where I would like to have it for them I would imagine.

Mixing African and South American is always going to be a compromise.

Thanks for the info. I bought the whole setup second hand a couple of months ago so I am still learning about the fish in there.

I plan on changing the coral for river sand at some point during the next couple of weeks and adding some more rock.

The cichlids seem to get along fine. The only ones that seem aggressive are the dats, and they appear to keep it between themselves.

Do you know if the other fish in there would be ok in fresh water? TBH the salt level isn't that high anyway.

[dxbtiger]

Grayham said:

Thanks for the info. I bought the whole setup second hand a couple of months ago so I am still learning about the fish in there.

I plan on changing the coral for river sand at some point during the next couple of weeks and adding some more rock.

The cichlids seem to get along fine. The only ones that seem aggressive are the dats, and they appear to keep it between themselves.

Do you know if the other fish in there would be ok in fresh water? TBH the salt level isn't that high anyway.

Dats are aggresive and will only get worse I think, they are also a pretty big fish potentially.

The only fish I can see that will actually need brackish are the Scats, everything else should be in freshwater.

There is also a compatibility issue diet wise with the Panaque (the stripy pleco).

These diet on (or at least should do) exclusively on wood and protein should be kept to a minimum. The Gars and Dats are carnivores.

The Pangasiidae, Gar, Dats are all big fish when grown, what size is the tank?