Starting a tropheus tank.
Discussion
I just sold my cichlids Ive had for the last 4 years to a guy that seemed chuffed to have them.
Ive got a 300 litre Juwel Rio tank (with a few mods to be made, mainly making the cabinet 140mm shorter and replacing the standard twin t5's with 3 twin t5 kits, removing the stupid internal filter and fitting a nano tank in the middle of the cabinet), and 35 Mixed Tropheus on the way next week - (Bemba, Moliro, Firecracker, OB) they look amazing! Been looking for them for ages, last time I saw them for sale from a breeder close enough to drive to they wanted £180 - £200 per set of 5 or 6 of them!
I have my old 180 still running (empty apart from one 5mm malawi fry and about 1000 snails) with a few extra filters in it so I can swap one over to the new tank to help it cycle. (I dont even know if that works, but it seems to have done for me in the past).
Just got a few questions to anyone that has kept tropheus before.
What kind of power / size / output external filter would you recommend for this set up? I was looking an an FX5 but Im not sure if I like the design of it (never used one or seen one in real life, just from pictures online) or if it would be too powerful. I will have a pretty powerful power head in the tank also.
Do they like alot of rocks? Ive read yes and no.
What can I realistically put in with them? I was thinking I would like to add a couple of calvus or compressiceps and possibly some kind of pleco that stays small, but would be worried theyd get bullied. Id been told before do not mix tropheus with other tropheus or other fish, but these ones I looked at have been all in the same tank for ages with no problems.
Anybody else here had a tropheus tank and would like to share a pic? Im still trying to decide how to scape my tank.
Cheers!
Ive got a 300 litre Juwel Rio tank (with a few mods to be made, mainly making the cabinet 140mm shorter and replacing the standard twin t5's with 3 twin t5 kits, removing the stupid internal filter and fitting a nano tank in the middle of the cabinet), and 35 Mixed Tropheus on the way next week - (Bemba, Moliro, Firecracker, OB) they look amazing! Been looking for them for ages, last time I saw them for sale from a breeder close enough to drive to they wanted £180 - £200 per set of 5 or 6 of them!
I have my old 180 still running (empty apart from one 5mm malawi fry and about 1000 snails) with a few extra filters in it so I can swap one over to the new tank to help it cycle. (I dont even know if that works, but it seems to have done for me in the past).
Just got a few questions to anyone that has kept tropheus before.
What kind of power / size / output external filter would you recommend for this set up? I was looking an an FX5 but Im not sure if I like the design of it (never used one or seen one in real life, just from pictures online) or if it would be too powerful. I will have a pretty powerful power head in the tank also.
Do they like alot of rocks? Ive read yes and no.
What can I realistically put in with them? I was thinking I would like to add a couple of calvus or compressiceps and possibly some kind of pleco that stays small, but would be worried theyd get bullied. Id been told before do not mix tropheus with other tropheus or other fish, but these ones I looked at have been all in the same tank for ages with no problems.
Anybody else here had a tropheus tank and would like to share a pic? Im still trying to decide how to scape my tank.
Cheers!
t, go Eheim.Yeah, Ill most likely go with an Eheim 'cause I know an Eheim will be good where as Im still not 100% convinced about the fx5.
Ive looked at Eheim filters a couple of times before and with such a range its hard to know what to go for. I always start off looking at the classic range then end up looking at the pro 3 thermo range, which is a bit out of my price range.
Should I ideally go for the most powerful Eheim I can get? I should add, I only want to run one filter on the tank. I dont really like having the pipes in the back of the tank.
I just saw a wet/dry thermo rated for a 600l tank for £220, sounds good. I have no experience with a wet/dry filter, anybody used one?
On another note, anybody painted the back of a tank? Im still not sure what color to go, thinking black or blue atm.
Cheers!!
Ive looked at Eheim filters a couple of times before and with such a range its hard to know what to go for. I always start off looking at the classic range then end up looking at the pro 3 thermo range, which is a bit out of my price range.
Should I ideally go for the most powerful Eheim I can get? I should add, I only want to run one filter on the tank. I dont really like having the pipes in the back of the tank.
I just saw a wet/dry thermo rated for a 600l tank for £220, sounds good. I have no experience with a wet/dry filter, anybody used one?
On another note, anybody painted the back of a tank? Im still not sure what color to go, thinking black or blue atm.
Cheers!!
Edited by ShiggyBiggs on Sunday 25th March 06:52
Atm I have the aqua pro 3 and two internal eheims running until I can get my bigger tank set up. Probably will go with whatever the biggest Eheim I can afford is.
I have to say my tropheus (mix of Bemba, Moliro, Firecracker and OB) do look great! Cant wait to get the bigger tank up and running so I can add a few Calvus or Compressiceps[sp?]
The guy I got them off seemed to know his stuff, he had another tank set up beside the one with these with another kind of really nice tropheus in it. (Hopefully he breeds them and I can get him to sell me a few haha). He told me to add epsom[sp?] salts which I did. Id heard of it but that was about it.
Thing is I cant remember how much he said to add! I think it was 1 level table spoon per 2 gallons? Does this sound about right?
Next Issue is I dont know what color to do the back, Im thinking Im going to paint it either black or blue. Im not sure though. Any ideas?
These are the fish I sold - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_Dq1VNXwTE
These are the fish I bought - Front view - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkRcnkeF6_w
Side View - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqZ5_ypFrw8
Cheers!
I have to say my tropheus (mix of Bemba, Moliro, Firecracker and OB) do look great! Cant wait to get the bigger tank up and running so I can add a few Calvus or Compressiceps[sp?]
The guy I got them off seemed to know his stuff, he had another tank set up beside the one with these with another kind of really nice tropheus in it. (Hopefully he breeds them and I can get him to sell me a few haha). He told me to add epsom[sp?] salts which I did. Id heard of it but that was about it.
Thing is I cant remember how much he said to add! I think it was 1 level table spoon per 2 gallons? Does this sound about right?
Next Issue is I dont know what color to do the back, Im thinking Im going to paint it either black or blue. Im not sure though. Any ideas?
These are the fish I sold - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_Dq1VNXwTE
These are the fish I bought - Front view - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkRcnkeF6_w
Side View - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqZ5_ypFrw8
Cheers!
Edited by ShiggyBiggs on Tuesday 27th March 02:53
Cheaper to buy or cheaper to run?
To be honest if its possible Id really rather just have the one external filter and my hydor powerhead. I know its not recommended but I dont like having a cluttered tank! Heater, 2 pipes and powerhead is more than enough for me. Id like one of those inline heaters for the external filter, but I dont trust them!
Cheers!
To be honest if its possible Id really rather just have the one external filter and my hydor powerhead. I know its not recommended but I dont like having a cluttered tank! Heater, 2 pipes and powerhead is more than enough for me. Id like one of those inline heaters for the external filter, but I dont trust them!
Cheers!
Cheaper to buy I meant.
If you dont trust inline heaters (as I dont), then a heated Eheim is the way forward.
Im not quite sure how its done, but I ve heard of people running two filters in a duplex style, so you only have one intake/outflow but still benefit from the larger filter volume.
May just be easier to buy one big one tho...
If you dont trust inline heaters (as I dont), then a heated Eheim is the way forward.
Im not quite sure how its done, but I ve heard of people running two filters in a duplex style, so you only have one intake/outflow but still benefit from the larger filter volume.
May just be easier to buy one big one tho...
Since last posting I was thinking theres bound to be a way I could have 2 out pipes from the tank then connect the two in pipes together to go back in as one.
Hopefully can afford to buy an eheim classic 2260 or 2262 at some point, just cant figure out if it comes with all the taps or not
Hopefully can afford to buy an eheim classic 2260 or 2262 at some point, just cant figure out if it comes with all the taps or not
I havent 100% decided yet on lighting. If I can get some brackets made up I want to add 4 white t5 and 2 actinic t5, aswell as 1 white t8 and a blue led strip or t8 actinic. I had 2 white t5's with an actinic t8 and a white t8 before, looked amazing.
So right now Im torn between the fx5 (which to be honest still scares me a bit) or the 2260, as they are both about the same price (although will have to buy taps so thats an extra 20 / 30 quid)
So with some further research it looks like the fx5 wont fit in my cabinet! So looks like Ill be going down the eheim road, which sucks a bit as they(2260) seem to be a bit rare.
Cheers!
So right now Im torn between the fx5 (which to be honest still scares me a bit) or the 2260, as they are both about the same price (although will have to buy taps so thats an extra 20 / 30 quid)
So with some further research it looks like the fx5 wont fit in my cabinet! So looks like Ill be going down the eheim road, which sucks a bit as they(2260) seem to be a bit rare.
Cheers!
Edited by ShiggyBiggs on Wednesday 28th March 10:53
Turn7 said:
Don't think the classics come with taps from memory.
What are your plans for lighting? I'm keen to try some eBay strip less as these are supposed to give that shimmer effect which should look great in my current set up.
Whats your set up? I got a pretty good shimmer effect with 2 white t5s, 1 actinic t8 and a powerhead placed close to the top of the water. Might not be what you mean though.What are your plans for lighting? I'm keen to try some eBay strip less as these are supposed to give that shimmer effect which should look great in my current set up.
I would love to give leds a go, but dont know much about them tbh.
The actinic is more than likely giving you nice shimmer.
I'm only running two T8 lamps currently,hence wanting to try LEDs.
I've got plenty of water movement on the surface so they should work well.
Tank is 210 litre furnished with pebbles and vallis and big currents to hopefully give a fast stream effect.
Stock is nothing unusual, Barbs,rummies, danios, forties etc.
I like a busy tank with shoals and water movement.
I'm only running two T8 lamps currently,hence wanting to try LEDs.
I've got plenty of water movement on the surface so they should work well.
Tank is 210 litre furnished with pebbles and vallis and big currents to hopefully give a fast stream effect.
Stock is nothing unusual, Barbs,rummies, danios, forties etc.
I like a busy tank with shoals and water movement.
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