55 Gallon Tanganyikan , Yellow Calvus

[mnemenoi]

That sounds great!!! I like the look of the Tetracanthus, but I certainly agree with them being a bit aggressive for most tanks and they can get sizey... The Calvus should be alright, they can take an uncharacteristic amount of abuse. I have read in the wild they are highly adapted fry stealers and have csales to deflect nearly any attacks. The petricolas usually just dissappear and only rarely venture out during lights on, I have a pair and even in a 30 I only see one once a week at best.

[digitallinh]

the two I originally got from FG, about 3 inches long (only 18.99 surprisingly) , ventured out a lot at night, but once I added the 2 - 1.5 inchers I got today, they started roaming around the sand when I flipped on the lights a few minutes ago, they're definitely my favorite inhabitants so far, extremely cute.

[digitallinh]

I'm probably going to load this up with anubias!

Those rainbows glow purple and pink!

[crazy42bmx]

Looking very nice , but yea keep an eye on that tetracanthus. Like Roy said the calvus are brute fish and armored very well. ( if anybodys actually touched the scales of them their more like a sand paper , not smooth! )

Another option id thought of for u if u want more flow seeing how that powerhead was too much, is get a hob to go along with the 2217. Wount hurt. And it wouldn't have to be a huge one. Ac are the best i my opinion, go with a 50 or 70.

[digitallinh]

I've never had hob filters (maybe when I was 5),but do they make a lot of noise? Any noise? If so I'll probably just get another canister and try to pipe it together.

Anyone want the tetracanthus, free? I'd prefer a sexficiatus or tret if I'm gonna have an aggressive fish. I'll get pics up soon. He might be good with mbunas.

[digitallinh]

Anyone ever do regular excel dosing on tang tanks? I'm leaning towards fully planting it, I figured the fish won't know what's good for them until they live in it. Any adverse effects from fully planting?

[mnemenoi]

I have never dosed my tang tank, but I only really have Anubias and corkscrew val in it and have had bad reactions from vals to Excel dosing.

[crazy42bmx]

The only thing i see with going all planted is that your combining two different bio-types. One area with high ph and hard water. The other has soft water lower in ph and not as acidic.

Not saying you cant do it but something gotta give , i know plants dont do good i cichlid based water, and vise versa. Just a personal thought that came to mind !!

[digitallinh]

Right now the lighting is really bright, 2 t5HOs. The rainbows are scared, everyone is scared. When I turn off the lights everyone comes out....

I'm probably going to try to put T5NO bulbs in my fixture see if that helps any.

[LooksLater]

Looks good, I love what you've done so far!
From my experience (albeit limited) high and low pH tanks are tricky, but not impossible, to plant. Just keep trying different stuff and see what works. I know you've got a green thumb. :))

[New_Cichlid11]

I like what you done so far, it looks very good. If it was my tank i would keep it non-planted it looks very good as it is

[digitallinh]

Thanks for the compliments! And yeah I've been thinking about taking out half my plants. It's actually a lot more planted now than the pictures show, but it's starting to look messy with the white sand and debris. I've been acclimating my value to metricide (excel) and it seems to be working ok. Mainly doing it to control algae.

We'll see, half of the fun is in the tinkering!

[Cichlidnik]

where do you get your holly rock at?

[mistahoo]

Re: 55 Gallon Tanganyikan , Yellow Calvus

You can buy from other members here (generally cheaper), a lfs, or a rock yard.

Sent from my spaceship using Tapatalk 2.

[digitallinh]

Alamo stone, in Sugarland, for the foundational pieces. 20 cents.

Fishland for the medium chunks, 1.5 per lb.

Fish gallery for the small accent pieces, 2 bucks.

I'm not sure how much I spent total, but it was all reasonable.