fish tanks gone wild! (29g cichlid journal)

[PhishPhreek]

Re: fish tanks gone wild!

Congratulations,  it's not easy to put a winning team together.    

[fishlady]

Re: fish tanks gone wild!

it's gorgeous.....
cuddo's to both of you.....

[treehuggingfishlover]

Re: fish tanks gone wild!

Congratulations,  it's not easy to put a winning team together.    

Isn't that the truth!  We're pretty lucky that way.....

[treehuggingfishlover]

Re: fish tanks gone wild!

Thanks Fishlady :)

Are you going to the holiday get together on the 6'th?  I hope to see you there  artyman:

[myjohnson]

Re: fish tanks gone wild!

I think that I can safely say that the movement of water in an aquarium is one of the most important aspects of successful aquaria.

The most common approach people take is to add an air stone to their aquarium. This is often done with the belief that those bubbles will somehow cause air to diffuse into the water. However, air stones are not going to directly increase the oxygenation of your water. What they will do is disturb the surface of your water, and thus enable more water to interact with the atmosphere.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: fish tanks gone wild!

I'm with MJ....

Airstones just move water and agitate the water surface. Oxygen supplied by the pump itself does not dissolve into the water.

The eheim should provide more then any airstone can provide alone.

I hate airstones and never used it in any of my tanks and I have zero problems.

[fishlady]

Re: fish tanks gone wild!

Thanks Fishlady :)

Are you going to the holiday get together on the 6'th?  I hope to see you there  artyman:

i don't think i'll be there......but we'll get together soon i hope....

[treehuggingfishlover]

Re: fish tanks gone wild!

MJ & EK: That's what Spyke says.  

When I was a kid, I had airstones because I liked looking at the bubbles :) but now I think airstones defeat the purpose of creating a natural environment for the fish....

As soon as we get a new o ring for our Eheim filter, I think we'll be fine.

I may still keep the powerhead. though just to keep the water moving.

[treehuggingfishlover]

Re: fish tanks gone wild! (29g cichlid journal)

I've made a few changes and thought I'd post a few pics :)

Since it was taking up so much space, I took out the lace rock.  We decided to use it in a bigger tank down the road.  I put in a few more pieces of drift wood and added a few more plants.  There's a small rock cave on the left behind the wood.  They all have lots of places to hide, and Seargent (the big lab) isn't so aggressive now that he doesn't have to defend that great big lace rock cave- lol  

The Paratilapias are getting so much bigger!  I think it must be the live shrimp they inhale and choke themselves on....

So far the yellow labs and the Paratilapias all get along.  Perhaps it's because the labs are semi-aggressive, so the Paratilapias just leave them alone.  That could all change one day, so I keep a close eye on them.  

I feed them Dainichi small pellets, spirulina flakes and live shrimp.  

I just did a water change, so there's bubbles on the glass...


If you look closely, you can see the Paratilapia's irridescent spots starting to show :)


Although a bit blurry, this is a good example of how they change color.  Two are being aggressive, and one is just chiiling out- big difference...

[spyke1969]

Re: fish tanks gone wild! (29g cichlid journal)

The last one is a good pic of Sarge, Funny he thinks it is his tank.

[treehuggingfishlover]

Re: fish tanks gone wild! (29g cichlid journal)

Yeah, it is until the Paratilapias get twice his size! :)

[PhishPhreek]

Re: fish tanks gone wild! (29g cichlid journal)

Just for future refference,  driftwood (any organic material) will slowly decay and make the water softer & more acidic.  Great for rainforest fishes.
Soft Rocks will disolve, makeing the water harder.  Similar to the environment of Rift Lake Cichlids,

your tank setup.

[treehuggingfishlover]

Re: fish tanks gone wild! (29g cichlid journal)

Here are few exerpts from an article written by a prolific African Cichlid keeper:

(This article was originally published in M.A.C.K. attack, the Journal of The Mid-Atlantic cichlid keepers, June-99 pp. 6-8, It is reproduced (at chiclidae.com) with the permission of author Sonia Guinane).

"The decor in all our Madagascans tanks consists of a sandy substrate, rocks, Mopani wood and plants, with the obligatory hiding places. As we do not have a centralized system, the tanks are filtered mainly with large internal power filters, plus a few additional external power filters where necessary. The water temperature is kept at 26° C (79° F) for the older Madagascans and at about 27° C (81° F) for the juvenile species and this seems to suit all of them. The p.h. of Brighton water is about 7. 7 alkaline, and hard (GH 15 dH) but Madagascan cichlids seem to very tolerant of any water, provided it is are not too extreme either way."

and...

"It was interesting to note that Jean-Claude was maintaining all his fishes in similar water conditions to mine. There are a few Madagascans that live in brackish water in their natural habitat, but so far none of these have been seen in the UK. He was keeping those species in fresh water with the rest, which must be another good indication of how adaptable all these Madagascan fishes are to varying water conditions."

Also, keep in mind Paratilapia are not Rift Lake Cichlids, they are Madagascar Cichlids.  Being the 4'th largest island in the world, it has both rain forests AND sedimentary areas which is why the fish from Madagascar are tolerant of pretty much any PH and hardness.  

Here's an exerpt from Wikipedia:

"Towards the east, a steep escarpment leads from the central highlands down into a ribbon of rain forest with a narrow coastal further east. The Canal des Pangalanes is a chain of natural and man-made lakes connected by canals that runs parallel to the east coast for some 460 km (about two-thirds of the island). The descent from the central highlands toward the west is more gradual, with remnants of deciduous forest and savanna-like plains (which in the south and southwest, are quite dry and host spiny desert and baobabs). On the west coast are many protected harbours, but silting is a major problem caused by sediment from the high levels of erosion inland."

[treehuggingfishlover]

Re: fish tanks gone wild! (29g cichlid journal)

footnote:

We picked up a coralife double bulb light from Scott that replaced the light we did have on this tank.  The difference is amazing.  Before there was a yellowish glow making the water look a bit murky.

I think the plants will be a bit happier now, too :)