Ideas needed

Good day,

I have a small 2ft' tank that I have not used since my crayfish Pepe passed away.
Good filtration, heating etc. already available for the little guy.

Any ideas are welcome as to what can be kept in a small tank like this?? Even if you might have a small tank and would like to share yours.

Thank you in advance!

 

Hi @Ashes - Have you looked at the Lake Tanganyikan shell dwelling species? They are perfectly suited the smaller tanks and a great introduction to Rift Lake fish and the cichlid family. Species like Lamprologus brevis pair up and share a shell in nature whereas the Neolamprologus multifasciatus species are colonial shell dwellers and each male may keep a small harem of females while allowing multiple generations of fry to remain in the territory of the nest, in this case each generation grows up to look after the next... very entertaining fish!

 

Hi @Jack Stone - I do not really know this species but will do my research, what are their basic needs regarding water parameters etc..?

 

@Ashes - The natural waters of Lake Tanganyika are fairly high in mineral content such as magnesium, calcium and a huge array of other elements. While it's not viable to replicate the waters of Lake Tanganyika there are some products which attempt to do this and they can be hugely beneficial if your source water is not already adequate for the fish.

Natural Waters: Lake Tanganyika
Temperature: 24-26 degrees Celsius
pH: 7.8 - 9.0
KH: 8-17 dH
GH: 10-20 dH

Remember kids; STABILITY before accuracy!

More attention should be paid to the last bit. If you don't have experience changing your water parameters through buffers etc. then it is probably best to use straight tap water, provided that your parameters are within an acceptable range ( probably slightly lower than Lake Tanganyika ;-P ). Most fish are able to survive in most tap water parameters, provided the parameters stay stable.

We can recommend Seachem Lake Salt, Tanganyika buffer and trace for water conditioning for your Tanganyika tanks, this should provide a fairly accurate set of water parameters... that said, you can skip the Tanganyika buffer if your pH is already sky high, and if your water has decent hardness of the right type ( more magnesium than calcium ) then Lake Salt would not be that useful. It is quite unlikely that tap water will contain all the trace elements required for Lake Tanganyika cichlids, but these can be also be found in the better foods.