My tanks

Hi folks, this is my first post. Just wanted to share some pics of my tanks. I have six:

• 90 litre community tank
• 90 litre "weird" tank (2 polypterus, a huge upside-down catfish, 2 elephant noses, etc.)
• 90 litre Malawi tank
• 90 litre blood parrot and jewel parrot tank (don't flame - I know the ethic issues around parrots!)
• 120 litre planted Malawi tank
• 40 litre guppy tank (no pics yet)

Community tank


"Weird" tank


90 l Malawi tank


Parrot tank


120 l Malawi tank

Comments are welcome!

Regards,
Jan

 

lovely tanks man... your kribs look nice and your malawi's.

 

Same from me and welcome Jan. New on the forum, but an old hand in the hobby, I see. Are you on other forums as well?

 

Nice - Malawi tank looks good - fish not eat the vallis ?

Welcome to TASA

Later Ferdie

 

Welcme and nice looking tanks.

 

Thanks for the compliments guys! Sure the Malawis it the vallis - that's what Malawis do. But I've attained a sort of equilibrium; the stuff grows about as fast as the fish chow it. I initially planted the vallis in small plastic containers buried in the substrate, to prevent the fish from digging them up from the roots. But it has since started making runners and establish new shoots; the fish don't seem to realise that the new shoots aren't buried in pots as well, so they don't try to uproot them. I know plants aren't a natural feature of a Malawi habitat - but they look good! And it's a good vegetable supplement for the fish's diet....

PS. Many thanks to my partner, Martin, for taking the photos of the tanks!

 

Wow ... beautiful and Welcome from me as well.

 

Welcome to TASA.
Nice looking tanks there!

 

like the weird tank. great stuff

 

Welcome and your tanks look great. Enjoy TASA!!!!!

 

Hello and welcome.. Tanks all look good.. What type of polypterus you keeping?

 

Polypterus senegalus. I have two - one older and larger, but a timid fellow, and one younger one (but rapidly catching up to Senior) who rules the roost. Both are males - I think.

 

Very nice looking tanks

 

Wow this is nice!!

 

Really cool. In the community tank is funny to see two female kribs seemingly peacefull together. Far right between those red leaves...is that the male krib, can only see the face??

 

Fantastic tanks! Welcome

 

Welcome to TASA!!

Tanks all look amazing!! Just a few issues concerning the Malawi tanks from my side though.. 90L and 130L tanks are a bit on the small side for Malawi Cichlids.. I also see you have a Nimbochromis venustus - They are VERY agro and grow up to 25cm in size. Also, even though your planted tanks look superb for Malawis, you still need to add a few caves or hiding spots for them as their natural environments have this and they are very territorial and smaller/targeted fish want these spaces to hide in, also, what are you buffering your water with as Lake Malawi cichlids need "harder" water and the plants and wood will soften the water quite a lot causing stress on the fish as well.

Other than that, your tanks look damn nice!! DIG the red backgrounds, something completely different!!

 

Those two posing side by side are the two males (the ones with the purple tummies ARE males, aren't they?). They're actually not all that peaceful in that photo - they're showing off their tummies to each other. But there's been no physical violence between them - just lots of mutual posing. The face on the right is one of the two females kribs.

 

Hi WaRn00b, thanks for the tips - I really appreciate all the help I can get! RE the size of the tanks: the ones in the 90 L tank have been there a few years now. It has been necessary to sell some of the big ones as they outgrow the tank, but overall the fish have been in excellent health (there have been several batches of fry).

The ones in the 120 L tank are still a bit small (tank = less than a year old) - so we'll see how that pans out!

Point taken re the venustus! I had one that grew very big (approaching 20 cm), but before I could find him a new home the other fish turned on him and killed him. The current one is the replacement - I intend to keep a close eye on him.

RE hiding places: the bottom part of the slate "towers" you see in the pic is actually a whole warren of tunnels and little caves - specifically built with the needs of Malawis in mind. They love them - have excavated every grain of gravel out of them to enlarge them. (Luckily the slate is resting on a polystyrene sheet!) Some of the fish in there have never been in another tank - they were spawned there and grew up hiding amongst the rocks until they were big enough to join the "flock."

Didn't know one was suppused to buffer the water in a Malawi tank; thanks for the tip! What would you recommend?

 

Nope, those are two females. The males have less colour and up to a inch longer. Your females in the photo is prime breeding stock and sooooo ripe.

Ok. Why i say its females; comparing the length with the neons and black skirts the kribs is not that big but in full breeding colours. A male that lenght would be very dull in comparison at that length. The krib in front is younger that the one behind, the horisontal stripe is clear. The males do not have those round frutile bodies.