# My Big Malawian Tank..a dream come true



## crys (Jan 12, 2006)

Hi!

I want to tell you the story of my 720 litres malawian tank project.
It was started in june 2009 and, after a long period of time, lots of efforts, finnancial problems and stuff, I have managed to finish it and see the fishes swimming in it just now , in 2010. Thank you GOD! [smilie=049.gif]

Big space, big tank is a must in Haps case..and I m a big malawian Haps addicted..so, a bigger tank for my babies it was my dream ..now, I stand in front of my big tank and I m so happy ..I want to share with you my experience with this project since it was born until now,by presenting you some pics and vids arranged by date ..Enjoy!

Main coordonates>
200cm long x 60cm wide x60cm height..15mm glass
metalic support frame
filtration> Eheim 2180 with 500W heater, 2 internal Eheim pumps for the internal filtration behind the background
lighting> 4x30W , 2 AquaGlo and2 MarineGlo
background> 3D Malawi from Aquarium Munster and a few natural big heavy rocks
substrate> fine white sand

Stocklist> large Haplochromines such Nimbochromis venustus 1m, N.livingstonii 1pair, Fossorochromis rostratus 1m 2f, Protomelas Taeniolatus 2 m, Cyrtocara moorii 1m 2f, Sciaenochromis fryeri 1m, Copadichromis borley 1m..
On my wishlist are Aristochromis christyi, Buccochromis rhoadesii, Lichnochromis acuticeps, N.linii, Placidochromis phenochillus and more, but it will be a challenge to find those species because in my country the cichlid market is not so developed .

So, Let s begin!
1st phase..the frame









after, building of the tank..

















and that is the result..









me and my monster..









after few months, forced by friends and my room mate [smilie=666.gif] i have decided to install the background and the filtration materials behind, thinking that in the end of the 2009 the work were finished..









the internal filtration scheme..a huge amount of fine ,medium JBL coarse and 2 Eheim pump very powerfull, placed on both sides of the background...


















the 2009 is gone..in february 2010, the tank is filled with water ..





and here is how it looks in the cycling period..

















here is my little room mate..she can swimming free around with no trouble
[smilie=funny.gif] anyway, i want to thank to her for all support she gave in this project









in march 2010, first group of inhabbitans..















2 week ago, i ve decided to enlarge the group..














and finally, after Easter, i have managed to find, in a long trip to the Carpathians Mountains, the big rocks that i have need to arrange the tank..









right corner..









left corner..









some of my babies..
big male Venustus..









huge male C.borley..









fossie male..









electric blue S.fryeri..









and a short video with my tank..feeding artemia..






that s all for now...i will keep you close to the evolution of my big tank..

i will waiting for your impressions, critics, advices and if you have any questions, i will be very pleased to answer ..

thank you for watching !

Wish you all the best..clear water and healthy cichlids!

crys


----------



## BigFish77 (Feb 1, 2009)

Beautiful set-up, great job :thumb: Does it have 2 different color backgournds or just darker on one side of the pics?


----------



## crys (Jan 12, 2006)

BigFish77 said:


> Beautiful set-up, great job :thumb: Does it have 2 different color backgournds or just darker on one side of the pics?


thank you @Bigfish77!

it s only one background made from 2 pieces..but the colour and texture is the same.
the lighting is the problem..i didn t find 2 AquaGlo and 2 MarineGlo 30w as i want it..i have only one AquaGlo , 2 Sera Deep Sea Special (who are giving a not good lighting) and 1 JBL Solar(yellow light)..this problem i have to solve in near future.
:thumb:


----------



## AElliott (Feb 14, 2010)

That is incredible! Thanks for the pictures showing it all come together. Its always nice to see a project from start to finish. Congrats on a fantastic tank!!


----------



## slackline (Mar 28, 2010)

Very cool.


----------



## crys (Jan 12, 2006)

thank you my friends! the pleasure is mine.. :thumb:


----------



## cjacob316 (Dec 4, 2008)

good looking tank man,


----------



## rgr4475 (Mar 19, 2008)

Very nice! I am currently cycling my 180g male Hap/peacock tank. Any problems with aggression adding adult males? I was planning on juveniles but was wondering how you made out adding the adults from the start?


----------



## crys (Jan 12, 2006)

rgr4475 said:


> Very nice! I am currently cycling my 180g male Hap/peacock tank. Any problems with aggression adding adult males? I was planning on juveniles but was wondering how you made out adding the adults from the start?


well, i dont have bigger problems than ussualy with the adult males..big male Venustus is a little bit nasty harrasing all males who want to cross his teritory
if you could see in my tank , that the females of that males are missing..only C.moorii, N.livingstonii and Fossorochromis are pairs..i still thinking if i will put on it the females for Fryeri, Venustus and Protomelas..presence of females will be a reason to broke the relativ peace ..

In my 5 years of keeping cichlids from the Lake, i ve alot to learn from mistakes and bad results.So,if you could respect some roules , keeping large Haps is just easy.
Roule no.1 in malawian tanks is keeping a large group of fishes, in that way the aggression will not be focused only on some particular members 
Roule no.2:large tank.. large space to swim ..in small tank, the agression cases are more often ..
Roule no3: if it is possible , don t give chance to take teritory in property by the males..if there re alots of rocks , caves , then it s a way toinvite males to show the muscles and being territorials and aggressive.

Even if you get a group of young cichlids, you will not have problems for a short period of time until they will growing up.So,it s a solution but not for along term one.

:thumb:


----------



## GaFishMan1181 (Dec 17, 2008)

Love the tank but i am confused on how you clean the filter media. Maybe i am missing something or maybe it doesnt need cleaning>???


----------



## crys (Jan 12, 2006)

GaFishMan1181 said:


> Love the tank but i am confused on how you clean the filter media. Maybe i am missing something or maybe it doesnt need cleaning>???


position of the tank very close to the wall doesn t give possibilities to clean the filter media..for that reason, the arrangement of filter media doesnt need cleaning ..large & medium dirth particles are stopped in the 1st filtration section(by mecanical filtration) and here it s alot of space so I can use my hand to change or clean the coarse / biofibres...all system is made not for mecanical filtration ..the biological filtration is the main purpose


----------



## bremz8 (Apr 9, 2010)

You sir own my dream tank. that thing is awesome! i hope to have a big tank one day. for now i just have a 110 gallon. very cool man good work.


----------



## crys (Jan 12, 2006)

bremz8 said:


> You sir own my dream tank. that thing is awesome! i hope to have a big tank one day. for now i just have a 110 gallon. very cool man good work.


 :roll: :wink: thank you!
110 gallon is not so small :thumb:


----------



## TheBanker (Jun 14, 2008)

nice tank and selection on fish.


----------



## CichMomma (Mar 3, 2010)

WOW!  What an accomplishment! You should be very proud of yourself. Your tank is awesome! Puts my little tank to shame and gives me a large tank project to look forward to (once I can convince the husband of course) I won't hold my breath.


----------



## romerx (Aug 30, 2009)

Very nice tank. What type of background is it?


----------



## Madhun (Mar 13, 2010)

beautiful tank!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## crys (Jan 12, 2006)

CichMomma said:


> WOW!  What an accomplishment! You should be very proud of yourself. Your tank is awesome! Puts my little tank to shame and gives me a large tank project to look forward to (once I can convince the husband of course) I won't hold my breath.


well,from my little experience, i can tell you that you dont need to convince your husband :thumb: ..send him in a short vacantion and in this time you can bring the *monster * in to the house :lol: once he s back home , the job is done..and I m sure that he will be convince himself when he will see it :thumb: :wink:

i tell you that i was scare to death because i do not know how my father will react when my little *secret* will be revealed. well, here I am , alive, my father didnt kill me 

so, good luck!!! :thumb:


----------



## crys (Jan 12, 2006)

romerx said:


> What type of background is it?


it s a 3D Aquarium Munster one , called Tanzania*..


----------



## Dj823cichild (Mar 30, 2009)

:thumb: Excellent job!


----------



## smudgerat (Apr 9, 2010)

Very nice! 
Is it just me, or are the "yellow" fish on one side & the "blue" on the other?!


----------



## crys (Jan 12, 2006)

smudgerat said:


> Is it just me, or are the "yellow" fish on one side & the "blue" on the other?!


i think that is because of bad lighting..i couldnt find to buy 2 AquaGlo and 2 MarineGlo as I ve wanted to ..so, on the right side of the tank , I have one AquaGlo and one Sera Deep Sea Special and in the left side is one JBL Solar and one Sera Deep Sea..that s why is 3 colours lighting in there. i will solve the problem soon as possible.

here s a new video ..some new guys around there..i ve decided to bring there females of Fryeri, Protomelas, 2 Caeruleus and another big male Fossie..feeding time and a small mating behaviour of Fryeri...enjoy! :wink:


----------

