# The Blue Followers' Playground - 317 gall ..heavy pics



## crys (Jan 12, 2006)

Hello again my friends!

Well, I'm not new here on C-F but in the last two years my activity here has been greatly reduced. 
My life has suffered some major changes. From Romania, my native country, I have moved in Italy almost 2 years ago and for that reason my passion for the african cichlids has suffered too.
My Big Malawi Biotope Tank from Romania that I have presented it to you here http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=212035 no longer exist. I was forced to give up to all my aquariums and fishes .It wasn t easy for me and my wife but I've made a promise to myself: I will make a much bigger aquarium in Italy than the one that I left in Romania.

Here in Italy after almost 8 long months of waiting, in february 2012, I was able to start the construction of my"Italian project" - a huge tank - 317 USgall (1200Liters) .









It was a hard work because I did everything all by myself but in the end the satisfaction was fully guaranteed.. I know that it sounds like a crazy thing  
In june 2012 , my tank was finished and the first group of malawians has arrived.
This is a pic in june 2012 , with the tank filled with water , waiting for the fishes :









So, this is the tank I want to present to you  









I have a lot of pics .For the beginning I will try to make a selection for you and to give you some general information about the tank, the population , filtration etc using the presentation of the tank made during participation at AGA 2012.

*The Blue Followers Playground (Malawi Lake)*

- Dimensions : 148cm(58.3 inch) long x 106cm(41.7inch) wide x 75cm(29.5inch)high - it's a "strange" tank  It s a very wide tank but unfortunately not very long.
- Glass: 15mm (0.6in)thick
- volume: 1200 Liters(317 USgall)

*List of fishes:*

*The "Blue Followers" group:*

- *Placidochromis phenochilus Mdoka "White Lips" *2M/3F:









- *Placidochromis phenochilus "Gisseli"* 2M/2F:









- *Cyrtocara moorii / Malawi "Blue Dolphin"* 2M/1F:









_The big substrate foraging "host":_
-*Taeniolethrinops furcicauda Liuli Tanzania* 1M/2F:









The_ other_ tankmates:
- *Lichnochromis Acuticeps* 1M:









- *Placidochromis sp.Jalo "Jalo Reef" *1M/2F:









- *Sciaenochromis fryeri "Iceberg"* 2M/2F / juvies/even if they mating , the males aren t in colour:









- *Copadichromis cyaeneus Zimbabwe Rock* 1M/2F:









- *Eclectochromis lobochilus Hertae *1M/1F









- *Aulonocara Hueseri *1M/2F :









-* Abactochromis labrosus* - a group of 5 juveniles:









- *Tropheops sp. Mauve Yellow Magunga* 2M/1F:









- *Pseudotropheus Acei Msuli *1M/1F:









*Decorative materials:*
- 70 kg of fine sand Ambra Zolux
- around 70 kg of river rocks.

*Background:*
- 4 artificial background modules
- on the 2 sides of tank , I used a black sticker outside the tank

*Lighting:* - 1 AQL freshwater lamp with 2 T5 54W neon tubes Aqua Medic Aqualine Reef White

*Type of fitration:*

- I used a system with overflow and a 53 gallons(200 liters) DIY Sump driven by a RUWAL pump 3500L/h .The sump is filled with a large amount of filter materials: Aqua Medic bioballs, Eheim ceramics, lava rocks , zeolite , blu sponges and synthetic wool.

*The water parametres* are : pH-8; GH-16; KH-12; NO3-4mg/L; NH4/NH3,NO2 - absents.

Here are some pics with the _evolution of the tank_ :

_June 2012_- first group of fishes:










































After 2 months, I was able to finish the sump 









_Aug.- sept.2012 _









The pics from AGA Contest september 2012:









































_November 2012_- my malawians are in full process of growth- some new additions:









_December 2012 and after until now_ - this is the actual look of my Malawi Biotope Tank:




































Here s a recent vid with my tank on YT :





It is an incredible and fascinating show to see how the big Taenio dig deep into the sand and the others wait for some bits of shrimps revealed with the materials stirred up.

















So, that s it for now! I will return with more pictures of my african cichlids and I will continue this aquarium journal.
Stay close!
See you soon!

Best Regards ,

Cristian

LE. please excuse me any grammatical and expression errors Gisseli


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## mambee (Apr 13, 2003)

Wow!


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## lilscoots (Mar 13, 2012)

Very nice, the shrimp trick is awesome.


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## rgr4475 (Mar 19, 2008)

Incredible! =D>


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## CrypticLifeStyle (Dec 14, 2009)

Beautiful tank, super impressed~!


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## cichlid-gal (Apr 27, 2012)

Loved this...thank you so much for sharing !


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

Absolutely beautiful tank setup and decorations. Very natural and the fish look great. Very nice pictures of your fish and it's nice to see the progress of the tank from your initial setup.

Thanks for sharing with us!


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## metricliman (Sep 3, 2012)

Nice! I really love how wide the tank is!


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## grimmjohn (Oct 24, 2012)

I saw this tank a few months ago in the AGA contest!
http://showcase.aquatic-gardeners.org/2012/index1.html
http://showcase.aquatic-gardeners.org/2012/show196.html

I thought it was a great idea and should have placed much higher! The C-F species profile pages love to mention this relationship between a few species but you never see anybody setting up a tank to allow it to happen and observe it. We usually just throw some sand in there so they can sift it a little bit and call it a day. 
Thanks for the pictures.


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## crys (Jan 12, 2006)

Hi again!
Thank you so much for your apreciation!



grimmjohn said:


> I saw this tank a few months ago in the AGA contest!
> http://showcase.aquatic-gardeners.org/2012/index1.html
> http://showcase.aquatic-gardeners.org/2012/show196.html
> 
> ...


Well, what could I say..The 2012 maybe wasn't the Malawi Biotope Tank's Year :wink: Maybe this year will be but I'm not sure that I will be there again..

Anyway , here I am again with some new hot pics and vids that I want to share with you :blush: .

First , I will show a video with the tank at :ten: months "aniversary" :





My fishes are in full growing process - The situation is very stable and calm . The agressivity inter and intra -species is very low and this is a good thing. I have matings from about every species. 
Let s see the photos ! :bounce:

*Lichnochromis acuticeps* - a beautiful large male- unfortunately I didn t find a female for him. 


His mouth very strange :








Another "strange guy"- *Abactochromis labrosus*..love them..


Abactochromis labrosus is a rare presence on our tanks and I noticed the lack of videos about this specie :the courtship ritual, mating ritual, searching food behaviour . I was very lucky to be witness of those events in my tank and I'm vey happy to share with you this experience.

_Searching food behaviour _- there's no place too little or tight where the Abactochromis labrosus doesn t rich:









Courtship ritual :




It s very hard to make the difference between the male and the female in their case but I managed to reveal them:

Here s the male Labrosus:


The pair:


The mating ritual: 



Stripping fry: 




The babies Labrosus :


*The Placidochromis Group - phenochilus Mdoka , Gisseli e Jalo reef*

Mdoka"White Lips":




Baby Mdoka:


Gisseli:



Gisseli's Fry F1:


Jalo Reef:



Jalo's mating ritual:





Jalo's fry: 


Another "blue follower" - *Cyrtocara moorii* - from about 2 days ago my 2 males showing an intense blue colour even if the female have the full mouth of eggs -





The "big Host" -* Taeniolethrinops furcicauda Liuli Tanzania*



*Tropheops sp.Mauve Yellow Magunga* - a very beautiful mbuna with a very bad reputation - It s not an highly agressive mbuna as we all know - My experience with them doesn t confirm "the horror stories" circulating on the Internet but,I wouldn t reccomend It for the small tanks - the little space with his strong behaviour it could be e deadly mix.

Dominant male:




Subdominant male:



The female:


Strippin fry Tropheops: 



The babies Tropheops - now 4-5 cm long:



A new entry in this tank - a pair of young *Lethrinops Albus Kande Island Blue Fins* - 




Here s a video with the courtship ritual - you ll see how brave is the little male :yes: : 




Another "rare" specie -* Gephyrochromis Lawsii* - a mbuna close related with Ps. Acei - I have a group of 4 juvies from an initial group of 10- I believe I don t have any female in this group.See whta I can do to fix the problem






...I think it s time to finish this mega post :think: Another long- long and exhausting post..Of course, after a long period of absence, let s say, it works like that :blush: 
Ok..until next time
I wish you All the best for you and your malawians!

Cristian


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## pomi (Oct 13, 2009)

Very nice update crys!

Keep us posted.


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## crys (Jan 12, 2006)

:wink: :thumb: Thank you Pomi!
I'll do my best ! Promise!


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## toddnkaya (Apr 27, 2013)

Super tank and pics!! What camera and lenses do you shoot with?


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## crys (Jan 12, 2006)

toddnkaya said:


> Super tank and pics!! What camera and lenses do you shoot with?


Thank you Todd!
It s not a DSLR camera..it s a Nikon P100 Coolpix


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## SmellinFishy (Mar 17, 2013)

Awesome biotope! Can you tell me why there's so much filtration in your sump?


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

Beautiful photos of your fish, crys! I really enjoy seeing the tank progress and the videos are great. Thanks for sharing them.


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## 4RSo (Aug 13, 2011)

hmm, so you're the one who I've been admiring on the youtube. Your Jalo Reef is a REAL stunner, and you certainly have some gorgeous taste in design and fish. I'm sure this tank will peak your interest for years to come. It's had my attention since last Autumn!


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## crys (Jan 12, 2006)

SmellinFishy said:


> Awesome biotope! Can you tell me why there's so much filtration in your sump?


Thank you @SmellinFishy!
About filtration,we all know that our african cichlds are producing large quantity of waste and above all, in the Great Rift Lakes , the water is almost NO3 (nitrates) free - the values of the NO3 are almost not measurable.So our fishes need a high water quality - and that is the main condition to breed african cichlids .
In order to maintain the water parameters at acceptable values, we need a good and efficient filtration system - "the bigger the better"it can be said. So a large amount of filtration material in the sump will increase the biological and mecanical power of waste decomposition 



> 4RSo » Mon May 13, 2013 6:07 am
> hmm, so you're the one who I've been admiring on the youtube. Your Jalo Reef is a REAL stunner, and you certainly have some gorgeous taste in design and fish. I'm sure this tank will peak your interest for years to come. It's had my attention since last Autumn!


Thank you very much @4RSo! I am very happy to hear that there are people who follows and watch my videos!  
I will put some photos with Jalo , especially for you! Jalo Reef is one of my favourite too!

My little Jalo on my friend's TV in Finland :wink: 


This is the original photo:
















:fish:

Cheers!
Cristian


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## NJmomie (Jan 17, 2013)

Your tank and fish are amazing as well as your pictures. I am in awe.


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## 4RSo (Aug 13, 2011)

thanks for these pictures crys, that is probably the most under-rated fish for it's beauty out there. And it's pretty rare from what I understand, I think I'm getting one today, let's hope it's pure! The aquarium community in Romania and Europe in general seems to be a pretty great and tight knit thing, that's what it's all about!


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## ratbones86 (Jun 29, 2012)

Awesome job man. Love the tank and its set up. You have a great eye and a good taste for fish. I commend you good sir.


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## crys (Jan 12, 2006)

Thank you very much to all !


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## SmellinFishy (Mar 17, 2013)

Your selection of fish is second to none. One of my favorite Malawi tanks as of now. 
Can you share more info on your sump filtration, how often you are cleaning and replacing media ? And what all ya have in there?


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