# My Madagascar tanks



## SidGuppy (Sep 9, 2002)

after a looong time AWOL thought I'd crash in again :wink:

I've switched to Madagascar last spring; after a disaster with a resistent strain of diseases wich killed off my best Tanganyikan fish.
some slumbering coctail of highly virulent diseases managed to sneak unnoticed through the quarantaine tank and when I added a pair of perfectly healthy looking Lepidiolamprologus elongatus in my Tanganyikan deep-water biotope tank, all **** broke loose.

within ix weeks of contant battling that horde of germs I went through at least 7 types of meds, UV radiation lamps, salt treatment,you name it.

apart from the catfishes and the virtually undestructable fronts (they were pristine through the whole ordeal!) almost everything died. once I lost myprime pair of Bathybates fsciatus wich I reared from infancy to breeding size I lost heart.

So i decided to skip on Tanganyika (save for the catfish) and start a whole new challenge: Madagascar.

right now I have 2 tanks.
this is a planted 300L/80G tank. contains mainly juvenile Madagascar fish.

population:
8 Paretroplus damii, juveniles
4 Ptychochromis oligacanthus 'Nosy be' (2 pairs), juveniles

7 Bedotia magagascariensis, juveniles and adults
3 Ancistrus spp
2 very small Cryptoheros septemfasciatum juvies, sole survivors from a nest in another tank.
4 Poecilia wingei (Endler guppy) 1 male, 3 females

the damaged plants in the center are foodplants for the damii. this way I manage to keep the rest alive, sort of. they're like very small horses, grazing all day 









the whole tank









a bit closer









Paretroplus damii juvies









again the damii









P damii and Ptychochromis oligacanthus 'Nosy be' female, also juvenile









the Nosy Be female, as you can see they already try to breed









both the Nosy be females, fighting over dominance and breeding rights.

next time I'll clean the front glass.....and I also have 3 very lazy Ancistrus in there 

as of today both Nosy Be pairs have spawned, 1 pair even managed to get so far as a whole swarm of tiny fry.

the other tank is the 1200L/317G showtank wich formerly held the Tanganyikans. 
you can see frontosa's in there, but now those are gone to another hobyist. 
I've kept them as long as I was still collecting Malagasy fish, otherwise I'd watch an empty tank.
they matched very well btw. no agression at all.
more pix to give you an idea how the tank looks.
some attempts on pictures:








a detail of my Madagascar tank (not all fishes are Madafish)









Paretroplus maculatus group









Paretroplus maculatus and Ptychochromis grandidieri

there are several pictures taken without flash to show the REAL colors. 
these are easy to spot cause the fish are blurred :lol:





































now 1 with flash; find the differences :roll: :mrgreen: 

















already fully colored up 30 minutes after release!









abandoned spawn of Paretroplus maculatus

as of today, the current fish are in the big tank:
18 Paretroplus maculatus
2 Ptychochromis grandidieri
2 Paratilapia sp 'Small Spot East Coast' (bought as polleni)
9 Retroculus lapidifer (got those from a friend, they do remarkably well)

5 Synodontis granulosus
5 Synodontis njassae
3 Phyllonemus typs
1 Clarias sp 'Nigeria' (= Clarias cf pachynema, a dwarf species)
1 Hypostomus plecostomoides (wich I choose cause this is one of the few pleco's that easily handles a high pH)
 :wink:


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## BRANT13 (Feb 18, 2009)

i love both tanks...relly kool....that third ones aquascaping is spectacular :thumb:.....sorry for your losses btw.....i wouldve been heartbroken as im sure u still are


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

Very, very nice and welcome back. :thumb: I'd love to do a Madagascar tank some day. It's on my list


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## Dewdrop (Nov 20, 2007)

Love the look of the nosey be female. The tank with the fronts looks great!


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## SidGuppy (Sep 9, 2002)

hehe, the frontosa's are long gone, I sold them in september or so, or even earlier; I don't think that the Paratilapia's have met de fronts.

but the tanksetup is still the same, I enlarged the group of Paretroplus, i recently added 2 more Ptychochromis grandidieri females and in between the number of catfish grew cause I added a few species

in place of the frontosa's, the 4th cichlidspecies is now retroculus.


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## SidGuppy (Sep 9, 2002)

some spawning pix of Paretroplus maculatus


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## SidGuppy (Sep 9, 2002)

some updates on my tank:

after 8 months of solid all out war, my pair of Paratilapia polleni (small spot east coast) made up and tried spawning
unfortunately the truce didn't last long, but when it did, it was a feast on the eyes.

all the following pix were made by John, who's a lot better with a camera than I am!








male








male








pair, female on the right

The Paretroplus keep growing slowly but steadily. 
it's Mada breeding season and I lost count on the number of spawns they produce, with eggs or without eggs. 
sometimes they eat the eggs themselves, other times the eggs last a day or even 2 before they loose them due to sloppy keeping watch.
but they sure try!

























the Ptychochromis grandidieri in the same tank do fine and occasionally the male chooses a female to spawn with.
he's lucky, cause he's the only honcho and has 3 girls. he does all of em! raunchy fish :lol: 








his first and biggest girl, not in spawning mood








one of his smaller females getting ready to spawn








him in spawning mood.

yes, his mouth looks weird. a long long time ago he was dumb enough to pick on the -long time removed- Alpha Cyphotilapia gibberosa male.
he came out second best at a prolonged liplock contest, lost most of his upper jaw, but it doesn't keep him from sandchewing, digging, fighting, eating a LOT and growing from a mere 3" to 6"now.

I also have a smaller Mada tank; the one with the juvenile Paretroplus damii from George.








coming into color








the bigger damii now show a wide variety in dress and they can change this at the drop of a hat!








the largest damii is now 4"; he was 1.5" in october 2008 at the AFC congress in Nancy, France.......

Also in that tank are 4 Ptychochromis oligacanthus 'Nosy Be Lake Bempazava"
























these also spawn often; they formed 2 pairs.

completing that tank are 15 or so Bedotia madagascariensis (formerly B geayi)

















as of today the grandidieri spawned again!
the following pix are made by me:








Ptychochromis grandidieri









Ptychochromis grandidieri









grandidieri male
you can see why the first name was "east coast GOLD".......









grandidieri female









grandidieri female









look hard! a lot of "sand" is half clear and very rounded....









more eggs

cheers!
Alex


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## BRANT13 (Feb 18, 2009)

very cool fish and tanks.....it great to have so much spawning going on ....must be alot of work


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## SidGuppy (Sep 9, 2002)

for the fish, yes. 

for me, no. :lol: :wink:

i just leave em at it. none of them is old, they're all youing, sub adult or recently getting of size.
so i let them "fool around", but I don't pull eggs or so.

there's a house move coming up soon. after that gruesome happening (any fishkeeper hates moving house, it's a drag), I'll set up a few breeding tanks and we'll see what can be pulled off :wink:


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## BRANT13 (Feb 18, 2009)

yes i agree.....i haaaate absolutely hate breaking down aquariums. :roll:


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