# Tanganyika Paradise Aquascape



## izabella87 (Sep 4, 2012)

Hellow all yous!

I've recently converted my 40g planted tank into my dream version of tanganyika scape.

Substrate is made of sand/aragonite/white silky beach sand and small rocks.
Also ingluded in hardscape are a varierty of river rocks and a piece of mossy driftwood.

Plants are; java ferns, java moss & long leafy plant.
Fish are; 2 sported duboidi tropheus, 3 frontosa, 4 calvus, 1 lionhead, 1 sunshine peacock, 3 bicari? and 4 yellow ones? unknown lol..
& I've got some malaysian trumpet snails in there.

All lighted up with 2 X 48 inch neon lights.

here are some pics and a video


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## ratherbfishnjp (Dec 21, 2011)

I like the look of your set up! I have one thing im not too comfortable with and that has to do with the peacock in there with many tangs. Whats the story on that? Is it a temp home for him or ?? The reason I ask is that with the brichardi, if you get a breeding pair, they are EXTREMELY aggressive. I had some with my mbuna setup as a temp fix and they had a clutch and ended up killing anything that got close to the fry. They kept picking out the eyes of my fish, after I figured it out, I removed the fry and the brichardi and all was well. Just giving you a heads up! BTW your leleupi are quite bright and very nice looking fish!! :thumb:


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## fmueller (Jan 11, 2004)

It sure doesn't look like Lake Tanganyika, but seeing that I am potentially the world's greatest fan of planted Tanganyika tanks, I absolutely love your aquascaping! The small 'forest' of Valisneria on the right nicely balances the Java moss and Java fern on the left, which makes for a stunning looking tank.

In addition, you have stocked three species of fish which are ideally suited for your setup. These are the calvus, the unknown yellow ones (_Neolamprologus leleupi_) and the fish you have misidentified as brichardi. Those are actually _Paracyprichromis nigripinnis_, which is very lucky because brichardi would not work very well in this tank, while the paracyps are perfect!

So far the good news. The bad part is that your other fish are entirely unsuitable for the setup. Frontosa need a 6' tank as a bare minimum, and they grow fast! Also, Tropheus need to be kept in groups of at least a dozen and require a 75G at the very least. There are a range of other issues which make these fish bad choices for your tank, which I won't even go into. I would urge you to re-home those fish as soon as possible. The two peacocks (lionhead and sunshine) are from Lake Malawi, and will be a bit more boisterous as adults than I would feel comfortable stocking with calvus and paracyps, so I'd get rid of the peacocks as well. If you think the tank is a bit empty without those, increase the numbers in you group of paracyps. They do much better in larger groups. If you implement these suggested changes, I see no reason why not all three species of remaining fish could breed in your tank, and be happy for many years to come!


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## nodima (Oct 3, 2002)

Agree with the other comments - i'm especially interested in seeing how this tank progresses in the medium and long term, as I have been unsuccessful with combining plants and Tangs long term. The plants always seem to slowly fade away. I have had a SA planted tank for years, and actually had saved enough from selling/trading in cuttings to pay for a 150 at one time. I suspect that keeping the water harder for the Tangs adversely impacted the plants.

I hope that you got those Paracyprichromis for Brichardi prices, as that would be quite a bargain around these parts!


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## Razzo (Oct 17, 2007)

Very nice planted tank. I agree with the frontosa comments. You will most likely have aggression problems within a year (possibly six months).

Russ


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## matt-sheeran (Sep 10, 2012)

interesting frontosa you have there..middle bars joined together...


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## fmueller (Jan 11, 2004)

matt-sheeran said:


> interesting frontosa you have there..middle bars joined together...


Irregular stripes like that are an effect often referred to as 'mooning' by frontosa fanatics, and yes, Izabella's fish show stronger mooning than most any other frontosa I have ever seen. Urban legend has it that mooning is a result of inbreeding. Upon further research, there appears to be no link between inbreeding and mooning. Even some wild frontosa populations show mooning. However, most frontosa keepers value even striping for pure aesthetic reasons, and many frontosa keepers find frontosa with mooning virtually unsellable. If I bought those kind of fish, I would expect to get them for a very low price, if not free.


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## yamadog (Oct 7, 2012)

I realy like the 'tree'....What kind of wood is that? Jason


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## LouIE82 (Nov 6, 2012)

I like it a lot. The rocks and the tree in the left corner are hard not to admire, you have a cool style to your tanks. The peacocks might be happier in your Frankenstein tank but for now they might be okay there. I dig the frontosa too, I prefer an organic looking fish. My brother is always looking for even stripes, I think it's weird to care so much for perfect patterns like that. Those tropheus might be punks soon, just a warning. I have one in my tank and he's a jerk, but so interesting that he's my favorite.


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## izabella87 (Sep 4, 2012)

ratherbfishnjp said:


> I like the look of your set up! I have one thing im not too comfortable with and that has to do with the peacock in there with many tangs. Whats the story on that? Is it a temp home for him or ?? The reason I ask is that with the brichardi, if you get a breeding pair, they are EXTREMELY aggressive. I had some with my mbuna setup as a temp fix and they had a clutch and ended up killing anything that got close to the fry. They kept picking out the eyes of my fish, after I figured it out, I removed the fry and the brichardi and all was well. Just giving you a heads up! BTW your leleupi are quite bright and very nice looking fish!! :thumb:


Are you serious about the peacock? Omg.. I'mm transfer him into my 108 gallon Frankenstein tank.. do you think I can put in his place a Eyebiter contressiceps fish? They say these aggressive but my guy is a wuss, he cant even go get the food if theres too many malawis around it lol... Thank you very mych for the heads up !!


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## izabella87 (Sep 4, 2012)

fmueller said:


> It sure doesn't look like Lake Tanganyika, but seeing that I am potentially the world's greatest fan of planted Tanganyika tanks, I absolutely love your aquascaping! The small 'forest' of Valisneria on the right nicely balances the Java moss and Java fern on the left, which makes for a stunning looking tank.
> 
> In addition, you have stocked three species of fish which are ideally suited for your setup. These are the calvus, the unknown yellow ones (_Neolamprologus leleupi_) and the fish you have misidentified as brichardi. Those are actually _Paracyprichromis nigripinnis_, which is very lucky because brichardi would not work very well in this tank, while the paracyps are perfect!
> 
> So far the good news. The bad part is that your other fish are entirely unsuitable for the setup. Frontosa need a 6' tank as a bare minimum, and they grow fast! Also, Tropheus need to be kept in groups of at least a dozen and require a 75G at the very least. There are a range of other issues which make these fish bad choices for your tank, which I won't even go into. I would urge you to re-home those fish as soon as possible. The two peacocks (lionhead and sunshine) are from Lake Malawi, and will be a bit more boisterous as adults than I would feel comfortable stocking with calvus and paracyps, so I'd get rid of the peacocks as well. If you think the tank is a bit empty without those, increase the numbers in you group of paracyps. They do much better in larger groups. If you implement these suggested changes, I see no reason why not all three species of remaining fish could breed in your tank, and be happy for many years to come!


 Waw cool... Umm... So i have another tank for the frontosa, the peacock n lionhead.. I was looking to switch this tank to something bigger if i see them growing out of proportions lol... I really like my tropheus..lets see what happens lol.. Thanks mate


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## izabella87 (Sep 4, 2012)

nodima said:


> Agree with the other comments - i'm especially interested in seeing how this tank progresses in the medium and long term, as I have been unsuccessful with combining plants and Tangs long term. The plants always seem to slowly fade away. I have had a SA planted tank for years, and actually had saved enough from selling/trading in cuttings to pay for a 150 at one time. I suspect that keeping the water harder for the Tangs adversely impacted the plants.
> 
> I hope that you got those Paracyprichromis for Brichardi prices, as that would be quite a bargain around these parts!


Them n the lionhead all at 4.99 .. came back next day, all were back at 9.99$$ Yeah very nice price hehe//


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## izabella87 (Sep 4, 2012)

fmueller said:


> matt-sheeran said:
> 
> 
> > interesting frontosa you have there..middle bars joined together...
> ...


Nice info ! thanks !!!

Well for me any of my fish are beautiful n priceless...  <3


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## izabella87 (Sep 4, 2012)

yamadog said:


> I realy like the 'tree'....What kind of wood is that? Jason


Dont really know.. i bought it a year ago in petshop at 39.99$.. I must have been drunk that day ..lol jokes


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## izabella87 (Sep 4, 2012)

LouIE82 said:


> I like it a lot. The rocks and the tree in the left corner are hard not to admire, you have a cool style to your tanks. The peacocks might be happier in your Frankenstein tank but for now they might be okay there. I dig the frontosa too, I prefer an organic looking fish. My brother is always looking for even stripes, I think it's weird to care so much for perfect patterns like that. Those tropheus might be punks soon, just a warning. I have one in my tank and he's a jerk, but so interesting that he's my favorite.


I'll try fix all this tonight... If i can get past that fact i got fever in combination with tonsillitis lol

I got the fish tank a 90 gallons capacity filter !

oh n here's another video


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## Dawg2012 (May 10, 2012)

You're MTS is developing quite nicely


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## izabella87 (Sep 4, 2012)

Dawg2012 said:


> You're MTS is developing quite nicely


Yes they do.. in all of my tanks i got hundreds of them !! Absolutly a blessing for the substrate.


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## izabella87 (Sep 4, 2012)

One day... I woke up.. and the tank just changed shape.. got no clue what happened.. but here are some pics 









































OKay I kid.. I built my Tanganyika cichlids a bigger tank, especially considering the fact that i got frontosas I there lol..


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## metricliman (Sep 3, 2012)

izabella87 said:


> Dawg2012 said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I think he was referring to Multiple Tank Syndrome.


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## izabella87 (Sep 4, 2012)

.. ****.... only 7 hahaha.... I thought Malaysian Thrumpet Snails lolllll


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## MPKS92 (Nov 5, 2010)

Beautiful tank,


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## izabella87 (Sep 4, 2012)

Hey there! Here's a video of the new Tank


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## izabella87 (Sep 4, 2012)

Hey ppls !

Here's a video update of the tank, I got new rock dwelling fish ! So far Everyone is alive, but its a shame my 2 catfish constantly hide!


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## izabella87 (Sep 4, 2012)

*** changed the lighting and cant wait to see my plants fill up the background!! 
Also took some closer pics of the fish inside.
Here's some


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