# 240 gallon Malawi Tank - VidoDiet



## Vidockq (Aug 9, 2011)

Hello all,

I have watched this forum for quite some time, and i love the amount of people that are in love with African Cichlids here and i would like to join them and let them see my pride and joy.

Here are my specs for my tank:

*TANK:* 240 Gallons --- 900 Liters
*SIZE:* 240 cm longs x 70 cm wide x 55 cm height
*EXTERNAL FILTRATION:* 1x Eheim Profi 3 2080 ++ 1x Fluval FX5 ++ 1 SunSun 404b
*INTERNAL FILTERS:* Ferplast BLue MOdular 03 ++ 6000L wavepump
*LIGHTING:* 2x54 W JBL 1200mm long neon

The aquarium was full home made, and it is encased in full wood to make it more aesthetically looking.

On request i will post pictures of its creation fazes if needed.

Here is my sitting chair in witch i loose myself watching them:










And here is recent footage with my underwater camera inside their world:





You can find more on my youtube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/vidockq
Or on my FacebookPage:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/African-C ... 3930008326

Please feel free to ask me anything.


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## ranchialex (Dec 4, 2011)

Nice setup, looks really nice. Lots of filtration!

What's the stock list?


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## nudge (Aug 1, 2011)

mate that is a beautiful tank!


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## lgw (Dec 25, 2011)

love it!


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## newforestrob (Feb 1, 2010)

Thanks for sharing Vito,have to love Malawis,none stop action,I can name all most every species except the all white with yellow,seen it once at around the 3:20 mark
I would have a chair next to the tank too


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## Steveboos (Dec 23, 2011)

I love that setup!!! Just a great looking tank in every way! You really know how to take care of those guys and it shows!!


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## gliebig (Oct 1, 2010)

Wow! Great job.

Now I'm searching for longer tanks. I have a 240, but mine is only 60" long.


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## Vidockq (Aug 9, 2011)

@ ranchialex Thanks, the stocklist is quite big. I will detail it soon i promise.

@nudge,lgw, gliebigThank you it means a lot.

@ newforestrob, yeah the one after 3:20 the Yellow perlish one is Actualy a Labidochromis Perlmutt and he is a Male. A dominant one out of 2 that i have.

@Steveboos Thanks a i had quite a few tanks and made a lot of mistakes. But i persevered and i tryed to find out as much as posible to give the fish a good home.


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## skurj (Oct 30, 2011)

Looks very nice! Are those boulders real?


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## Shallow~Dweller (Feb 6, 2012)

Stunning setup :thumb:


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## fmueller (Jan 11, 2004)

Very nice! I am guessing that the big boulders that kinda grow out of the background are BTN modules? I am always a little envious when I see tanks decorated with these, since they aren't easily available in the US. Your entire aquascaping is top notch :thumb:

I also like the cabinet, and I think I could easily spend a week or two just sitting in that chair


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## Hatter (Aug 4, 2004)

Absolute beauty. Wow.

I would also like to know about the substrate and background/boulders.


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## Vidockq (Aug 9, 2011)

The boulders in the aquarium are real with the exception of the 3 big ones.
Example:









The 2 on the left:









The 1 on the right:









Now the color as you saw in the movie is more uniform and thus creates a more natural feeling.
The Modules made of fiber are actually from a smaller company called EKOL, they are from Poland and the make these modules at a quarter of the price of BTN ones.

I would imagine that its a bit harder to find them in America.

You can see here my aquarium few mouths ago when it was full of real boulders from the river.


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## zimmy (Aug 13, 2010)

Wow! That's just stunning in every way. Really well done. =D>


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## Vadimshevchuk (May 23, 2009)

Very nice tank! :thumb: What is the name of the fish in the last photo on the left that has bars and orange on the top?


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## Hatter (Aug 4, 2004)

So I see that the big ones aren't real. What are they and where can I get some?


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## theboothsociety (Jan 3, 2012)

Nice looking tank. I like the new look. What happened to all the big fish in your old video?


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## Vidockq (Aug 9, 2011)

@ Hatter i got the modules from here: http://www.ekolnet.pl/
Just e-mail them and ask if they can deliver. Was about ~50$ each.

@ Vadimshevchuk
That is my Labidochromis Hongi Super Red Top (SRT)
You can see here a video with the diferent between a Hongi Ret Top and a SRT 





@ theboothsociety
The old big fish (35 cm long fossochromis) are now at 60 km away from my home at a friends. Whenever i feel like seeing them i take a trip and can see them again.

Ok so about the stock list there will be some posts  ill start with a few:

*Labidochromis Perlmutt*
_These are my favorite, they are extremely colored and a joy to watch. 
Have 13 of them in a extended family 2 Males and 11 Females
They are dwarft mbunas no bigger then 6-7 cm males and 5 cm females
I keep them as a replacement for the old L. Caeruleus_

This is a dominant Male:

















This is a Female:









*Pseudotropheus Acei Msuli*
I also have a pack of 9 Acei Msuli
Seems like i have 4 M and the rest Females









*Hongi SRT*
This is only a juvenile, i got 6 of them and i have also a big pair. I want to make again a extended family of 2M and 5 Females.









More to come.


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## Vidockq (Aug 9, 2011)

From when i had Yellow Labs, here is a female holding:


















Next on the stock list:
Ps. Demasoni


















Ps. Acei Ngara:









Ps. Acei Msuli:


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## FloodXL (Feb 23, 2006)

*Vidockq*

The bar has now been lifted. Sir, I think you have possibly the nicest home malawi cichlid tank I've ever seen. Everything about this from the aquascape to the fish selection is perfect. Very jealous.

A couple of questions.

1.) How is the interaction between haps and your Mbuna in your tank?

2.) Has your Lab. Hongi ever cross mated with the Yellow Labs? How is the aggression between those species?

I have a 165 gallon with about 15 fish in it and am considering adding more. Your tank makes me think I should.


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## Vidockq (Aug 9, 2011)

> Vidockq
> 
> The bar has now been lifted. Sir, I think you have possibly the nicest home malawi cichlid tank I've ever seen. Everything about this from the aquascape to the fish selection is perfect. Very jealous.
> 
> ...


Thank you very much i will try to answer your questions 1 at a time and to my best:
_
*1.) How is the interaction between haps and your Mbuna in your tank? *_
1- The Haps and Mbunas get along very nice with no problems.
The trick here is to have well formed families for example:
*Mbunas* - they require extended families to keep agresion to a minimum, that means 2 Males and 5-6 Females. In this way the males will take a part of the aquarium and will hold it because they will have enought females to court and not fight with the other male for space or females.
This beeing said you will see them growl at each other but very very rarely engage in fights since the females will keep them occupied.
*Haps* - they requirements are lower when it comes to females, you can get with success just 1 male and 2 Females, this way you will have offsprings and also the male would be happy. The trick here is to NEVER get 2 of the same family. For example:
If you want a Aulonocara Chiloelo and a Aulonocara Stuartgranti witch have same colors you will defenetly end up with a fight in the aquarium. Even if they are there from small fry when they grow up and see the same color pattern they will end up with a fight.
Instead try going with a Othopharix or a Protomelas and a Alonocara, they will never fight on a intense level just occasionally scare each other around.

I do however NEVER ENCOURAGE the placing of HAPS that are carnivorous with Mbunas, since you will have a disaster on your hands sooner or later.
For example : Friery,Livingstones,Champsochromis, Venustus, Buchochromis ...
These fish will later predate or your mbunas and they will eat them and their fry.

_
*2.) Has your Lab. Hongi ever cross mated with the Yellow Labs? How is the aggression between those species? *_
2- When i had Yellow Labs they did not cross with any other species, and i had them for 2 years now. This being said the reason for this matter was due to the fact that i have EXTENDED FAMILIES 2MALES and 6 FEMALES. This way they never had to cross breed.
On the other hand, i had once a Firefish (witch is a hybrid but nevertheless a Alonocara fish) that had forced a Protomelas Female to spawn with him.
You can see it here: 




_*I have a 165 gallon with about 15 fish in it and am considering adding more. Your tank makes me think I should*_
My persona opinion for a good Malawi aquarium that is both good looking and also biotope correct, you should consider the following:

a) Add 2 extended families of Mbunas that are Rock Dwellers and witch have nice coloration on both Males and Females.
For example:
Ps. Demasoni - they grow to 7 cm tops, go and take a colony of 13-14 fish and add them at the same time.
L. Perlmutt - they grow same to a maximum of 7 cm and have a totally different coloration pattern. You can take 2 Males and 7-8 Females.

Now these 2 species will occupy you whole bottom area and they will live well and under no stress.

Now add some Acei Msuli , i would recoment 8 of them, thus you will have a school of fish that will stay on the top side of the aquarium and swim in sincron with each other.

And finaly get 2-3 Males like this:
1 Protomelas 
1 Othopharix
1 Alonocara

Each diferent color, one red, one blue, one green/yellow ....

Thus you will have 3 fish that will grow to 13-15 cm and they will have a beautifully color to set them apart there.

This will add up to a ~35 Fish count and you will see the aquarium flourish with life very soon after these families are set in. 
You will have activity on both bottom side and top side, the fish will be happy, you will see **** there and also you will have pleased every visitor to your home and for your own desire.


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## Vidockq (Aug 9, 2011)

Here is a updated video of my Tank:


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## iphister (Apr 4, 2012)

your tank is absolutely awesome. i can't wait until the day i can have a setup like yours


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