# My new tanganyikan fish room



## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

Thought I'd post a link to a video of my completed tanganyikan fish room. Posted the build process in the 'tank setup' section.

My Tanganyikan Fish Room


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

Extremely elegant set ups. I love the minimalist 3 species per tank type set ups with lots of room and no risks taken. I wish I could stick to such elegant and well thought out communities.   
Can you give the filtration and tank sizes please?
Or give the link to your set up posts?

All the best James


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## TKC747 (Dec 5, 2008)

Alot of people use this emoticon opcorn: This is one of those posts which really deserves it =D>


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## Darkside (Feb 6, 2008)

prov356 said:


> Thought I'd post a link to a video of my completed tanganyikan fish room. Posted the build process in the 'tank setup' section.
> 
> My Tanganyikan Fish Room


You have good taste in fish my man!


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

24Tropheus said:


> Or give the link to your set up posts?


Here's the link.

Fish room setup


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## cjacob316 (Dec 4, 2008)

yeah i saw the build, this is amazing dude, wish i had a basement lol


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## noddy (Nov 20, 2006)

Great looking room and great taste in fish. Love the trigs. I want to sit in the viewing chair.
:drooling:


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

[b:152m64ce said:


> Darkside[/b]":152m64ce]You have good taste in fish my man!


Thanks, I spent the whole year I was working on the room going over breeder lists. By the time I ordered I pretty much knew what everybody had and where I could get what I wanted. I got all of these in within a few days of each other. The last one was the Ctenochromis. I couldn't find them anywhere. One place had just one and it was 17.99, so had to pass. Went to OCA and someone had actually brought fry for sale for $4 each. So, I walked out with 6 for $24. :thumb:



[b:152m64ce said:


> 24Tropheus[/b]":152m64ce]I love the minimalist 3 species per tank type set ups with lots of room and no risks taken.


That was what I went for, so glad it came off. Most have only 2 species. The brevis fry I had gotten from my breeders, so added them to the xeno's and paracyps. The callochromis tank originally was just supposed to be callo's and ctenochromis. When I couldn't find the ctenochromis, I added the n. toae. Then when I found the ctenochromis at OCA, I couldn't pass that up and added them.

The telmat/pulcher daffodil tank should be an interesting one that I'll have to keep an eye one. Right now there's a large male telmat that rules the tank. He's got a couple of females already. From what I've read hear from the experienced keepers, this is one way to keep the brichardi types with a second species.

Decisions on species and compatibilities were pretty much made by continuously reading posts in this forum. Thanks to all for sharing your expertise.


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## rupertoooo (Dec 7, 2005)

With this post you are going to make quite a few hobbyists jealous with envy. Simple but complex setup which you should be extremely proud of.


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

rupertoooo said:


> With this post you are going to make quite a few hobbyists jealous with envy. Simple but complex setup which you should be extremely proud of.


Thanks, rupertooo. I'm looking forward to the next 12 months or so as all of the fish mature and grow out. Had to explain to my wife why I paid so much for all of those small silver and brown fish. Folks here understand. :thumb:


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## Multies (Mar 9, 2007)

Dude that is soo sick..
I cant wait to see it in a few months.. When they start to become the "colourful fish" instead of the "Brown and Silver fish" Be sure to take lots of pics and vids


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## hazard (Apr 6, 2003)

Where are the fronts and tropheus. Just kidding. Very nice setup. I like the 8 125g tanks. You have alot of flexibility. You couldn't get away with this with 75's. Well you could but it would be cramped.

Looking at this I would like to get rid of the 75's and 40's and go with more 6' tanks but I only have 10' of wall space to work with.

Chris


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## TorontoRaptorsFan (May 20, 2005)

Prov356 I applaud you!

You have done an incredible job! I'm really impressed with your fishroom. It's very clean and organized. I have seen many fishrooms and lots of them are very filthy!

I'm glad to see you used larger tanks, minimized the numbers of species in each tank, and carefully thought out compatability with one another!

Again fantastic job and I'm looking forward to seeing how all the fish change in the months to come!

:thumb:   8) opcorn: =D>


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## Alleycat (Dec 2, 2006)

prov356 said:


> The last one was the Ctenochromis. I couldn't find them anywhere. One place had just one and it was 17.99, so had to pass. Went to OCA and someone had actually brought fry for sale for $4 each. So, I walked out with 6 for $24. :thumb:


I was bidding on those too ... After seeing them in your tank, I'm glad you won them. They would have resided in a 75 with some Xenos instead. 

Your completed room looks perfect. Is there another arm somewhere for smaller tanks to raise all the fry? Sure would like to see some Ctenochromis fry for sale again at next years OCA. :wink:


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

[b:2w7pu7m1 said:


> Multies[/b]":2w7pu7m1]Dude that is soo sick..
> I cant wait to see it in a few months.. When they start to become the "colourful fish" instead of the "Brown and Silver fish" Be sure to take lots of pics and vids Grin


Me too, thanks. One thing I plan to do is video progress as my of my recordkeeping.



[b:2w7pu7m1 said:


> hazard[/b]":2w7pu7m1]Where are the fronts and tropheus. Just kidding. Very nice setup. I like the 8 125g tanks. You have alot of flexibility. You couldn't get away with this with 75's. Well you could but it would be cramped.
> 
> Looking at this I would like to get rid of the 75's and 40's and go with more 6' tanks but I only have 10' of wall space to work with.
> 
> Chris


I've already got tropheus in my 180 in my family room. Wanted to get into petros instead of a second tropheus variant.

The size of the tanks works well. One system of two tanks with sump is about the same gallonage as a standard 180, but you can easily keep more species and not crowd them. That was part of the plan.



[b:2w7pu7m1 said:


> TorontoRaptorsFan[/b]":2w7pu7m1]
> 
> Prov356 I applaud you!
> 
> ...


Thanks, I'll share any videos or info I think others may be interested in. Again, it was posts from experienced keepers like yourself that resulted in my coming up with a good stock list.



[b:2w7pu7m1 said:


> Alleycat[/b]":2w7pu7m1]I was bidding on those too ... After seeing them in your tank, I'm glad you won them. They would have resided in a 75 with some Xenos instead. Grin
> 
> Your completed room looks perfect. Is there another arm somewhere for smaller tanks to raise all the fry? Sure would like to see some Ctenochromis fry for sale again at next years OCA.


I bought mine out of someone's room. Check the lists on the board and get them before they end up in the auction. I couldn't believe the one fish I was looking for was listed. I practically ran down the crowded hallway and squeezed into a crowded room to get them, teenage son trailing behind. I didn't have to knock anybody down, but was going to do what I had to do. Addiction will do that to you. 

I live near where OCA is held. If I have anything for sale, I'll post it up on the trading post beforehand.

I do have some rearing tanks/tubs set up, but want to improve on that. That's what I'm going to work on next.


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## Longstocking (Aug 26, 2003)

=D> =D> =D> =D> =D>

Very nice !


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## punman (Oct 24, 2003)

Thanks for sharing that. I love fish from that lake. You have done well.


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

Longstocking said:


> =D> =D> =D> =D> =D>
> 
> Very nice !





punman said:


> Thanks for sharing that. I love fish from that lake. You have done well.


Thanks to both.

Trigs have gone crazy with digging and I've got a pair already. Hoping the x. spilopterus can hold their own in there now. The trigs are more aggressive than I though they'd be. The xeno's are a pretty good size though.

In the telmat/brichardi tank the telmats definitely rule the roost at this point. I can't imagine the pulcher's ever being a threat to them, but we'll see.

I witnessed a c. melanostigma pair going through some spawning motions. They seem awfully young though.

The gobies are a bit intimidated by the rowdiness of the petro's, but little by little are coming out to get their share of food. I added some pellets that were almost powdered. Seems to be working. In the petro feeding frenzy, they distributed it throughout the tank. Even my kids noticed how similar they are to my trophs.

The brevis are happy to swim with the xeno's and don't spend much time in or near the shells. Totally opposite from when they were in the 10 gallon alone.

I added the j. transcriptus to the cyathopharynx tank yesterday. Went well, they ignore each other.

I added more shells to the callipterus tank to see if the male would grab those also. Very interesting to watch. He's got at least one female in a shell that I've not seen come out yet, possibly two. I know she's there because I see her moving around in the shell. There are other females that he's not accepted for whatever reason. Because of his size, he has no real competition.


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## Razzo (Oct 17, 2007)

Some how words just don't sum it all up - impressive. I look forward to all of your posts.


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## Tshethar (Jul 20, 2009)

Beautiful display! Have really enjoyed catching up on your elegant work and seeing your video today. I, too, lament the absence of basements in this part of the country! Look forward to taking vicarious pleasure in your further fishkeeping, and wish you best of luck with the species you've chosen--I'm sure there will be some fun, some surprises, and hopefully some fun surprises as your new finned friends settle in for the long haul. Bravo =D> and all the best!


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

Thanks *Razzo* and *Tshethar*.

The triglachromis pair have claimed half the tank as their own. So, a little bit sooner than planned I think I'm looking at removing the unpaired trigs. I want the xeno's to be free to take over the other half of the tank. I'll rehome the 4 remaining trigs 1m/3f into a breeder tank, I think, and see if I can get that male to pair up with one of the females. I may ultimately end up with a single pair of trigs and a single pair of x. spilopterus in the six footer, but I'm good with that.

Here's a video of the pair defending their half of the tank.

The female l. calipterus came out of her shell today. She's got some beautiful markings. The male was keeping all away from the area above his shells. I noticed something was going on when I saw the cyps hurriedly schooling past his territory. If they didn't hussle, he chased them off. Pretty certain the pair is defending something in the shell, or at least think they are.  He ignored the shells I put in yesterday, btw, so apparently he's content with what he has. Here's a video.


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## hazard (Apr 6, 2003)

The triglachromis are looking good. I have been searching for these. I need to get in on a order for them with like atlantis or old world.

I had calliputrus once. The males were very obnoxious. Cool fish

Chris


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## cholile (Oct 28, 2007)

Unreal.


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## tsmi031 (Sep 22, 2009)

Very nice ... bravo :thumb:


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## jrf (Nov 10, 2009)

I like the video updates. Keep em comming. :thumb:


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

Spent some time taking some more videos last night. Caught some interesting behaviors.

The first video is of the telmatochromis male and his growing harem. He's got two females that stay in his territory (which is the entire shell bed) and now one other that's dug out under a rock. She's turned a much darker color and is obviously trying to get his attention.

Telmats

The next one is of the brevis. They apparently got the memo and followed the plan to divide themselves among the two shell beds. I shot the group on the right and you can see the male/female coloration and behavior indicating I've got a pair forming. I was surprised because these guys are 9 months old at most.

Brevis

The callipterus tank is still one of the most interesting to watch. In this video, one female emerges from the shell only to retreat as the male tries to entice more. You can see him making short quick movements around his shell bed, poking his head into some shells as if to entice her into one. At the end when she's more interested in the food she thinks I'm there to offer, he gets ticked off and chases her off.

Callipterus

The gobies are getting bolder and coming out for their share of the food. Good to see as I was concerned for them. Rough and tumble only begins to describe the petros they're with.

Gobies

A short video of the dominant male triglochromis. Still waiting for spawning to occur.

Male trig

Video of the julis in the cyathopharynx tank. Check out the one oddball that I have. This guy came with the rest and from a reputable, well known breeder, so not sure what to make of him. Just a typical variation that comes from breeding? Any thoughts?

Julis

The petros just want to be fed 24/7. In this one I took some video of one female (assuming that it's a female) that stands out from the rest because she's much lighter in color. Is it normal to see this variation in petros? Seems from some videos of others I've seen that it may be. Has anyone else seen this in your famula's? She's also one of the largest, so is she making sure the males don't see her as challenging them?

Petros

Lastly, just a short video of all the rest. All are doing fine. No losses that I know of. I've gotten them so used to associating me with food, that shooting video is a real challenge. If I move at all, they stop what they're doing to beg for food. I need a deer blind or something. 

All the rest


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## Darkside (Feb 6, 2008)

I see that you've gone with rope lights what colour are they?


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

Darkside said:


> I see that you've gone with rope lights what colour are they?


All are white except for one tank with the p. nigripinnis. I used half white and half blue. Doesn't give a noticeable blue hue, but does make the lighting more subdued a bit. I'm hoping it'll bring out the blue in the male paracyps, but will be a while before they color up so I can see, I imagine.


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## Darkside (Feb 6, 2008)

prov356 said:


> Darkside said:
> 
> 
> > I see that you've gone with rope lights what colour are they?
> ...


Let me know how this goes, I've tried several different bulb temperatures and types to get the best colour out of my fish. I ended up ditching the white rope lights because they gave off too much colour in the yellow region washing out the blue colours on my fish. I had thought I bought some pretty ugly xenos and checkerboards until I put the 10000K bulbs from my planted set up over head. :lol:


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

No doubt that you can do more with bringing out colors with fluorescent lights than you can with the LED rope lights. Depends on what you're going for. I'll sacrifice some color, but I just prefer the look of the LED lighting overall.

And just to clarify, the blue LED's that I used aren't actually blue, but in a blue vinyl jacket. They're designed to look blue more than give off blue light, so I'm not sure if they'll do any good at all in bring out the blues in the fish.

Of course, you could go with the expensive LED lighting that allows you to adjust the red/green/blue to your liking, but incredibly expensive.

I looked into and considered all this when designing mine and considered going with the different colored LED's, but decided it wasn't important enough to spend the time or money when the rope LED's were an easy solution for me.


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## jrf (Nov 10, 2009)

Awsome videos. The group of sand sifters in that last clip look great in a tank that size.


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

jrf said:


> Awsome videos. The group of sand sifters in that last clip look great in a tank that size.


Thanks, and funny you mention that because I was watching them and thinking that they were becoming one of my favorites. They do look good schooling together like that.


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## bertolli (Aug 18, 2009)

+1 on the sandsifters i lol'd when i saw them so darn cute.
you deserve some sort of award for all this great coverage and ur awesome fish room but i guess ur the one who gets to have the fish room in his house 
Very nice =D>


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

Update on the fish room.

On Dec 10th, I noticed that the male trig was holding. I thought it was odd that I hadn't seen the female holding, so either I missed that or had the m/f thing wrong. Each day afterward they had traded off and the other was holding. This went on for 10 days, and on the 11th day it seemed that every time I checked the tank they had traded off. I knew that I must have been just missing the swap, so I put the cam on a tripod and sat to watch. They didn't disappoint me. Whenever anyone wants to know why I keep tangs, I can show them this video.

They apparently released to allow the fry to forage a bit. You can see the fry attempting to move up the sand pile that marks the territory while the adults scoop them up and spit them back toward the bottom. Toward the end when I zoom out, you can see the x. spilopterus holding in perfect formation and not moving. They hadn't done this before. It's as if they were told to 'freeze' and had done so, kind of funny.

Later in the day when I fed, I made the mistake of feeding while the fry were out foraging. Some of the food went to where they were and the other trigs went after it. It was bedlam. I don't think any were lost as the trigs were interested in the pellets, but I certainly deserved the fishkeeping idiot of the day award for that one.  I added some NLS powder and some decapsulated brine eggs later in the day, but made sure the fry were safe first this time. Hopefully the adults didn't hoover it all up.

I think I'm going to move the other trigs out soon and let the xeno's have the other half of the tank. Still kicking this one around.

This is a long video and I don't always have patience for them myself, but I think this one is worth it. I couldn't find a thing to edit out of it even when I shook the cam while removing it from the tripod.

Trigs and fry

My petros are spawning, but they're still awfully young. One female has held, but for only a day or two.

Petros spawning

I was thinking that it was nice that I had some fry and spawning going on in some tanks because it would be a while before anything would be going on in the foai sibwesa tank. Then I noticed that I had two small spawning pits in their tank. Very, very surprised by that as they're only 3" maybe. I know they're a long way off from spawning yet, but was very surprised to see the pits dug and males defending territory already. Starting to occasionally see some faint color in the ventral fins. Only concern is that I believe the j. transcriptus have been spawning as well based on how they're defending rock piles. So far the sibwesa's are wimps, but counting on that changing. Hopefully the julis can stay long term.

Sibwesa spawning pits

I noticed my callipterus male mouthing something in a shell. That can be seen in this next video. The female is still in her shell and I only ocassionally see her. Not sure what the male is mouthing as I didn't want to disturb. He wasn't feeding, I know that, and I've not heard of male callipterus tending eggs, but who knows. Wouldn't be surprised to see fry soon from them.

Callipterus

I'm more and more convinced that I have only one male telmat sp. shell, and the rest are females. In the next video you can see the male break up a squabble between what I believe are two females. Many females seem just as happy to dig out under a rock as opposed to occupying shells. My largest female has produced at least a few fry. She resides in the shell area just left of center of the tank, and is the one emerging from under a rock in the beginning of the video. No fry visible in the video as they were very hard to see. I thought it was just poop, but then it started to swim.  I'm thinking that I may have to divide this tank for a while in order to give the pulcher's a chance to get established, but we'll see. No pulcher pairs yet that I can tell.

Telmats

My brevis have formed definite pairs now.

Brevis

Gobies are showig some aggression, but no obvious pairing yet.

Gobies

I've got a male callochromis starting to color up. The spilopterus are coloring up nicely as well.

Sand sifters

Hopefully I'm not boring too many with my home videos. :roll:


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## jrf (Nov 10, 2009)

The trig video is very interesting. From the video, they look big but it's hard to get an accurate sense of thier size. How big are they?


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## Darkside (Feb 6, 2008)

How big are your telmats Tim?


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

jrf said:


> The trig video is very interesting. From the video, they look big but it's hard to get an accurate sense of thier size. How big are they?


Between 3" and 3.5".



Darkside said:


> How big are your telmats Tim?


Most are about 2". The large female is about 2.5" and the male is about 3" give or take.

Those are guestimates.


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## Darkside (Feb 6, 2008)

If he's mean now just wait until he doubles in size. My pair are really nippy. I may actually move them out of my display tank, or change the occupants. The only fish they give any space at all to is the similis who have an even worse attitude. :lol:


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

Darkside said:


> If he's mean now just wait until he doubles in size. My pair are really nippy. I may actually move them out of my display tank, or change the occupants. The only fish they give any space at all to is the similis who have an even worse attitude. :lol:


I think I'm going to remove all telmats but the male and a couple of females, the ones that currently occupy the shell bed. The idea was to get something that would fend off the n. pulcher. Right now I'm more concerned about the n. pulcher. I think the key is moving out the ones inhabiting the rock pile and see if the n. pulcher can eventually keep the male telmat from coming around. The telmats gave me more fry than I thought. Tonight there were at least a dozen or so that I could see.

Sadly, the trig numbers are dwindling fast. The other trigs are doing some snacking. No big deal, as I typically don't intervene with any first broods. It goes the way it goes. It was cool while it lasted. I've all but decided to remove the other four trigs. Then the spilopterus will have some space and the trig pair will have a chance of raising some fry. Breeding isn't the priority. I'd just like to see more parental behaviors. Supposedly the fry are tolerated by the adults for quite some time.


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## bertolli (Aug 18, 2009)

very cool, not boring at all, keep em coming.


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## drungil14 (Jan 11, 2009)

I bet you wont have a problem selling the Triglachromis fry.I've had a group of six for about four months and about the same same size but still not breeding. They are suppossedly one of the more difficult tangs to breed but you got them breeding in no time. I heard of peope waiting for 18 months for theirs to breed. Did you do anything to induce spawning? Really cool video!


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

drungil14 said:


> I bet you wont have a problem selling the Triglachromis fry.I've had a group of six for about four months and about the same same size but still not breeding. They are suppossedly one of the more difficult tangs to breed but you got them breeding in no time. I heard of peope waiting for 18 months for theirs to breed. Did you do anything to induce spawning? Really cool video!


Thanks. I didn't do anything to induce spawning. They paired up almost immediately after introducing them to the tank. Maybe they just liked the tubes I had custom made.  A bit over the top maybe, but I just didn't like the short tubes you find for pleco breeding. On the other hand, the other four (1m3f) have shown no interest in pairing up. We'll see what happens when I move those four to their own tank. But, I think I'm going to sell them if I can as I'm not really looking to do a lot of breeding. Suppposedly many have bred them now, but you rarely if ever see F1's for sale anywhere. That's the only reason I bought WC.



bertolli said:


> very cool, not boring at all, keep em coming.


Thanks, I've enjoyed doing the videos much more than pics primarily because I'm terrible at pics. Plus, you don't get the behaviors when doing pics. I'll post when something significant happens.

I've poured over YouTube myself when interested in a species trying to find video. So many questions I've had about which I can mix with which and it's helpful to see how they behave in a mixed species tank, etc. Once I see it in a tank, I know and understand. So, I wish there was more of it out there. That's why I also try not to just zoom in on a fish and follow it around the tank. Those videos frustrate the heck out of me, besides making me motion sick.  I sit here saying "zoom out, zoom out" because I want to see the whole tank. :lol: Nobody watches a tank with their face pressed against the glass. Well, actually I did yesterday. I was able to get right down by where the trig fry were and watch them pick off the decapsulated brine shrimp eggs that floated by. I'm not sure if it was intentional or not, but the parental foraging would kick up the food, and it would float down the sand embankment they had made right to where the fry were.

The adults weren't taking in the fry yesterday, so I'm afraid there probably won't be any left by this evening. We'll see how long until the next spawn.


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## Petrochromislover (Feb 23, 2009)

hopefully your trig fry will survive


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

Petrochromislover said:


> hopefully your trig fry will survive


They actually didn't last very long once the adults stopped taking them back in to protect them. I'm in the process of moving out the four extra trigs, so the pair has a chance to raise the next brood. Assuming and hoping there will be one of course. I don't want to tear apart the tank and dismantle the pair's territory, so I'm waiting until the ones that I want to remove take cover in a tube, and then I pull out the tube. Two down, two to go.  That will just leave the x. spilopterus, and the trigs fend them off easily.


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## Petrochromislover (Feb 23, 2009)

how are your temporalis doing


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## hydrophyte (Dec 16, 2009)

That's amazing. I don't know much about Tanganyikans, but you obvioulsy put a great deal of thought and work into planning those setups and the species combinations look so perfect and natural.

Like I say, I am a noob, but I have been looking around for options for my new setup. It already has a group of _Synodontis lucipinnis_ and I hope to also add a Tanganyika cichlid. It is only about 30 gallons or so of water. I am quite intrigued by the idea of _Paracyprichromis_. Can you have a look at my post and let me know what you think?

http://cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=205999&sid=d7593043880db424316af52138271248

*


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## Petrochromislover (Feb 23, 2009)

are you going to remove all the other fish except the synodontis


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## hydrophyte (Dec 16, 2009)

I am going to remove the red points and the mollies. I am rather attached to the cutteri, but could also remove him to another tank if necessary.


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

Can the last couple of posts be moved to the other thread?

Please and thanks guys.


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

Petrochromislover said:


> how are your temporalis doing


They're doing well. They rule the tank, but that's ok because right now they're the most interesting to observe. I have two females with broods, and others digging out space and hoping to breed. The male temporalis cruises the tank breaking up squabbles between his females, as they don't like each other at all. The daffodils are pretty much ignored as they stay above the rocks.

All of the females seem to display for him as he cruises around. Definite harem breeder, and I've found shells aren't necessary at all. They seem to prefer digging out around rocks when choosing a spawning site. None have bred in the shells yet, but fry use them for cover.

Some females turn a chocolate brown with black on the dorsal and caudal when in breeding dress, and some don't. Some take on a splotchy or striped pattern and some just stay a light cream colored. No rhyme or reason that I can see.

Interesting in that no fry predation seems to be going on by the other females. Fry roam far enough to lose protection, but survive.

Not sure long term what I'm going to do, as I was hoping the daffodils would colonize half the tank. I just don't want to break up the temporalis group. I'm taking a wait and see approach.


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## Petrochromislover (Feb 23, 2009)

that is the most coolest behavior i have heard prov. my female hangs by the shells and the male roams the rocks. when breeding my female stays her creamy color. Like yours they don't eat their fry. hopefully the daffodils colonize that half of the tank so you don't have to break up the temporalis group.
what about your petros? are they still spawning?


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

> what about your petros? are they still spawning?


Nothing that I've seen lately. Just lots of chasing. It's a hard tank to watch because as soon as they see me, they think they're going to be fed. I have to sit real still for a while and not flinch. Of ccourse, they're all like that to a certain point. I'm trying to move around and stand in front of the tanks, so they get used to my presence not always being a signal for feeding time. So far, it's not working.


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## Petrochromislover (Feb 23, 2009)

lol their acting like you never feed them


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## Petrochromislover (Feb 23, 2009)

do you have algae on the rocks in the petro tank??


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

Petrochromislover said:


> do you have algae on the rocks in the petro tank??


No, I'm using LED lighting and don't get algae. I'm considering setting up a container to grow algae on rocks that I can add to their tank occasionally.


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## Petrochromislover (Feb 23, 2009)

they will love the algae, they will go crazy for it.


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## Petrochromislover (Feb 23, 2009)

any new updates prov?


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## timdo72 (Oct 1, 2007)

Prov356 -  Amazing Amazing Amazing 

i love your whole set-up, everything about it, design and all the details, very well thought out, time and effort put into it, etc. etc. i could go on and on and on..............

i also like your simple elegant aquascape with minimal species per tank as well as species collection, beautiful fish.

and thank you for all the videos you put together, i really enjoy them, keep it up :thumb:


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

Petrochromislover said:


> any new updates prov?


Working on some new videos, but been busy at work lately. Hate when that gets in the way.  I've got a female petro that's been holding for a while, and now 3 broods of telmat sp shell, each from a different female. I'll post up when I get enough that I think would be of interest.

Thanks, timdo72.


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## Petrochromislover (Feb 23, 2009)

whoohoo a petro female has been holding fo a while. 3 broods of temporalis shell i am jealous, i need to get more females.


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## brucem (Aug 12, 2009)

Spectacular setup Tim. Congrats.

I had a read through the account of how you've gone about creating this masterpiece. It's now a great tool for those who aspire to such a beautiful and well thought out set up.

Enjoy the view from the chair!

Bruce


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## jrf (Nov 10, 2009)

Tim,

Just curious, how much time do you have to spend on water changes and tank maintenance?


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

> Enjoy the view from the chair!
> 
> Bruce


Thanks, Bruce. I got the viewing chair for Christmas. :thumb:












> Tim,
> 
> Just curious, how much time do you have to spend on water changes and tank maintenance?


Water changes take 15 minutes for these tanks. I do two racks at a time. And I try to go 1-2 times per week for each. So, Monday I may do rack 1 and 2, and then Tues I do rack 3 and 4. Then Th-Fr I might repeat. I've got a system to drain and refill the sumps by switching valves and flipping switches. So, those 15 minutes aren't even hard labor. I'm just sitting and watching. Other days I may do my 180 which also is hooked up to the same system. So, I'd say 4-5 days per week I'm running a quick water change. But, I usually read CF while I do that because I now have a computer set up in the fish room. Also added the indoor/outdoor carpeting, so it's officially done now.










The 180 can take more time on occassion because it's a bit stuffed with adult fish now, so I vacuum out the sand and rinse and replace from time to time. It's getting to be a more frequent need though. But I really like the tank. It's a nice mix of tanganyikans and it's nice to see them growing out, even the calvus.

The only other thing is the rinsing of the drip trays and prefilters about once every two weeks. I try not to let it go any longer. That just takes a few minutes each, total of five to do.

No algae to speak of in these tanks. Maybe a faint haze on the front panel. I've used a magnet scraper on a couple of tanks in the two months since they cycled. LED's are nice that way. The rocks, and tanks as a whole pretty much look the same as when I first set them up. My 180 still runs fluorescents, but my nerite snails take care of keeping that clean. I haven't had to remove and clean rocks since I got the nerites about a year or so ago.

I vacuumed out the petro tank for the first time yesterday. I use a little hand held battery vac. I'm sure this will be a need in more tanks as time goes by.

I'm thinking about doing two more racks, 4 more tanks, but not sure. What I have now is real manageable, but there's so many more I want to keep.

By the way, trigs are holding again. :thumb: The other trigs have been moved, so hoping to see parents successfully raise some fry this time. I've been working on videos, but work has been crazy, so haven't been able to complete them yet.


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## jrf (Nov 10, 2009)

prov356 said:


> By the way, trigs are holding again. :thumb: The other trigs have been moved, so hoping to see parents successfully raise some fry this time. I've been working on videos, but work has been crazy, so haven't been able to complete them yet.


Someone near me has a group of WC trigs up for sale. After seeing yours, I thought hard about getting them. But, I just don't have any where to put em....unless I take the bed out of the spare bedroom. :lol:


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## Petrochromislover (Feb 23, 2009)

prov: Yay trigs are holding again!!! :dancing: 
how is the holding female petro?


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

Petrochromislover said:


> prov: Yay trigs are holding again!!! :dancing:
> how is the holding female petro?


Still holding. Seems like a long time. I think it's been about 25 days now. I read that fry will be left alone by adults. Is that true?


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## Petrochromislover (Feb 23, 2009)

yeah you can leave them alone with the adults. if you have another spawn can i have some petro fry?


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

I love the way your tanks look and finally, a chair to enjoy watching them.

BTW, where did you get your Nerites? I've been on the lookout for some locally (due to shipping/weather) but haven't been able to find any.


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

Deeda said:


> I love the way your tanks look and finally, a chair to enjoy watching them.
> 
> BTW, where did you get your Nerites? I've been on the lookout for some locally (due to shipping/weather) but haven't been able to find any.


Thanks, Deeda.

See this thread on another forum. I don't know if she has more, but indicated at that time that she would be continuing to offer them. I'd highly recommend her. :thumb:


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

Petrochromislover said:


> yeah you can leave them alone with the adults. if you have another spawn can i have some petro fry?


Hmmm, well they were released and immediately anihilated by the adults. So, I guess no fry for you and so much for adults not bothering them. I guess you can't beleive everything you read. 

On a good note, I've got a ctenochromis holding. Male just colored up within the last week or so, and these guys aren't even 3 inches. Of course, the fry in that tank don't stand a chance with n. toae. But, that's ok, as I'm not into raising a bunch of fry right now.


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## Petrochromislover (Feb 23, 2009)

well theres always next time, now you know that she can hold full term. i love ctenochromis i have always wanted a couple of them.


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## Petrochromislover (Feb 23, 2009)

any new updates prov


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

Yes, but have been very busy working 7 days, so first chance I get. Appreciate the interest though.


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## cjacob316 (Dec 4, 2008)

who wouldn't be interested!


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## cjacob316 (Dec 4, 2008)

see you posted some new vids on you tube, i'm going to have to take a look in a few mins


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

Yes, I did finally finish some new ones.

First off, my trigs had another brood. 12 days now since release and doing well in defending since I removed the spare trigs to a 30 gallon of their own.

Trigs with fry

The other four trigs have formed 'pairs' and built the sand pile in between. Hoping the two on the left are a mated pair. The one that I'm thinking is female is showing a bulge, so hoping maybe a spawn soon. You can see the aggression when one wanders into her territory.

Trigs in 30 gallon

I can't figure out the callipterus. The male had every female in his shells and appears in this video to be posturing over a shell to fertilize. I thought I'd have fry for sure. Now all females are out, and he's showing no aggression or interest in breeding. Seems cyclical and not sure I understand. Lots to learn about these guys. He definitely has a 'join me or die' attitude toward females when he's ready to breed. He did manage to kill one of his females. I pulled her, but she didn't survive.

Callipterus

The telmat fry are getting big, about 3/4" and doing great. There's some interesting interaction between females in this video when a neighboring female wanders into another's territory for a quick feed. The male sometimes steps in between these things. He must not have noticed.

Telmats

My female petro held full term, but unfortunately her timing for release was poor. I fed the tank and she still had fry. When I finished feeding the rest of the tanks and came back, she didn't. Found one headless corpse on the sand. Thought they'd been anihilated. After a few days, I saw one poking in and out of the rocks. So, she apparently had two, and one made it. Doing well now, and coming out to feed with the adults. Hopefully she's make a mental note not to release at feeding time again. 

Petro fry

I've had some gobies displaying, but no obvious pairing yet. I did have one casualty, and thinking it had to be aggression. It was one of the larger ones, probably male. Now have 6. They're growing like weeds. I remember it wasn't long ago they were afraid to come out at feeding time, so I added powdered food, so they'd get something. They're not shy any more and some are almost as big as the smallest female petrochromis.

Gobies displaying

My first enant was coloring up and displaying. He's still very young though. This video was shot yesterday. Today he's just one of the pack again.

Enant displaying

My pulcher daffodils are getting bigger and some nice color. Still waiting to see what they do up against the telmats.

Pulcher Daffodil

My ctenochromis male is coloring up and I actually had a female holding for a few days.

Ctenochromis

Took some video of all of the tanks at feeding time. I used to feed the petro tank first and then do the rest. After doing this video, I realized what I was missing. The action in the petro tank at feeding time is fantastic. So, I stop now and spread out feeding time to watch each tank. It's a good habit anyway as it's a good time to check on fish.

Feeding time

And took some video of the 180. They were feeling negelected since I've been spending all of my time down in the fish room.

My 180 gallon

That's everything going on right now.


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## Petrochromislover (Feb 23, 2009)

yay!!! those videos you take are awesome as always. that little petro fry is adorable. How do you get your telmat fry to grow.


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

Petrochromislover said:


> yay!!! those videos you take are awesome as always. that little petro fry is adorable. How do you get your telmat fry to grow.


Thanks. Not sure what you mean by getting telmat fry to grow. I feed powdered NLS and decapsulated brine eggs. NLS grow would be enough, but I've got the brine eggs, so want to use them up. I just flood the tank with it once per day so they can have something to forage for later.


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