# Malawi :: Mbuna Realm [142 G tank]



## bobesku

Hello,

I started this hobby last year. I had a weak start, with a 48 G tank but after some time I started to plan on building a big tank, custom made in my room. So here we are.

The tank built is 142 gallon. Size is 6 feet with 2 feet wide and height. Filtering is made by two canisters, Eheim 2080 and Eheim Wet&Dry 2227. Rocky hardscape and malawian cichlids. The current live stock includes: elongatus mpanga, iodotropheus sprengerae, labidochromis caeruleus, pseudotropheus acei msuli, labeotropheus trewawasae chilumba red and cyrtocara moorii. There are around 20 adult fish, 18 juveniles and 7 fry.

Here goes a pic with my hardscape when started the tank.










After one week I have added the whole stock. The canisters have been cycled in my old tank so no worries. Some pictures right after added the fish.





































Some pictures with the "couples" 




























Cyrtocara Moorii (Blue Dolphin) fry









This is the tank boss. Ya, the guy in red :lol: 









Some other pictures


















The moonlight that keeps one extra-hour of light just to tuck them in their beds  









Algae starting to grow









Moorii couple again









Elongatus mpanga yellow tail male









Movie, after 10 days 





I`m waiting for more algae to grow on the rocks, for an authentic look.
I will post more pictures then


----------



## drexel187

Great rockwork! :thumb:


----------



## pomi

I will enjoy viewing this tank LIVE this weekend and I will take dozens of pics of it 

I can't wait.

C ya Boby!


----------



## bobesku

Thanks for stopping by Pomi  The beer will be cold and sufficient :thumb:

Also, here goes a clip with Labeotropheus pair doing adult things :lol:


----------



## JimA

Nice!! :thumb: Lights used?


----------



## bobesku

Thanks Jim. The lights are 2 neon tubes Aquamedic T5 150cm in length each.
One tube is Aqualine Reef White 10000K and the other is Aqualine Reef Blue 15000K.
Each tube has 80 watts.


----------



## czar_wilson

What was the one on the left in pic#7??
Is it mpanga??

Very nice btw


----------



## bobesku

Hi Rick. Thank you.

What fish in pic #7? 
If we count from the start that would be some Pseudotropheus Acei Msuli tails  
If we count pictures from bottom-up there are no fish to the left...
But, yeah, it is mpanga yellow tail male to the left in the picture with algae start  That would be pic #14 from top to bottom, or the first pic after the moonlight. The same guy as in the last one.


----------



## bobesku

Hello. This weekend I`ve been busy. Pomi came by with other _aquarist_ friends and we had fun, talked about our hobby. But most of all, in the end, Pomi started a photo-shooting session.  
Enjoy!


----------



## Louie13

A beauty and great pics!


----------



## bobesku

Thanks Louie!

The tank is more than 3 weeks old. Thought I needed to celebrate with a video


----------



## bou

wow... great aquascape...
fun to see i have the same population in my 125g with some differences...
my moorri have a bigger hump but not an adult specimen...


----------



## bobesku

Thanks. Speaking of Moorii, well mine are not fully matured yet so their humps will get bigger in time. They are growing slower compared to the others but I have time. Time is on my side... :lol:


----------



## bou

i remark the same for the moorii because of the slow growing it take some years to see my dominant male have a real hump... and not fully growth... patience... patience..   :zz:

i like the algea on your rock... this add a natural look...
in my 125g i have the same look... but with the addition of one ancistrus all the rock look clean after few week... only some hole or crack has some algea at this moment...

sorry for hacking your post but i love your tank...
thanks for sharing...


----------



## Melanochromis

Great pics of your fish, and your rockwork/aquascape is brilliant. :thumb:


----------



## bobesku

Thank you all for your kind words.

Let me throw a couple more pictures then, with comments 

_I`m pissed, so when is lunch time then?_









_You are in trouble_









_This is my rock_









_So, where are those ladies of mine?_









_So much time, so many algae_









_I wanna be in the catalogue_









______________________________________________________________

Time to reveal a bit the whole tank. In the afternoon, no light.


----------



## natalie559

Nice pics- beautiful fish!


----------



## bou

wow...
your aquarium is surely qualified for totm...

you made your stand???

the labetropheus has grest color... you intensified his color???
how much it measures???

:dancing: :dancing: :dancing:


----------



## bobesku

Thanks.

Well, I`m pretty sure there are better tanks for totm, but thanks Bou for your kind words.

The stand. I could have tried to build it, but in the end I preferred to make the precise draw/sketch and get a real pro to make it under my exact instructions. The real stand is inside  It`s made of rectangular steel bars, basically a skelteton that is covered with PAL boards for the looks. Wouldn`t take the chance of putting 700 kilograms (1500 lbs) on just wood. 

The labeo is gorgeous. Now that you asked I just took the time to measure him :lol: Well, I think he`s about 4.5 inches (a bit below 12cm).
Pictures have been post-processed just a bit. The pictures have been made with the blitz which counteracts the tank lights and pulls out the natural colors of the fish. Same like when you have the tank lights off in the afternoon and when you look closely at the fish they would have much brighter colors.


----------



## czar_wilson

Still excellent work!! :thumb: 
Even the supplies on the stand are organized and faced proper lol


----------



## jchild40

Beautiful fish, tank... you are very good at taking pictures!


----------



## bobesku

Thanks.

@Rick Well, to be honest I like those supplies in order. It seems that there is more order in my fish `_department_` that I maintain than elsewhere... in the house. I`m lucky that my wife keeps me in straight line when it comes to order :lol:

@JChild40 The last 2 batch of pictures have been taken by Pomi. It is a member of this forum as well. He really inspired me a lot and helped me start this project. How? The most important part was when I had first visited him with my half. The idea was to see his 190 gallon mbuna tank  After that, making this tank was sooo easy having my wife`s approval :lol:


----------



## bobesku

Me and my fish are doing fine  Just a quick update of my tank.


----------



## JimA

Tank looks great, that one lab has a mouth full. :thumb:


----------



## czar_wilson

Still looking great as ever!! :thumb:


----------



## bobesku

Thanks, guys. This tank is my chilling spot.
Speaking of my female labs, it looks that all of them are constantly holding. I have seen lots of fry between the crevices in the rocks. It's a mini malawian realm between the rocks. This is what happens if you put one male and 5 females :lol:


----------



## pomi

bobesku said:


> This is what happens if you put one male and 5 females


This is what happens when you put a *young, virile, top shape* male and 5 females 

Great tank mate :thumb:


----------



## phinexswarm35

great looking tank i wating for more pictures, keep posting


----------



## czar_wilson

hey not to hijack your thread you can pm me but I have a couple questions.
I admire your photography and was wondering what you use to take it? Maybe you could give me some suggestions. Thanks


----------



## ikuzo

the rockwork is awesome
i'm inspired
i think i'm gonna rescape my tank :lol:


----------



## bobesku

Thanks for the compliments. This tank is part of my life and my fish are really spoiled. They are healthy and I've never missed a water change yet. Good quality food NLS, compatible tank mates, enough space, all these add up to the life quality of my fish.

@rick I'm not a photo master, but from what I've seen, in order to make a good photo you need a sufficient amount of light, a good DSLR camera with big senzor, that can handle ISO 400,800 without noise, small F, and fast shutter speed of at least 1/200. Also, by using the blitz, the aquarium environment tends to lose some details but fish colors look more natural. Also, from my experience, I need 100 shots from which I choose 4-8 good photos. I'm pretty sure that professionals need less, but what I wanted to point out is that you really need to play with the camera and take lots of pictures. Also, luck and inspiration plays a big part too. 

Happy fishkeeping everyone


----------



## crys

So..i found you also here!  
You know my opinion about this tank but I'll say it again: Just love it! Amazing tank! It s our pleasure to see it live!
Great job, Bob! =D>


----------



## bobesku

Hi Crys. Long time no see.  
Hope you are well, and most of all, you are going to impress us SOON with a new African Dream Tank. :wink: 

PS Let`s see some activity during a water change! My africans are busy, spawning, and doing what they do. Also, please watch out for my Elongatus Male, he`s going to challenge hard my WaterOut tube :lol: Enjoy!


----------



## bobesku

My monthly video update goes here as well. Enjoy.


----------



## bobesku

My wet pets this month.


----------



## The King Crabb

Excellent tank, I love it! Is that Yellow Lab at 0:28 in the bottom right corner holding?


----------



## bobesku

Hi King,

Yup, that one is holding. But I have yellow lab females constantly holding  This is because I have one male and 5 females. My lab male is busy all the time


----------



## karydas

Amazing tank! It is indeed a mbuna realm. Keep up the good work.


----------



## pomi

Really nice tank and amazing fish. I'm glad I can see them LIVE from time to time.


----------



## wildmalawi

being new to this site i was sorta shocked to see something like this tank. i must say i was reading this thread this morning, and i looked up and noticed i was behind schedule!..oops. your aquarium is just amazing and so full of the very type of fish i like. could not help looking for more little guys like the yellow one..


----------



## malady

what kind of rocks are those? looks so natural great setup


----------



## Guest

absolutely awesome tank. any updates?


----------



## Rare

the black colored ones are rusties as well righT?

****. They look so effin epic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## Chubbs the Jellybean

Beautiful, simply beautiful


----------



## bobesku

Hello Guys, long time no posts... Just thought I would share with you the 2 Years Tank Anniversary. Enjoy!


----------



## babarian16

thanks for the update, tank still looks great. I love the borleyi and the mooris.


----------



## ratbones86

How did you do the moonlight? I would Love to be able to see something on how you put it together and set up that moonlight. That looks sick as **** man. Cudos to you!


----------



## bobesku

Hi, the moonlight was one of the easiest things to setup. It is just decorative led lighting used outdoors. 
Basically there are leds inside a compact and transparent plastic tube bought from the store. See pic below.








Actually mine is also like in the picture above, dark blue, but the light is more towards cyan color.

One example might be this link: http://www.ascolights.co.uk/lighting/le ... light.html (please keep in mind that this is JUST an example as a similar product). 
All I had to do was to fit it in the cover (tight and secure - not to reach the water) and plug it in the electrical outlet.


----------



## bobesku

4 Years since started! Time for a quick update. Enjoy!


----------

