Krystal's 50 gallon tall Mbuna tank Journal

[krystalsohun]

So I figured since i am starting fro scratch on this one i might as well journal it. I have a 50 tall which is a three foot footprint. many have told me that its iffy to put mbuna in athree foot tank that they need at least a four foot however i believe i should be just fine. I will have ample rockwork with lots and lots of hiding places. I have African cichlid eco-complete sand and will be using desert varnish rocks to build the rock work. I will also be running two aquaclear 110s on this tank to help with the biolaod. I have decided on P. Demasoni for this tank and i will be starting out with around 12-15.
As some know i had issues setting up this tank and burned out two filters because of faulty surge protector. So i am awaiting fedex to deliver my two new aquaclears. at this point i am also waiting on the rocks. I do however have the sand in the tank. (blush)

I am so excited to get this tank off the ground because this is the first tank i will be doing as an informed aquarist. everyother tank was only on knowlegde that was not research but provided from the LFS. So this tank should go much more smoothly :hmm3grin2orange:

Here is my first pic of the tank. Very cloudy still from the dans and will go away slowly but i dont have any filtration on this tank yet so i'm being very patient:chillpill: I dont have the water filled up completely because i still have to add the rock work and i dont want to have to take water out before doing so.

http://s816.photobucket.com/albums/zz81/krystalsohun/?action=view&current=100_0735.jpg

http://s816.photobucket.com/albums/zz81/krystalsohun/?action=view&current=100_0734.jpg

Put my 20 gallon filter on to try to clear it up. so i guess i am not very patient:hmm3grin2orange:

[octoxpuss]

I really like the sand colors. I cant wait to see it with the fish in it.

[krystalsohun]

Thanks Octo. Thats how it comes in the bag since its for africans it has agaronite in it to help raise the ph. thats why its black and white. I saw this and had to have it.:11: :18:

[krystalsohun]

well i now officailly hate ebay lol. i ordered my rocks and filter off ebay from there so call good buyers all with 100% good feedback. well niether has been shipped yet. they claim its because of the snow however i ordered both at least three days before the snow and one guy lives in california!!! this tank is just taking so long and i'm getting very impatient.

[krystalsohun]

Okay I feel foolish(blush) Apparently the website werent working and it was telling everyone that nothing was shipped. I recieved my rocks to day and my filter shipped yesterday!!!! :19: Now i just have to get limo tint to do the background. here somepicks of when i just put the rocks in. its still a little cloudy will update with clear pics later on .


http://s816.photobucket.com/albums/zz81/krystalsohun/?action=edit&current=100_0736.jpg&startOption=0

not sure if i'm leaving the rocks like that. so what do you guys think so far.

[krystalsohun]

so i finally got the fish and they are blue johannis. the local gish store had them on sale and they looked really healthy so this is it. yay ive finally got my african cichlids. i ordered more anubias variations on ebay they should be here within a week or two. these fish are from two different lfs. i bought them both out. 14 total. if i have to upgrade the tank after watching them i think i will. but as of right now i know i have a t least 3 females. the rest are to young to tell. i know of one male for sure also. more pics are coming very shortly.thumbs2:

[krystalsohun]

here are some pics jsut scroll through the album.:19:


http://s816.photobucket.com/albums/zz81/krystalsohun/?action=view&current=100_0770.jpg
so what do you think
sorry about the blurriness in some they are fast little buggers.

[sheamurai]

Don't be surprised if everything you've heard about your footprint being too short becomes true. I have what sounds like the same tank, and it just takes one territorial fish to upset the balance. I thought I was doing great, but 4 months later I am in the process right now of moving all my mbuna from the 50 gal to a 77gal with a 4ft footprint.
And I have all peacocks! The most peaceful species of mbuna (well, they are not technically mbuna, but you know what I mean). The last fish I added - an OB peacock - has killed three fish in the last 2 weeks.

Basically all I am saying is to have a Plan B, in case you get aggression issues down the road.

Good luck! So much fun to set up a new tank, and when they aren't killing each other, they are great fun! I wasn't able to look at your pics, as I have dial-up, and its painfully slow to look at photo sites...but I'm sure your tank looks great!

[krystalsohun]

thanks well if it comes down to it i could switch them into the 100 but i will see how this works i have ample hiding places already and will be providing more once the plants come. we shall see what happens you never know when it comes to fish. all their personalities are different. so far good but thats what everyone says in the begining. lmao

[krystalsohun]

Uh Oh i think i have a big problem. i bought what i thought were blue johanni but now that i'm reading about them agian it seems i had someof my info on them confused. i thought they all started blue and turned yellow if they were female. so i bought a few bigger yellow ones and a bunch of blue guys that are about an inch long in size. at what stage do they start changing colors. the pics are above. so what did i buy??
these were all in tanks labeled blue johanni. so i havent a clue as to what i bought now. :help: (blush)

[kaybee]

i thought they all started blue and turned yellow if they were female.

With dimorphic mbuna's it's the males that transform. The females retain the juvenile pattern. Going from blue to yellow sounds like a metriaclima lombardoi (kenyi) trait.


so i bought a few bigger yellow ones and a bunch of blue guys that are about an inch long in size. at what stage do they start changing colors. the pics are above. so what did i buy?? these were all in tanks labeled blue johanni. so i havent a clue as to what i bought now. :help: (blush)

It's possible you've got two different "johanni" species in the tank.

Melanochromis cyaneorhabdos (common name "Electric Blue Johanni")
Both genders are blue-ish black. No color transformation occurs. Monomorphic species.

Melanochromis johanni (common name "Johanni")
Both genders start out yellowish. The males become blue/black as they mature, females remain yellowish. Dimorphic species with male transformations commencing when they're about 2"-2.5". Matured male m. johanni are very similar in appearance to both genders of m. cyaneorhabdos. M. johanni's with poor/imperfect stripe pattern will resemble yet another melanochromis species (m. interruptus).

I think the first group you acquired were m. cyaneorhabdos, and the yellowish ones are male m. johanni's. Were both groups obtained from the same tank at the same LFS? You definately don't want to hybridize these.

Can you repost pics of your fish using the [img] line?