sab Posted November 23, 2003 Share Posted November 23, 2003 hi all...this is my first post in the new SCP forum. I posted in the old forum a few times after having problems with my electric yellows - i had 4 die in a month! I never did find out what was wrong as there was no outward sign of a problem - they just stopped eating and started sticking by themselves. Anyways, the remaining fish are doing well, and I have just bought 4 new Electric Yellows to replace the little ones that passed on.Interestingly, one of them is from European stock (no black on the dorsal fin!). I bought them from a reputed breeder here in Melbourne and a member of the VCS i believe(?).There is a link below to my tank - I just took some pics this morning of the new set up (changed rocks around yesterday when I introduced the new Electric Yellows). Specs and water parameters also listed on my site (also tested this morning!). The tank has been running for 6-7 weeks – started with a fishless cycle that worked very well within 8 days using bio start and measurments taken everyday to check amm and nitrite!oh - i have two of the female Hongis holding! My first! Im not sure whether I should strip them or not - never done it before!sabs aquarium Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BaZ Posted November 23, 2003 Share Posted November 23, 2003 G'day Sab and welcome!You have a nice tank there. Your cobalts are a nice shade of blue and I like the rockwork.Well done.Btw do you have a pic which shows the whole tank? I'd like to see it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sab Posted November 23, 2003 Author Share Posted November 23, 2003 hi Baz!thanks for the comments! Its my first Cichlid tank - we also have two 40 litre tanks at home too. Filled with a group of never ending breeding Platys! LOL! Also danios, white cloud mountain minnows, a 10cm gold gourami (called Gomez! LOL!) and a big golden algae eater (Fred!) who loves zuccihini!There should be a pic of the whole tank on page two of my site - but its of the old rockwork set up. I have since added a few larger pieces of slate rock to build platforms and roofs. The fish seem to love all the hidy holes. There is also two pieces of wood in there that have nice holey knots that form caves. I have read that wood shouldnt be added to a malawai tank as it changes the ph... but ive been monitoring the ph and it has remained at 8.2 for the whole time of it being set up! The pieces of wood came from an old aquarium a friend had so was well seasoned!I will try and get some new pics of the whole tank and post them too.Im running a eheim 2215 and two large airstones. I change about 30 litres of water every 10 days to 2 weeks. So far it has been a very stable tank!thanks again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anchar Posted November 23, 2003 Share Posted November 23, 2003 Hi Sab, Nice pics. -I must get round to posted some too. I had a similar prob. with the yellows a while back and wormed them. They picked up and are fine now. Don't know if this helps.merjo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mbuna Posted November 23, 2003 Share Posted November 23, 2003 nice pics mate! love the hongi's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ant Posted November 23, 2003 Share Posted November 23, 2003 Nice pics man, watch for Xbreeding with those yellows and Cobolts :^:. Man i really love cobolts i wish i had the space and money for them. Anthony:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fiona Posted November 23, 2003 Share Posted November 23, 2003 Hey sabHave you got somewhere for the fry to go while they are little? Your facilities will go a long way to deciding what to do with the mothers. Look up the home made fry savers on the SCP DIY page if you want ideas, they work great. You can make them bigger too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gutty Posted November 24, 2003 Share Posted November 24, 2003 Congrats Sab, is there a reason you wanted to strip the mum ? IMO it's usually best to let her spit. Maybe put her in a fry saver/tank until she does spit.LataMatt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sab Posted November 24, 2003 Author Share Posted November 24, 2003 Hey thanks for the comments everyone - these cichlids sure are addictive and each one is such a character!As far as the forthcoming fry go, I was thinking of letting the female(s) spit in the tank - but didnt want all the others to feast on them (so am in two minds there). The less stress on teh mums the better I think! There are heaps of places the fry can hide in the main tank amongst rocks, so hopefully some should survive! Any tips here?I would rather do the first couple of broods naturally I think. I will then try and catch/net the free swimming fry (a big task with rocks everywhere I know!) and transfer to an ice cream container with air stone and float in the main tank to maintain temp.I shall look up the home made fry savers and see what I can make!any further tips to help would be great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gutty Posted November 24, 2003 Share Posted November 24, 2003 Hey thanks for the comments everyone - these cichlids sure are addictive and each one is such a character!As far as the forthcoming fry go, I was thinking of letting the female(s) spit in the tank - but didnt want all the others to feast on them (so am in two minds there). The less stress on teh mums the better I think! There are heaps of places the fry can hide in the main tank amongst rocks, so hopefully some should survive! Any tips here?I would rather do the first couple of broods naturally I think. I will then try and catch/net the free swimming fry (a big task with rocks everywhere I know!) and transfer to an ice cream container with air stone and float in the main tank to maintain temp.I shall look up the home made fry savers and see what I can make!any further tips to help would be great! You don't have a specific fry tank then ?Maybe look into partitioning your main tank. Give mum a section all to herself. Let her spit. Then syphon the fry out rather than remove all your rocks etc and net them. Just make sure the outlet of your syphon is well submerged in a bucket before the suction end goes anywhere near your fry. You don't want your fry hitting the water surface.I find this by far the easiest way if she is to stay in your main tank.LataMatt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Posted November 24, 2003 Share Posted November 24, 2003 Nice pic's sab of your tank....Love ya CB's they look great in ya tank :rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Posted November 24, 2003 Share Posted November 24, 2003 Hi Sab,I wouldn't recommend letting her spit into the main tank. Chances are the fry won't last very long.In the past I have put the mum into a large floating ice cream container/frysaver and let her spit in there.Now I have a seperate tank entirely for pregnant mum's which end up as the grow out tank for babies.Good luck!CheersSam(AKA SamJW). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sab Posted November 24, 2003 Author Share Posted November 24, 2003 hey thanks for all the tips and comments! much appreciated!I'm still a little confused as some say leave the mums in the tank, others say catch the mums and let them spit in an ice cream container! Maybe I should make a poll question! LOL!Here is what I think I will do… I shall leave them for time being as I'm not totally sure how long they have been holding (maybe 7-8 days-ish?). I may consider trying to catch the mums towards the end of this week and pop them in the floating ice cream container to see what happens. The hard part will be trying to catch them without stressing them too much!Matt - I dont have a specific fry container and my other two tanks are full - community tanks!The link on the SCP main page was help re a fry container! I will probably try and make one of those - just got to eat all the ice cream in the house now to free up the container! LOL!Any idea as to how long a Hongi should hold before the fry are developed enough to fend for themselves. ie. outside of the mums mouth? any signs to watch here??thanks again! Im learning much! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gutty Posted November 24, 2003 Share Posted November 24, 2003 The ice cream container is a good idea, not only will her fry be safe but she too will be a bit safer until she gets her energy/health back to normal.I've never bred mbuna but at a guess i'd say about 2 weeks and the fry should be OK out of her mouth.LataMatt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donbennie Posted November 25, 2003 Share Posted November 25, 2003 yeah 14 days for a good strip when there are no egg sacs left, as for the stress problem u can catch them at nite, so turn off the lights earlier than normal so they go to sleep then u just use a net to catch them, it usually takes about 10mins before they wake up again :lol: usually they dont keep their first few mouthfuls, so just let them be for the 1st few times Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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