parrdog Posted November 20, 2005 Share Posted November 20, 2005 Nice one Dave, I knew you'd find a way to kick off this thread again . Here are a couple of tank pics and some more pics of The Moops (T. moorii Mpulungu). My tank is 5 foot long, 20 inches wide and 24 inches high. Here we go , hope ya like 'em . Jamie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parrdog Posted November 20, 2005 Share Posted November 20, 2005 Hey Dave, those Ilangi of yours are looking very plump and healthy . They are such a beautiful looking colony. Jamie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoliroMan Posted November 20, 2005 Author Share Posted November 20, 2005 Jamie..your Moops are looking plump and healthy as well! The colours look amazing! And they are breeding like rabbits! What more can a tropheus fan want? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anchar Posted November 20, 2005 Share Posted November 20, 2005 What more can a tropheus fan want? More T's of course! Andrea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted November 20, 2005 Share Posted November 20, 2005 Here my tank shots The Old The New Josh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wormboy Posted November 21, 2005 Share Posted November 21, 2005 I like to sit with my nose pressed up aginst the glass.......................... Does anyone else do this? Only after a few drinks woot.gif yeah right Andrea, Ive seen pics with your fighter tank in hand looking onto your pond. You've just about got your whole head in there I bet you are a nose-presser from way back just like the rest of us. Back on topic- One of the main objections that the other half has with regards to me changing my planted tropical 8x2x2 iinto a T tank is that it will only contain algae covered rocks instead of plants as decorations. However.. Dave I notice you have quite a lot of plants in your tanks. I thought that being vegetarians the Ts would simply denude the tank of any vegetable product. Obviously this is not so. So my question is.. do the fish munch at all on the plants or have you chosen resiliant plants or just ones that manage to outgrow the grazing pressure? This is not just a Q for Dave so others feel free to pipe up BTW this thread greater longevity than a lamb chop sing-a-long. "This is the thread that never ends, it just goes on and on my friends......" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted November 21, 2005 Share Posted November 21, 2005 I found the hardness of the water killed the plants in my tanks. I did have Java fern grow and the anubius did OK, but the tropheus showed no interest in these plants Josh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoliroMan Posted November 21, 2005 Author Share Posted November 21, 2005 Hey Wormboy, I think u need to let your gf know who is boss and just go for the T tank without even asking her! Tell her all the tropicals died overnight or something similar. On a serious note, i try to plant all my tropheus tank if i can for the better appearance, nitrate removal and also dietary supplement of live vegies! The plants that i have grown successfully with my tropheus are - Anubias, Val and Java Fern. Anubias being the hardiest. Saying that, it is purely luck of the draw, since as u can see from the pics the Moliro tank and juvie tank has an excellent growth, but the others not so good. I think it is because the tropheus in these tanks are less into biting the plants and there may be a better supply of light and nitrates in these tanks which tend to be hit by direct sunlight. All i can say is give it a try and try not to buy anything too expensive at first. And start off with tropheus that are juveniles since they less likely will devour all your vegetation. HTH DAve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wormboy Posted November 21, 2005 Share Posted November 21, 2005 I think u need to let your gf know who is boss and just go for the T tank without even asking her! Tell her all the tropicals died overnight or something similar. Considering that I have kept the majority of these fish alive to 5 years+ I dont think she would believe the meltdown scenario and after that I would be in a whole world of trouble OK Ill give the plants a go. I have java fern coming out of my ears from my planted tank and since summer is coming up Val shoud be relatively cheap soon. I never did have much luck with anubias but I have a few peices of nana lying around so I may as well whack them in too. Cheers Josh and Dave Also another Q, do you all use salts/buffers (if so which and why) and how do the plants fare with salt in the water? -Mat- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted November 21, 2005 Share Posted November 21, 2005 I think the buffers is what stopped my plants from taking off in my tank. I use seachem salts and buffers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoliroMan Posted November 21, 2005 Author Share Posted November 21, 2005 Wormboy..... Maybe u can tell your other half that 5 years of tropical fish is becoming a bit boring and you want something more challenging? I use Seachem salt and buffers more for security, to try and mimic the water conditions in Lake Tangyanika that promote breeding ie. pH 8.5-9 with a kH of 16-18. I was using phenomenal amounts of salts and buffers before - salt - 1 tsp per 20L and buffer 1 tsp per 10L but find that most of the stuff just precipitates on the wall of the drum and the air line tubing so now i just use close to the amount as recommended on the bottle. Will be interesting to have a poll on what other tropheus keepers are using as salt and buffers and their quantities. Your plants will surely suffer in these high pH and alkaline conditions so u may have to slowly acclimatize them to the new conditions. But with time the plants should fluorish again. I do use plant fertilisers such as Seachem Fluorish and Master Gro. Come on guys, give this guy some advice. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trofius Posted November 21, 2005 Share Posted November 21, 2005 hey all Dave those tanks look great, much better than my rock and sand jobs. As for bufers i use 4 tablespoon of sodium bicarb, 1 table spoon of marine salt, calcium carbonate, and epsom salts, and a tea spoon of diet salt per 100l gives me a ph of 8.4, kh of 12, and a gh of 10 i have added a few plants to the 8 footer just as an experiment, and they dont eat them much, but they do tend to dig em up a tad. buthe val and anubius is growing...just! by now you are sic of this pic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parrdog Posted November 21, 2005 Share Posted November 21, 2005 Nice tank shots guys . Plants- I tried my luck for a long time, lotsa light, liquid and tablet based fertiliser. I had mediocre success with Anubias and Val. I think there was too much light for the Anubias. The main killer for both los of plants though was the hardness of the water. It was too much of a struggle to keep them alive. I love the look of planted tanks but in these hard conditions it was too much trouble. I like my tank far better now that I have given the plants the boot. Buffers and Salts- I store my water in a 220 litre drum that is aerated and heated. To this I had 5 teaspoons of Rift Lake Salt and 20 teaspoons of Tang. Buffer (both Seachem brand). This gives me a kH of 14-16. My pH is about 8.5. Jamie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anchar Posted November 21, 2005 Share Posted November 21, 2005 Nice pics. guys! Val shoud be relatively cheap soon Mat...I regularly have it... 100 plants for $50.00. Andrea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoliroMan Posted November 21, 2005 Author Share Posted November 21, 2005 Mick..that 8 footer looks amazing! I think those sandstone rocks look so natural, like the real thing!!! I don't think there are much texas holey rocks in Tangyanika!!! Jamie...are u sure your kH is still 14-16. I use to use 20 tsp in my 220L drum but i found out to my detriment that my kH was closer to 30!!! Luckily, the fish are not affected by it all and are still breeding. I now use 10 tsp in my 220L drum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parrdog Posted November 22, 2005 Share Posted November 22, 2005 Thanks Dave, I'll go have a look see. Jamie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trofius Posted November 22, 2005 Share Posted November 22, 2005 cheers, but that isn`t sand stone, most of it is granite or something very similar, each one of the three rocks on the left is more than 20 kg each, it doesnt look very full in the pic but up close and personal like, there is a heap of rock in there, as a guess 120kg+ well enough to completely cover the kitchen table... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoliroMan Posted November 22, 2005 Author Share Posted November 22, 2005 Mick...wow 120+ kg!!! Where did u get them from? R u using some egg-crate at the bottom of the tank for support? I have heard that some tropheus variants like Lufubu luv to live amongst massive granite boulders, that is why they are so difficult to catch!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anchar Posted November 22, 2005 Share Posted November 22, 2005 Lufubu and moliro... Andrea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anchar Posted November 22, 2005 Share Posted November 22, 2005 Polli, bemba and red rainbow... Andrea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anchar Posted November 22, 2005 Share Posted November 22, 2005 Chimba... Andrea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trofius Posted November 22, 2005 Share Posted November 22, 2005 NIce fish Merjo, and nice tanks. I am still in the process of finding time but once i do i intend on making some fake concret rocks for the back of the tank, not all over but just maybe the ends and a few big one in the midddle, all the way to the surface, this will also hide some of the new plumbing. the rocks i found in a dry creek on my g/f parents place. I have also found a stash of limestone, from old coral reefs, its about 60km inland At Mt etna caves*caugh * caugh* national park * caugh* its all cracked so it is about 2 inches thick and maybe50cm square, sits nice against the back i have styrofoam under any BIG rocks and under the centre pile, its well supported 12mm glass, but once bitten twice shy! But on a sad note I said good bye to a Kachese last week, he puffed up and gave up, the rest are all good, had a tasty dose of metro in their food all week. He was pretty puffy but still eating like trooper, weirdest thing i put him in a bucket and next day all over. I think it was a big girl too..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TropheusQueen Posted November 22, 2005 Share Posted November 22, 2005 Hi all, Have not had the time to post here for a while- end of semester and year make it a mad time for us educators . I have had news that our first tank lot is due this week - the 5 and 6 footers which means that my T's new homes are almost here. I promise pics of their new premises by Christmas including the nursery . Great tank pics everyone - cannot wait to share mine as well - nothing like those brand new clean glass tanks to accentuate a pic!!! Cheers Aline Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoliroMan Posted November 22, 2005 Author Share Posted November 22, 2005 Andrea...great tropheus tanks and great rock! R these your tropheus or your friends? Won't the Lufubu and moliros crossbreed? Mick....great to get access to some top quality rocks!! Will luv to see the final setup. I had one Moliro female also puff up like a balloon. I treated the who tank with metro for a few weeks and like u said it was still eating. Luckily enough she pulled through! She is still alive and kicking and back to her normal size with a few lost scales. I was just thinking maybe it had eaten too much off it's eggs and developed bloat? Aline....great to hear from u again! Must be looking forward to setting up all those new tanks! When r u conducting tours at your place? I want to bags first tour!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anchar Posted November 23, 2005 Share Posted November 23, 2005 Alas...they are not my fish Dave ...but I'm working on it Andrea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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