Aulonocara setup

[tigercichlid]

Hi everyone,

Just newish (6 months) to the hobby but I'm already obsessed with fish.

(Currently have a Dwarf Cichlid and dual Siamese setup)

Moving house towards the end of the year and would like a display setup to compliment the house.

Looking at a 6(maybe 8) x2 x2.

I'm loving the Aulonocara cichlids and would like them as the feature in the tank.

I have read that you can have issuses with mixing Aulonocara cichlids and if they breed you end up with hybrid. Is this an acceptable practice or is it frowned upon?

Trying to syphon as much cash as I can hide from my girlfriend to get me set.

Hoping to spend about $2500 which includes tank,stand, Eheim filter, undergravel filter, media, substrate and some but not all fish. Is this a reasonable estimate?

Want to make sure that I am prepared for this and not jump in head first.

Would love to get people's opions on what is best and what not to do.

Thanks

[Colfish]

if a display tank is your sole intention, then go for it. don't worry about what happens it the tank. let nature take its course, but just remember what does come out will be hybrid and take care with what you do with it.

aulunocara do make for a great display tank, as the males show colour most of the time

what it would cost to filter this tank with a canister setup, i think you would be better off going to a sump and have far more efficient filtration as a bonus

if you dont have beer money left over from your budget, then you havn't done your h/work.

stashin' cash from the g/f can come back to bite you, at the end of the day she will want to know how you acheived this magnificent display. you just may end up a single fish keeper. involve her from the start, she just may have some good ideas and come to enjoy the hobby as much as you do.

[obsessed1]

if you dont have beer money left over from your budget, then you havn't done your h/work.

stashin' cash from the g/f can come back to bite you, at the end of the day she will want to know how you acheived this magnificent display. you just may end up a single fish keeper. involve her from the start, she just may have some good ideas and come to enjoy the hobby as much as you do.

Some of the best advice I've heard on here!!

My fiance loves our display tank and she gets more and more interested in the breeding tanks by the day. You will also find your fish budget is better if you have your other half involved and addicted too!

Good luck with the setup!!

[tigercichlid]

Probably gave you the wrong impression.

Not really trying to hide how much i'm spending from her( I was exagerating to much)

We are just in the process of buying a new house so I have to use other money (selling golf clubs, guitar setup and other stuff I dont use anymore) to finance my interest.

She's not that interested in the fish but is okay with me buying my ideal setup.

From speaking to different fish shops, no one has reccomended a sump.

Is this because they arent going to get my cash?

One mentioned that there is a strong current created buy the sump.

Do they Aulonocara prefer stiller waters?

How do they compare in noise levels?

Is anyone aware of a setup around Melbourne I can check out?

Thanks for your replies.

[rosco]

Sumps are the way to go for sure. I am currently looking at setting up a 6x2x2 for the house and the number 1 priority is that it must be quite. There are ways of setting up sumps to reduce noise to a real minimum. I am going for a weir (because of lack of space) and I will be installing a durso stand pipe, which if done correctly (and I have seen correctly built ones in action), all but remove the waterfall and suction noise that can be created with sumps. I am also going to run the outlet pipe at an angle and directly into the base of the sump so it overflows into the next chamber and uses a drip tray continue the filtration path. I will also spend a little more money on a quality water pump so that will reduce the noise even further.

As for peacocks liking or disliking water flow I don't think they would mind as long you don't have 10,000 litres per hour flowing through 6x2x2. I am planing on having my 3 mbuna colonies and one peacock colony in there and I will have a pump around 3,500 litres per hour.

A lot of shops recommend cannisters I think because it is the "easy" option to get a "quite display tank". A tank with a weir, to some, is not as attractive as a tank without a weir. You don't off course need to go for a weir if you have the space behind or to the side of the tank you can have the bulkhead drilled into top side of the tank and install the durso pipe outside the tank. There is a really recent post that highlights the difference between wiers and bulkheads.

As Colin has mentioned sumps are much more efficient forms of filtration and cannisters can become noisy and troublesome quite easily. I have not had a problem with cannisters in the past but there have been plenty of people on this forum who have. Some have not been able to quiten them down without replacing them. At least you will have some control with a sump. Don't worry, if you ask for a sump system your local LFS they will take your money . Just do your homework and places like this are a great place to start.

cheers

rosco