matsout Posted August 22, 2010 Share Posted August 22, 2010 Hey everyone, well this is my first attempt at uploading videos, it was taken on my phone in 720 HD I've converted it to mp4 format since thats all my software offered, I'm a little worried it's too big for most people. It's 6mb when I uploaded it. Anyway it's my little piece of Malawi in my living room, it's a 6x1.5x2, all Mbuna except for an electric blue and a red jewel (result of a shop selling me something back when I first started, when I had no idea. The jewel kinda hung around anyway.) The tank started as a 4fter around the begining of the year, well that wasn't enough (much to the mrs' horror) so it became a 6fter and was started about 4-5 months ago after I built the stand myself. I just changed the rocks yesterday to a granite which I'm hoping is similar to Malawi itself It's the best I could do from looking at diving videos and what not from the lake. Anyway what do you guys think? Oh also a video of a typical feeding time. Regards Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KIMO Posted August 22, 2010 Share Posted August 22, 2010 Not working for me.....anyone else??? Looks promising though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pilly Posted August 22, 2010 Share Posted August 22, 2010 Cool, Cool. I like it alot The Granite looks good. But cant use the video. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathobes Posted August 22, 2010 Share Posted August 22, 2010 Would love to see it but video isn't working for me either Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ali Posted August 22, 2010 Share Posted August 22, 2010 VIDEO! VIDEO! VIDEO! Looks nice I like the symetric scenery. How many rocks do you haave in there do you think? What does it weigh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matsout Posted August 23, 2010 Author Share Posted August 23, 2010 there we go guys, sorry about that I'll try youtube this time, quality isn't great but you kind of get the idea. I have about 40 rocks in there, wouldn't be anymore than about 50-70kgs, a few really big boulders in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intern1 Posted August 23, 2010 Share Posted August 23, 2010 nice set up some nice haps in there would be nice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matsout Posted August 23, 2010 Author Share Posted August 23, 2010 Thanks mate, I'd love some haps in there but I don't know of any that would go well with Salousi Cobue Cobalts and Maingano I know the yellows and rustys would get on fine with them, my random e blue thats in there never has a problem I'm not sure of it's sex though because it has hardly any blue in it, but that could be just since it's the only one of it's type but then again it could be a female. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matsout Posted August 23, 2010 Author Share Posted August 23, 2010 well everyone, I know you guys liked it but I changed it. I found rust which was very hard to remove on alot of the rocks so I removed the whole lot from the tank since I've read it can leach harmful things into the water over time. I put all my previous rocks back in which are riverstones what do you all think would look closer to the lake environment? river stones or jaged rocks? It's something I'm really struggling with at the moment. Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ali Posted August 23, 2010 Share Posted August 23, 2010 well everyone, I know you guys liked it but I changed it. I found rust which was very hard to remove on alot of the rocks so I removed the whole lot from the tank since I've read it can leach harmful things into the water over time. I put all my previous rocks back in which are riverstones what do you all think would look closer to the lake environment? river stones or jaged rocks? It's something I'm really struggling with at the moment. Matt I went with jaggerd rock, also to make it look more like "nature" I went for an asymetrical look, I gathered if mbunas are living around caves generally they arent going to be smooth and round and I gathered it wouldnt be in perfect symmatry. But thats just my take. I think your old symetrical aquascape looked really nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KIMO Posted August 23, 2010 Share Posted August 23, 2010 WOW!!...That is an awesome example of the colours you can get with a well stocked African tank. Awesome display. Well done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matsout Posted August 23, 2010 Author Share Posted August 23, 2010 thanks for the compliments guys, appreciate it. I've worked hard on this bad boy since day one, researching the right mix of fish, the right rocks etc, it's been a big learning curve. It hasn't been without it's problems though, I battled some sort of fungle disease a while back which sweapt through the tank claiming ALOT of fish, that was frustrating and expensive. Anyway.. the rocks.. I've been doing some research and I'm not even sure if it really is rust or not, some people say it won't harm them some people say it will. I've been breaking a few of the rocks open to see what they look like inside and some have the orangy/red colours inside as well and some don't. so I think tomorrow I'll put it back to how it was in the videos, I just don't like the river stones now after having the granite in there, and well according to one source the iron from any rust isn't going to affect anything since it exists in nature as well, in fact it will help towards growing some algae. Anyway guys consider it back the way you liked it as of tomorrow. Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CThompson Posted August 23, 2010 Share Posted August 23, 2010 Good job, I can see you researched your fish selected, Chewere would also go in there if that's any help. Take note of any different dietary requirements too when you mix fish, unless you use NLS which will be okay regardless of where they source their protein. Your aqua scaping was good too, I've done similar with my tanks. Once algae has formed it won't be as obvious, but the stones are different tones, where in the lake they would be more uniform. Be wary of moving rocks in and out or redesigning as it will give fish a reason to fight that don't need much provocation. Basically, set it up and keep your hands out of their world. Regarding fluvial vs. non fluvial (sharp) stones, a river has rounded stones, a lake won’t have the same flow of water as a river so the sharper edged stones are probably closer to the lake. They are also safer to stack in the tank because they can be “locked” in place. I expect you have the rocks directly on the glass, be wary of how much weight you stack on the bottom glass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matsout Posted August 24, 2010 Author Share Posted August 24, 2010 some good points there, I'll keep the Chewere in mind if I free up some space in that tank. I feed NLS only, never had anything else and never had a desire to change from a good thing. I don't like chopping and changing my tanks I like to have it set-up and have them live as natural as possible life with the only time me sticking my hands in being to do a water change and vaccum once a week. So all the granite rocks are back in, layout is slightly different, still one pile at each end just stacked a little differently. I'll stick up a video when the water settles back down. thanks for the comments and tips guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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