It was a couple of weeks early, but the mrs didn't think she'd be able to wrap it up and hide it. Soon to be full of Rift Valley cichlids :

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Very nice Steve ..

I see you've already got a decent Plec !

Thanks! Yes, the plec had out-grown the Amazonian community tank, so we have relocated him. I think he's big and ugly enough to keep the cichlids in check, he didn't take any nonsense from the big aggressive angelfish in the other tank. Both tanks are Juwels, and both have a built-in internal filter and an external power filter, so I've swapped the media between the external filters and dosed both tanks with Cycle. Should be fine, and it's very handy to have a spare established filter, but I'll have to keep a close eye on the water chemistry next week after the cichlids go in.

Now added some fish. Mostly hailing from Lake Malawi, but a few from Lake Tanganyika. Our fish shop guy assures us that they will all get on relatively peacefully...

We ordered

1 x pair of Aulonocara jacobfreibergi
1 x pair of Aulonocara stuartgranti
1 x pair of Haplochromis borleyi
1 x pair of Labidochromis caeruleus
1 x pair of Labidochromis hongi
1 x pair of Cyprichromis leptosoma
1 x pair of Neolamprologus leleupi
1 x pair of Neolamprologus cylindricus
2 x Synodontis multipunctata

The jacobfreibergi and stuartgranti males weren't in stock, nor were the pairs of Cyprichromis leptosoma and Labidochromis caeruleus, but they'll have them for us in a couple of weeks. I know I could get them elsewhere, but we've got a really good fish shop. I don't mind the delay, as even with a pre-cycled filter I'm still a bit nervous about putting so many fish in at once. I know it's standard procedure with rift valley cichlids, to reduce aggression, but it still makes me a bit nervous. Two large stockings with most of the big males in the second one should be a good compromise, I think.

Fish are starting to show their colours a bit now:














All Photos




This post has been edited by Steve Walker: Feb 1 2008, 12:43 AM

I have Malawi set ups.
Got Tang set up too.

We're running out of space for tanks, the next one will have to wait until we have a conservatory built

Next project will be a koi pond.

Some more video and photos:

Hongi digging and aggression



Copadichromis borleyi (male)



Labidochromis caeruleus (male)



Aulonocara jacobfreibergi (male)

A word of advise.
Get rid of your ocean rock.
I had it in my 6 foot tank, looked fantastic but.................


It traps fish, I have lost a number of wild(expensive) fish to the stuff.

They never see that type of rock in the wild so I see no point in using it.
I feel it just looks good for our benefit.

Tuffa rock ain't that fish friendly either.

I'm using river cobbles/boulders now and my fish are much happier and safer.

Ocean and tuffa up the ph in the tank but there are other ways to control it.

That's a bit worrying. I originally planned to use cobbles, but was convinced otherwise because the ocean rock looked so much better and provided so much cave habitat. I'm not too worried about using it to maintain water chemistry. I'll keep an eye on it.