Pictures of my new Malawi African Tank!

[adam_ottawa]

So after patiently planning and waiting 2 months, I finally got my new tank fully set up.

I have a 40 gallon tank with texas holey rock, just over a dozen demasoni of various sizes (thanks pseese), 6 yellow labs (thanks pegasus) and a bunch of java fern (thanks sykomoney).  Oh and thanks to pitabread for the ammonia to learn all about fishless cycling!

This tank is a great centrepiece in my living room.  The fish totally love the caves in the holey rock.

I'm truly amazed to see that the larger dominant demsoni seem to be the most skittish and protect their terriroty moreso than the smaller non-dominant ones.

Here are some pics of the general progress:

1.  Initial filling with substrate and water.  Yeah it's a bad pic of me but you get the gist of it.  4 Jul 06.

2.  Rocks laid out and mounted on slate prior to putting them in tank.  4 Sep 06.

3.  Tank with plants added.  19 Sep 06.

4.  Stocked with fish.  30 Sep 06.

5.  All other pics are of the fish taken 30 Sep - 1 Oct 06.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[az]

very nice!

[babblefish1960]

It would appear that the fish have found a lucky sponsor in having everything they could want on hand, nice.

[darkdep]

Damn I love Texas Holey Rock...drools...

[PaleoFishGirl]

Yeah, the rock is beautiful! What an excellent setup!

[bitterman]

Damn I love Texas Holey Rock...drools...

DITTO!!!!

[Rudy00]

yeah, VERY cool piece of rock for sure, where did you get your hands on a piece like that?

[adam_ottawa]

Thanks everyone.

I found the holey rock from our good friends at ebay.  Although the initial price wasn't too bad, by the time I paid for shipping (UPS) and brokerage fees, it cost me a fortune!  The large piece weighs 42 lb!  It was well worth it though considering this tank is in my living room.   

[RoxyDog]

very nice!

psst! don't ever invite DarkDep over to your house...I suspect he can lift 42 lbs!

[darkdep]

I've already warned the cichlid crew at the meetings; if I ever see THR at the auction again it's MINE. 

[adam_ottawa]

very nice!

psst! don't ever invite DarkDep over to your house...I suspect he can lift 42 lbs!

Lol...but first he would have to get it out of the tank.  It was a challenge to get it in there in the first place.  It took two of us and we had to manipulate it very carefully!

[darkdep]

I'll bribe someone to help me

[zippity]

i will help u DD, after all it is because of you i lost out at the auction last year on MY piece of THR.

[darkdep]

It's a big piece, we can sledge it in half

[adam_ottawa]

You wouldn't...not to a beautiful piece like that! 

[adam_ottawa]

So I was doing a water change today and, lo and behold,  I found a little baby demasoni!  My first ever!

I can't believe it only took a couple weeks for my fish to get busy.  Because these fish are new to me, and still very young, I didn't notice any that were holding eggs.  The female must have either been hiding really well or I just plain didn't notice.  I guess I'll have to start really paying more attention to them.

Now that I know my fish are fertile, I can imagine that it will only be a matter of time before I set up a grow out tank. 

Anyone have any suggestions as to what to feed the fry?  For the morning feeding, I'll try crushing up my Hikari algae pellets into powder for it.  Is there something better I should try?  The other food I feed is NLS cichlid pellets but I know that wouldn't be appropriate for this little guy (or gal).

[Demasonian]

Actually, I feed my fry crushed NLS grow pellets to start. I just use the lid to grind it up. Once they get to about .5", they can eat uncrushed NLS grow.

For fry in my main tank, however, I let them forage for their own food. This means algae off the rocks and little pieces of NLS floating by after being crunched on by the adult fish.

One piece of advice, not trying to be a downer, but unless you move the fry to another tank, there's a good chance it'll wind up as a snack for one of your other fish.

[pegasus]

Don't need to try to feed the sole fry, it will find more than enough to feed on.

I've already warned the cichlid crew at the meetings; if I ever see THR at the auction again it's MINE.

I guess I'll pay dearly for the bucket! LOL

[KarEn]

Very nice setup! Nice rock! I was planning to get one some time ago, but then calculated tha cost of shipping... and decided not to go that route. How much did you end up paying for the shippment?

I would change the position of your heater. Very visible. Why don't you put it in the corner?

[Adam]

I would change the position of your heater. Very visible. Why don't you put it in the corner?

likewise

[adam_ottawa]

Thanks.  I'm enjoying this tank very much!

Well the big chunk on the left, weighing in at 42 lb, cost about $50 on ebay, plus about $40 for shipping via UPS and about $30-40 for brokerage feels.  I really didn't think it would end up costing that much.  I tried not to think about it everytime I had to fork over my credit card for supplementary payment.   

The smaller pieces cost about $8 each on ebay plus about $25 shipping as a package.  I really can't remember if this group got nabbed for brokerage fees.

Most of the sellers of Texas Holey Rock will only ship via UPS for some reason, which is an expensive delivery company.

If you want to know more, I may be able forward names of sellers on ebay.

I really love the holey rock though.  Even though I have a small footprint (30 x 12.5), I think the bountiful caves provide ample hiding spots for my fish.  I haven't watched any good chase scenes yet - they are usually short-lived.   

As for the heater, I had already moved it so it is vertical in the left corner.  This picture was taken when I was more in the functional stage rather than concerned about final esthetics.

[KarEn]

Wow... 42Lbs... I'm still scared to put anything heavy in my tank. Maybe I'm just not as experienced...
Yeah, you ended up paying quite some bux for your rock. Well, at the end of the day you got something nice in ur tank.
How does it affect your water chemistry? pH level is same?

I saw these tocks on eBay... didn't go for it because of UPS shipping. Too expensive.

[adam_ottawa]

Well, I'm hardly experienced...I mounted the big piece onto a slate floor tile with silicone.  In addition to providing stability, I was thinking this would help distribute the weight better.

Yeah the piece was pretty pricey.  Let's just say that it was an impulse buy late at night after I had a couple drinks.  Silly ebay

To be honest, I don't really know my tap water pH level so I couldn't tell you how the rock affects the pH.  Before I started buffering the water, the pH with rock and aragonite was about 7.8-8.2.  Once I started buffering, the pH seemed to rise a bit to around 8.5  I have 3 different pH kits and I've never been able to match any particular coloured square perfectly, so I can only guess at the pH range when I test.  My pH doesn't seem to change when I do a water change so it must be buffered alright.

[repeej]

Wow... 42Lbs... I'm still scared to put anything heavy in my tank. Maybe I'm just not as experienced...

Well then....stay tuned.....I have about 150-200lbs of rocks going into my 75g this weekend.  Time to re-decorate...

[Rudy00]

if you think about it, most reef tanks get atleast 1 lb of LR per gallon, some even much more than that so i think the tank can handle it

[adam_ottawa]

After doing a water change last night, I found my baby again.  He was effectively hiding for about a week or so.  I just assumed he was a snack for one of the larger fish.

Check it out!

[attachment deleted by admin]

[cory]

time to set up a fry tank. or that little one will be a little meal.