Anyone here into African Cichlids?

[Wy Renegade]

on the mbunas, one way to tell male/female is by the spots on there lower fin near the tail. these are egg spots used for mating.... [/url]

Actually thats one of those wives tails; I've been keeping mbunas for 20 years, and have plenty of females with egg spots on the anal fin. I've seen that same information in books as well, but its not anywhere close to accurate. I'd say that close to 50% of your females, if not more, will have eggs spots.

Here's a picture of the divider wall that I created; we epoxyied sand to the foam area on this was complete. For some reason I can't find my pictures of the finished product, but you get the idea.

 

[TinaFoster]

how to make a DIY aquarium background PLEASE RESPOND - YouTube
You've seen this tutorial? It's really good.

 

[TinaFoster]

Well it won't hold true in red zebras. Both sexes get egg spots. The majority of the ones I've kept you could tell this way, OR like in the case of yellow labs, it's never 100% as you can't see egg spots on them. Both sexes are bright, too. The experienced can tell by how much black marking is there--it's often thin with females thick with males. There's always venting them too--that's 100%.

 

[SRT80]

I'm kind of thinkin' of a thinner rocky background on the back and sides. I might get some thicker styrofoam to make ledges and put artif. plants so fish can hide in. The rest I will do mounds of rock with caves. The vision in my head is lookin' awesome....but I'm not sure how the results will be. I might go pick up some foam tomorrow and start practicing I might even try to make several rock structures/caves out of the foam. Then I want have to deal with a lot of lace rock and havin' to stack. Maybe weight the foam structure down with slate rock.

For a filter, I'm thinkin' a canister and run one of those inline heaters so all the will be in the tank is the filter tubes.

Steve

 

[TinaFoster]

My favorite African rock is Texas Holey Rock but lace they really like too. And any caves. That link you posted is to die for! If you do end up needing lace rock let me know. I've been thinning out my major cichlid operation here and I've got so much stuff lying around.
I can't wait to see what you build!

 

[SRT80]

That 90 gal feedin video is awesome. Looks like there is no fish in the tank then when the food hits the water, they just start comin' out of the caves. I really don't think I could build anything like that. I really don't think I'm creative enough to do any DIY stuff. But I'm gonna give it a try.

I like the holy rock too, but with white aragonite, just too much white....I would think.

Steve

 

[TinaFoster]

Oh, that's another thing. I was worried about my fish's mouths getting cut so after setting up the first tank with aragonite, every tank after that got pool sand. It's cheap, too. And the waste seems to sit on top instead of sinking down so cleanup is very easy. You still have to disturb the sand now and then to make sure there are no trapped gases but wow did it make my job easy--and it looked like the beach.

 

[SRT80]

Would love to see any pics if you have any of your cichlid setups.

Steve

 

[TinaFoster]

Sure

 

[TinaFoster]

OB Firefish Peacocks.wmv - YouTube
MobaD.wmv - YouTube
and a couple of my vids.

 

[SRT80]

Looks good Tina. Wy Renegade, your pic is not showin up for me.

Can any styrofoam pretty much be used? I want to get some thicker stuff. Like you would find at craft stores instead of the 1/2" stuff like they say to get at Home Depot. I will use the 1/2" to keep the background from bein' to thick. But I was thinkin' maybe some thicker stuff if I'm gonna try to make some caves.

I might be gettin' in way over my head here...

Steve

 

[TinaFoster]

I'm not seeing Renegade's picture either. I'm thinking if other types of styrofoam were not safe, they couldn't be used to ship fish in. But I can't say 100%. Anyone else?

 

[Wy Renegade]

Can't speak to the other types of foam, as I've only used the red-can expanding foam from Home Depot. I've heard there a specific pond foam as well.

Sorry on the picture, looks like I forgot to attach it, lets try it again.

 

[SRT80]

Are those real rocks? I wasn't talkin' about the actual foam stuff in the can. I was talkin' about the sheets of foam that a lot uses on the youtube videos. I have been thinkin' about the Great Stuff foam in a can. I think you can get it in gray color too.

I'm thinkin' about tossin' the whole idea though. I might get one of those thin premade 3d ones just for the back ground and gonna do some lace rock in mounds.

I have decided to do a 72 bowfront. Just ordered a new tank from AC so gonna keep my stand and canopy I already have. Should turn out to be a nice setup.

Steve

 

[SRT80]

Can you use "dry" base rock in African cichlid setups?

Steve

 

[Wy Renegade]

Are those real rocks? I wasn't talkin' about the actual foam stuff in the can. I was talkin' about the sheets of foam that a lot uses on the youtube videos. I have been thinkin' about the Great Stuff foam in a can. I think you can get it in gray color too.

I'm thinkin' about tossin' the whole idea though. I might get one of those thin premade 3d ones just for the back ground and gonna do some lace rock in mounds.

I have decided to do a 72 bowfront. Just ordered a new tank from AC so gonna keep my stand and canopy I already have. Should turn out to be a nice setup.

Steve

Yes those are real rocks LOL! Luck on your set-up Steve, keep us posted.