The big switch

So I took my 55g from my room and turned into an African tank. Starting the cycle today. I have been reading like crazy of coarse and absorbing all that I can. Its full of sand an some clay pots broken and stacked for caves. I well post pics tomorrow. Any advice is gladly accepted!

PH, if starting african cichlid tank make sure you put something to buffer your PH at high levels... Just dumping in Ph increase doesnt usually maintain it if your ph from the tap is low... So dont forget to add some corals, or crushed coral in the filter, maybe mixed in the sand.... tha helps me allot.
Also, I tend to overcrowd my tank a little... kinda spread out the aggression.... unless you really want to watch them as if they were in the wild, then undercrowd it. have fun, and upload pictures soon.

This is how it was. I moved my angels and gaurami to the living room.
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And here it is now:)
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The water is crystal clear this morning. I need to get ahold of some crushed coral and a heater now.

That looks perfect. They will love those pots. I'd recommend going a little higher though, but way nice!!!

cool I will add some more pots.

FYI... I bought the pots at home depot, looked through the stock and grabbed all the cracked and broken ones, asked for a discount for the damaged goods and got 50% my purchase.

Spent less than 20$ so far for this switch.


About how many fish well I be able to keep? I want to start with fry.....

First, what type of Cichlids are you going to stock??

Well with fry, you can have lots as they aren't as aggressive yet.
But as they get older, you're going to want to take out some males, not the alpha-dominant though. The ideal colony for most cichlids is 2m 8f, but if you're not really looking to breed, then I say overstock your tank to disperse aggression. I'll give you more info once I know what fish you're going to keep in there

I am wanting to go with mbuna. I want a colony. It's all about giving them the best environment I can so I can watch them do their thing. A place in OR, has a good deal on 25 mixed african cichlids, I thought this would work well for me, this way I could see who to weed out? just a thought.

Ah yes! My favorite!!

Okay, well I could recommend some very good ones for you (my personal favorites!)

Pseudotropheus saulosi (ALL TIME FAVORITE):

These fish are dwarf Mbunas which are 3-4 inches full grown. At our local pet stores, they are not regularly stocked, but that's why they are good to have and breed, because you can get a lot of store credit for the fry. As fry, they start out a yellow-orange color, but as they mature the males get a very nice blue with dark black stripes. This is my avatar picture of a matured male!! They are beautiful! [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] I've kept them in a 55 gallon with 25 of them. 5 males and 20 females. Worked out VERY well. They are not too aggressive, and they don't need a large tank.

Other favorites:

Labidochromis sp. "Mbamba" "Yellow Fin Mbamba"
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Pseudotropheus sp. Zebra Long Pelvic Mdoka
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Oh and NEVER buy "mixed" africans. They will all breed together, and then you won't be a reputable seller/breeder. Stick with one species. You can always sell off and start with new ones once you get bored.

Wow, Thanks a bunch, This is exactly what I want. I love the yellow and blue, the sulfur heads too lmao, I have been searching for them..... lol. so really thank you! I can't wait till the tanks ready.

You're welcome. Call the LFS' to see if they have any that you like, then make the trip. Sierras had some in Renton last time I was there....I just sold some of mine to Sidekicking a few weeks ago, dang!

yeah I looked through the forum first, allot of soon's on fry but no alerts on 'fer sale'. that's okay i want my tank right first, i will look real hard when the time is right. especially now that i know exactly what i am looking for.

Censeoflife - this is a perfect opportunity for you to jump on our GROUP BUY ..... the breeder we are purchasing from is the best african breeder around, and the prices are gonna be at wholesale!!!! so you can fill your tank with rare and awesome looking cichlids fry.....

Check information on GROUP BUY in the market area! really, If I had the chance, i wouldve never gotten my fish any other place!
sandnuka
WFB admin

I agree, but he doesn't have what you're looking for. You may want to go with Peacocks or something, but Pseudotropheus saulosi are aweseome!

Oh yeah I totally poured through what they have on-line, read all the bio's looking for a good fit, but I couldn't find these guys and nothing else that really has a hold of me like the Pseudotropheus saulosi.

censeoflife wrote:Oh yeah I totally poured through what they have on-line, read all the bio's looking for a good fit, but I couldn't find these guys and nothing else that really has a hold of me like the Pseudotropheus saulosi.

YAY!!!

Got my crushed coral in and everything is testing good this morning. Whoot time for fish shopping. lol.

The first two from Sidekicking

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The F1 babies from Kevin @ a place for pets.

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So unfortunately The female from sidekicking showed an injury the day after I got her, not sure what happened, anyway she didn't make it through the weekend. : (

However the male is having a great time.
Playing in the sand, and of-coarse claimed his territory.
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He actually was spitting in this pic.
and a little one is getting some lessons.
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And some of the little ones handy work. They dug around all the stones I have in the sand a made lil caves. so awesome.
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This is how it looks now.
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Thanks for the insight Mikey!

You're welcome!! The tank set-up looks awesome. I'm so glad you found some at APFP! Good luck on the breeding!

Thank you sir, I am still looking for 6 more. Not sure how many males i'm sitting on yet. But if I never get any more these guys well go crazy anyway!!

Do yourself a favor and break out the back of the pots so the fish can swim through. Other than that, looks great!

Sure well. I love to break stuff! Thanks for the input.

not only breakin out the back, but I would kinda bust them in half... personally think they look and stack a little better that way.... they get really sharp though, so you kinda have to sand them down.... but, thats just a visual thing I like, sure the cichlids will love it either way.

Yeah I broke half them in half or quarters', tried to just split them, but I had to take it how ever they ended up.
We shall see what happens when I start trying to knock some holes in these bad boys.. lol. I am gonna get a few more pots on the way home tonight anyway....

So I broke all my pots up and used a broke piece of lave rock to round all the edges off.

New stack shot
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Everyone was curious to see what I did as soon as my hands where out.
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Made a lil tunnel thing down in front here
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Side shot so you can see all the lil nooks to swim through
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The far corner got a few more caves too, since I had some left over.
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Thanks for the advice fishy friends! Keep it coming!

Looks amazing! Nice job with the pots, I'm sure they'll love it.

Remember, when they do breed, you'll want a flat surface for them (but that will be a while!)

Keep up the good work!

Cool, I have some slate I can through in when the time is right.

censeoflife wrote:Cool, I have some slate I can through in when the time is right.

Perfect! Well you're doing a great job, the tank is looking nice!

Took a few pictures this weekend.

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Everyone is growing and digging away. The lil guys are about 1" now and looking good.

That male is coloring up very nicely!! That is my favorite stage that the Saulosi go through...when the males turn from yellow to blue...Amazing.

Looks very healthy & content also. Well done!

These fish are cool man. I sit on my bed and watch them dig and investigate. Never gets old.

Welcome to bein addicted to african cichlids.... I love them.

looks like I lost a lil one today. Couldn't find the runt this morning and my gf took the tank apart today and couldn't find em' either, No body no nothing? The other 6 are looking good and have grown to 1.25". The runt was still not .75" yet. Still wanting to pick up a few more of theses guys so if you you see them at a store drop me a line.. thanks!!

sometimes the lil' guys get sucked up the intake in filters.... might wanna check that out.... Sorry to hear about the loss... good luck.

Thanks man, I will be taking a look tonight. I know he was there last night. Disappeared from one feeding to the next. bummed.

Blue sierra had some Saturday, So I picked up 3 new ones. 2 x 2.25" females, and 1 x 1.5 male. I couldn't tell the male was one till I got him home and he had traveled with the females..

Adding them to the tank went well and watching the big boy vibrate and show his dominance was cool. Also he tried to show his stuff to the new girls too but they aren't interested yet. lol.

So mikey your boy has become the alpha of my colony. And, his color is great!

10 fish total so i'm good now and gonna enjoy watching my colony grow for a nice long time.

Thanks again for the advice.

Now I need hook up awesome environments. lol.

censeoflife wrote:
So mikey your boy has become the alpha of my colony. And, his color is great!

I'm very glad. When I let him go he was JUST morphing into his blues. I'm sure he is going to look just like the picture to the right soon-------------------->

Gonna be great, the whole tank already exhibits text book behavior, dominate male with claimed territory and a medium school of all yellows. It's my favorite tank in my house right now, girlfriend lays on the bed with me forever sometimes just watching them do their thing.

I'm debating on a whole new back round based on nukas' DIY #2 back round or just going crazy with more pots / hammer and marine epoxy

Congrats on the saulosi tank. I've had mine for several years now and they have been a lot of "fun"! Of all the mbuna I keep, they are the only ones that bite me (hard enough to break skin!!).

I loved my DIY backgrounds.... the only disadvantage is that they do cause a drastic PH spike, so make sure you have them in the tank with water doing several water changes for a week or so, this way ph will go back down.

Betty wrote:Congrats on the saulosi tank. I've had mine for several years now and they have been a lot of "fun"! Of all the mbuna I keep, they are the only ones that bite me (hard enough to break skin!!).

I wondered, I can see the lil pink beaks, I can feel them grazing me know when I work on something. lol..

sandnuka wrote:I loved my DIY backgrounds.... the only disadvantage is that they do cause a drastic PH spike, so make sure you have them in the tank with water doing several water changes for a week or so, this way ph will go back down.

Maybe I could set up a rubbermaid and cure it first? Or does it continue to buffer?

Bruiser comes right over to me every time im checking out the action. Even waits for me to take his picture. Such a good fish. lol.
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Roll with the pack or get left behind! lol
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Romain they love it! Feeding frenzy.
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Even Ducky (8" plec) got in on some of that green! lol
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AWESOME pics! I love it. Breed those babies!! Nicely done, sir

SO LUCKY! all my fish hate any fresh vege's I toss in there.... only one that will eat is the pleco and his cucumber.... I have to trick them by feeding them vege pellets after a 2 day fast... Keep them eating it, there color will be great!

They love that and algae wafers too. They get a staple HBH veggy flake with spirulina as well.

I re setup the rocks and pots today. Take some pics when the sand storm settles.

Looks like you are making good progress!

censeoflife wrote:Maybe I could set up a rubbermaid and cure it first? Or does it continue to buffer?

Should be fine that way.... Just make sure you keep it soaked for over 48 hrs, and 100% water change 3 -4 times. The higher buffer of the PH is good anyway for your cichlids... you just dont want it to initially spike.

So I did rocks with the pots. Here are some shots. lol..

This is before shot
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After...
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Corner close up
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Center close up
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WOW! there are sooo many caves... you can probably get a bunch of extra fish in that tank and not have hardly any aggression cause they will all be satisfied with there caves very nice... looks great. wish I had that much stuff in my tropheus tank....