Time lapse video of 2 month tank progress + Hand-feeding fish

Hey everyone, just a short time lapse video of my 55g mbuna tank and its algae growth. Hopefully will see some green algae as the end result, but since purple is more nutritious I don't really mind if it stays this way. Thanks to anyone checking it out    I'm going to continue to document the tank progress every 10 days up until 1 year, hoping for some dramatic changes.

2 month time lapse: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Hand-feeding (it's a contest entry so fast foward to halfway through vid if you're only interested in the hand-feeding): [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Great video. I wish more people appreciated the power of algae! Any problems keeping the algae off the sand? Sand looks spotless?

Aside from a tiny bit of diatoms from it being a new tank at the start, there's virtually nothing on the sand and even the diatoms are just about gone 100% There would be a lot more algae, but with 12 juvies grazing all day it's more challenging

Awesome hardscape!  

Neat. I like the red algae, always liked the look of it.

I'm a big fan of that tank... the red algae is awesome. Wish I could pull off a red hue like that in my tanks!

I was watching the change in the fish the first time through and had to watch again for the algae.  

Cool video!

Appreciate the kind words every1   

Great video and tank setup!  The algae was cool, but I really loved watching the fish get bigger.  Like the great combination of Jalo Reef and Saulosi.  What do you plan to put in with the Jalo Reef's once you've made room (I see the Saulosi FS in the market)?  Glad to see you're keeping the Mbuna though!

I'm in the cycling stage, and finalizing my stock list (I'm going to build around Membe or Msobo Deeps, I think).  Would love to do a similar time lapse log like you've done here for my own records.  Any good tips or lessons learned on camera placement, lighting, editing, etc?  Thanks for sharing!

I'm either getting Msobo or Membe as well due to the colorful females, but leaning more towards Membe. Ill be keeping 1-2 Saulosi males since they're F1 and I have a soft spot for endangered species, also incase I find nice females for sale later on (plus they're my fav specie). There's no trick, just keep your camera still is all lol. This was all done with my iphone, so there was no special setting filming wise and all I did was add music :p

I also have a separate folder with fish growth, but pics only since algae growth is more noticeable if I were to choose one to film. Plus I love algae, gives the tank a more natural look and a snack for these aquatic lawn mowers lol.

Nice! I like it. I think I like the Msobo male coloration just a tad better (from pics online), but they're a bit bigger, and I think the Membe females are a bit more yellow, which I like more than orange, although seeing them in person may change everything. We'll see.

The video is most excellent, so I just assumed a tripod or some other professional type set up. Nice work! Fish look happy. Hope to do as well in the near future.

Only thing I'm hesitant about the two species (Membe and Msobo) is that they could get nasty and really take out the tank. I've read a lot of horror stories about these two, which is why I'm keeping my options open.

I'd definitely read that about Msobo, plus they're bigger full grown. Seems like if you went with Membe now, they'd join your still juvenille-ish Jalo's, and probably be outsized, so hopefully not an issue! Do you feel like you have the right number of groups/fish in your 55? My 75 is mostly taller and has about the same footprint. I'm battling the urge to grossly overstock in order to get variety.

I'd say my max is about 15, so having 12 right now is about right. IMO you could probably go 23-28 since you're about 4 ft lengthwise as well, but that's if your width is 18" or bigger. Of course all this depends on your filtration and decor as well.

I'd say I have a similar decor to yours (just posted some build pics up in the intro section), and I only have about 3 more inches of depth at 15 vice 12, and not the 18 of a standard 75G. I get an extra 4 inches of height, which is cool, but sorta useless with Mbuna. I have 2 Eheim 2217's, which should be ok filtration wise. I think I'll start in the low 20's and see what happens.

Sonic...I really love your hardscape in this tank. Super job.

As always with Mbuna, the recommendation is not to house two of the same species in one tank...both of these are Metriaclima. I have seen multiple types of the same species housed together and it still work but just wanted to share that for other folks that might be new to cichlid stocking and mbuna. Always something to consider in your stocking plans.

As for the Membe and the Msobo although I have not had these species personally I spent a lot of time looking both of them and researching them with a friend before he got his. We had many discussions about the two species. Specifically for your choice, a couple of things you need to think about when housing those two species together would be that both have pretty aggressive temperaments overall and also although sized a little different colorations in these two species are rather similiar with the males being light blue/black (the Membe male will look more like a Polit male when mature while the Msobo male will have a more speckled look to him) and the females being similiar also (Msobo females being orange/yellow and Membe females being brown/yellow). The Membe are rather hard to come by (although I think Wetspot has some now) and you don't see them often. My friend chose to go with the Membe's and is really happy with his group. I've also read lots of good things about the Msobo's. Both of these species are beautiful fish.

Let us know what you finally decide and I'd love to see your tank once new stock is in.

Thanks Donna, although I don't plan on getting both Membe and Msobo, just one of the two

SonicsDC25 wrote:Thanks Donna, although I don't plan on getting both Membe and Msobo, just one of the two

  

Just updated with vid of hand-feeding fish, just incase anyone who saw this thread was on the fence about these little fellas it's a contest entry, so fast forward to halfway through the vid if you only want to see the hand-feeding.

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Very nice video and feeding those guys the cucumber...very sweet

Yeah, though they're only juveniles and you don't feel anything during the feed, I'm seeing nicks and scratches on my hand lol. Luckily I don't have any of the larger species of cichlids, otherwise I may need chainmail gloves :p