# Tanganyikan photo journal, *4/3 end of journal*



## Mferko

no longer updating this journal due to lack of interest, and since fish have been moved into a new larger tank. im starting a new picture thread elsewhere so if youd like to see current pics of my tank see my signature.









there are:

*5 Altolamprologus Calvus* (White Chaitika)

in this top pic u can also see the male bn pleco in the top left









































*3 Lamprologus Multifasciatus*

can u see which shell has the shellie in it in this one?

































*5 Cyprichromis leptosoma Kerenge Island*


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## Mferko

and then theres also my favorite member: the goby! these have to be the most underrated cichlids his personality is awesome!! he makes the tank almost like a wheres waldo, hes always somewhere looking at you but its not easy finding where sometimes. and he doesnt swim much he kinda just hops around, hes always sitting on somethin.
hes a *Tanganicodus Iracae Moba Goby*, im going to name him Waldo.

































and *3 BN plecos*, 1 male is starting to bristle up


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## Mferko

reserved...


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## Mferko

ninez said:


> Great Pix..
> 
> makes me wanna ditch my D70s


lol thanks, i wanna get the 18-200 lens so i can take pics like Gavin
im usin the 18-105 on a D90


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## Cichlid2010

The 55-200mm might be a good option (it is cheap as well) or the 75-300mm. 18-200mm Lens is not good near both 18mm and 200mm.


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## ninez

Cichlid2010 said:


> The 55-200mm might be a good option (it is cheap as well) or the 75-300mm. 18-200mm Lens is not good near both 18mm and 200mm.


Try the new 28-300mm 

Nikon 28-300mm VR


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## Mferko

wow, i want that!


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## hp10BII

Mferko said:


> and then theres also my favorite member: the goby! these have to be the most underrated cichlids his personality is awesome!! he makes the tank almost like a wheres waldo, hes always somewhere looking at you but its not easy finding where sometimes. and he doesnt swim much he kinda just hops around, hes always sitting on somethin.
> hes a *Tanganicodus Iracae Moba Goby*, im going to name him Waldo.


Nice looking goby and great pics!


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## Mferko

hp10BII said:


> Nice looking goby and great pics!


thanks! and thanks for telling me about these goby's in the first place


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## taureandragon76

Looks good, that sand and gravel will get all mixed up in a matter of time


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## Mferko

definately will, i was thinking mebbe the shellies would like digging in sand more than the gravel and it would help to keep them in their corner but noop, they like moving gravel too even a piece bigger than their head is no problem to pick up by a corner and move.


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## user_error

Kick ass pics but the calvus colors you just have to see in person, such awesome blue on their fins! Will look forward to seeing them grow to their full size


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## Mferko

yeah im feeding them NLS in small ammounts 4x a day and going to do weekly water changes to help em grow but theyre slow growers.
the goby's personality has won me over tho ... think il have to order some wild ones in a year when i have the 125


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## Mferko

this morning waldo decided to go for a swim and it occured to me.. i never see him swimming lol, so i took a pic.










then he went back home to his rock with the cave in it (theres 2 baby yellow labs in there now too i moved them up from my fry tank)










and i forgot to post pics of the pet ive had the longest atm, since before i upgraded to this tank, its slimer the snail:









heres a couple more of him from a few weeks ago


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## Mferko

gonna go pick up a powerhead this morning from JL for the goby to play with, tried to go to IPU to get one last night but all their shelves were empty


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## Mferko

one of the calvus has moved in to the nice big shell i got on granville island, here are some more pics of them





































yawning shot, unfortunately not perfectly in focus, ive been trying to get one of these for sooo long...
































































enjoy


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## ninez

wow.. looks good

Thanks for sharing

How big are these guys gonna get?


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## Mferko

they get to be 6 inches: heres a pic of the black version for comparison


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## Mferko

and one last pic before bed, my male BN pleco is starting his night shift, i dont know why but his spots are way smaller than the other two and hes darker with gold spots instead of brown with brown spots. you can see the little yellow lab peeking around the corner too.


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## user_error

tank is so cool. hop you get some fry, i want some of the babies


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## Cichlid2010

nice pics, Mike. I can't wait for the Cyprichromis leptosoma to get their colours. Feed them a lot of NLS already, nothing changed.


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## Mferko

thanks. im looking forward to the leptosoma's coloring up too. the goby seems to vary his colors alot sometimes hes really light others a bit darker


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## Mferko

new video taken this morning, still being processed but 720p should be available eventually
shellies are doing a bit of landscaping


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## Mferko

720p works now


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## Mferko

Slimer is acting strange the last few days, lying around half-out of his shell at times and leaving a thicker than normal slime in his trail.
i wonder if hes dying of old age? anyone know how old snails like this live?


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## Mferko

slimer is still alive but hes still layin around with his trapdoor open most of the time, prly just a matter of time before the multi's decide to evict him from his shell.

one of the plecos likes the multi's lifestyle and has moved into a shell of his own, u can see the mountain of sand from the multi's digging in the background. the video a few posts up shows him just getting started  








and heres a better pic of the yawning calvus








also the yellow lab babies are growing v. fast, this one is definately male


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## ninez

ah... so nice 

I want some yellow lab too 

Thanks for sharing


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## Rastapus

Great looking set up Mferko! Tanganyikans are under rated, for those keeping smaller Malawi, displays of Tanganyikans have a lot less aggression and some very unique fish! The gobies are really great fish and the Nerites fit right in!


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## Mferko

thanks!
heres more pics of the goby
in the first one the pleco just came out of the rock thru the little tunnel on the bottom which is where waldo hangs out lots


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## Cichlid2010

Nice pics Mike, I hope they can grow faster.


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## big_bubba_B

nice shellies yes sand would great to put in there they realy look cute when there digging around


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## Mferko

Cichlid2010 said:


> Nice pics Mike, I hope they can grow faster.


yea how are your gobies doing btw?

as for the sand i plan to switch to a mix of white aragonite and black tahitian moon in the near future. il move some of my sulawesi snails up too from the 10g they dig thru the substrate and keep it nice and clean. they bred recently i noticed at least a few dozen baby snails in there this morning.


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## silvciv888

just a heads up, once the calvus get larger & mature, most of the shelly fry will disappear. some adult deaths may occur. the more aggro ones will pull the shelly parent out of the shell to get at the fry. or they'll suck them out of the shells.

the cyps wont color up until they are significantly larger.


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## Mferko

silvciv888 said:


> just a heads up, once the calvus get larger & mature, most of the shelly fry will disappear. some adult deaths may occur. the more aggro ones will pull the shelly parent out of the shell to get at the fry. or they'll suck them out of the shells.
> 
> the cyps wont color up until they are significantly larger.


yea im counting on the calvus to keep the shellie population from exploding
i have 6 more multi's in a 10g below this tank but they are full grown and were beating up on the calvus, i'll move them up when the calvus get larger and start displaying more aggression, how long do u think that will take?

and are cyps fast or slow growers?

i'll keep feeding NLS 4x a day  cant wait for them to color up


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## Rastapus

Calvus grow very slowly unfortunately. Regular water changes and heavy feeding speeds it up a little.


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## Luke78

Neat looking setup , lots of colour and activity for sure.Thanks for sharing!


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## Mferko

i just noticed today that one of the cyps is starting to get a bit of blue in its dorsal fin and yellow at the bottom of its pelvic fins, its very very faint still tho. 
also my male BN pleco went into a hole in the rocks and died, it was gross i had to pull the rock out of the tank and when i tried to pull him out by the tail his tail popped right off :/ i wont go into any more detail but it was gross and it stunk. RIP pleco.
i got a new one thats got some bristles from aquariums west and hes being chased around by a female pleco lol, sissy. il try and get pics of him.


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## Mferko

i changed the substrate over to caribsea sugar sized aragonite, its really soft and should be easy for them to dig thru as well as help buffer the water so i'm sure theyl like it.
Zenin brought over some NLS food he ordered for me from pets and ponds, thanks again ninez
he also brought a macro lens to try on the d90, heres a few pics


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## ninez

some pix that i shot.. nice cute fish


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## Cichlid2010

Hey Mike, which Macro Lens is it? I have been looking for one for a long time.
Looks like your goby is colouring up, my gobes look white most of the time.


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## Mferko

im not sure exactly what lens it was i just remember it was 105mm


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## ninez

Cichlid2010 said:


> Hey Mike, which Macro Lens is it? I have been looking for one for a long time.
> Looks like your goby is colouring up, my gobes look white most of the time.


I have the old 105mm macro w/o the VR.


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## user_error

nice pics wish i could compare. 

switching the substrate mush have been a big pain but looks better for sure


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## Mferko

it wasnt too bad, put the fish in my 10G, took out the old stuff and put in the new after rinsing in a rubbermade bin in the bathtub a few times, then did a 100% water change filling it up really slowly from the bottom w/ a python and adding buffer as i went. was still a little bit cloudy but in the morning it was crystal clear.

the goby does this thing where he spits out water to move some sand searching for food and the snails i have in there that dig thru the sand - he likes digging them up and batting them around a bit then he gets bored and they burrow back into the sand. im uploading a vid of it now to youtube but its like 220megs for 2 minutes lol.
the shellies are doing a lot of digging heres a pic:


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## Mferko

hard to see without watching a few times but the shellies are actually digging throughout some of this video ie around 25 seconds in is the first time u can see it, i was trying to capture that as well as waldo's wierd foraging technique which sometimes kicks up things that the calvus and cyps swoop in and scavenge.
also waldo likes to chase the yellow labs, i imagine him saying "YOU'RE TOO BRIGHT!!!" as he's chasing them around lol


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## bigfish

now thats is what you call a tank


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## ninez

cool~ thanks for sharing.

Time for a new camera


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## pisces

look very nice!


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## Mferko

thanks guys


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## hp10BII

Nice interaction between species.

I can't tell from the pics or videos, but if the colours seemed a little washed out from the fishes, you can add black coloured sand ie. Tahitian moon sand for a salt and pepper look. That's the look that Caribsea sells in their packaged African Cichlid Sand - mix of aragonite and tahitian moon sand, just gives it a darker look and the fish colours should darken too.


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## Mferko

yea i suggested that to the wife but she said it would look dirty so i started with pure white and tbh i really like it, it looks really clean. i think im going to get a pure black background though

i want to see pics of someone elses salt n pepper mix and show that to the wife before doing it cuz i really like the white and want to know if the salt n pepper looks as good since there is no going back once i mix them.


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## silvciv888

unfortunately the cyps will take a while to grow out. just be patient. avoid overfeeding to make them grow.

this was what i kept back in the day.


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## Mferko

ah nice cyps and calvus  are those large or dwarf cyps?
these are a dwarf version of the cyp leptosoma and i was told theyd color up at 2 inches (theyre only mebbe 1.5 now) and eventually reach a bit over 3.
ive been feeding 3x a day to try and get the calvus to grow faster since theyre supposedly really slow growers. i also do 2x 50% water changes a week when the nitrates hit 5ppm and im keeping the temp at 80

is that heavy feeding bad for the cyps?

i see those are dated 2006, do u still have any of those?


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## silvciv888

they are jumbo cyps. scored them along with some rarer fish w/ charles back in the day.

they are living in a more upscale tank at a friends house. well, at least some of them are.


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## Mferko

the shellies appear to be building a wall around the perimeter of their shells, its pretty neat to watch  uploading another vid of them now to youtube.
also the vancouver aquariums magazine Waters just came to my house and theres an article in there about tanganyikans, altho they call gobies maternal mouthbrooders when theyre actually bi-parental :/


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## Mferko

heres the vid:


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## Mferko

turns out all 3 of my BN plecos are starting to bristle up. might have to eventually try and trade one or two for females.
heres a pic of one: 









and waldo keeps looking better and better


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## 2wheelsx2

Female BNP's have bristles in varying degrees too, in case you didn't know. Just not as many as males usually, and occasionally, not at all, so having some bristles doesn't mean you have all males.


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## Mferko

yea i figured, il keep posting pics and hopefully eventually u can help me figure out what they all are.
heres a couple more pics: the yellow labs are growing fast, theyre the size of the smaller shellies now.


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## Mferko

heres another pleco you can see its bristles on the sides below the eyes. sometimes that splotch on its back gets really light colored. and a demasoni that im pretty sure is a female, she somehow mannaged to get in from the hob breeder box at some point and the wife likes her so i'll keep her in until she gets attitude and tries to rough up the other fish which im hoping wont happen but it is a demasoni...


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## Mferko

heres a new video of the shellies digging. at one point its almost like one is sabotaging the other, dumping his sand where the other one is excavating lol
[YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=v3cUmRFAESY&vq=medium[/YT]
i have 6 of these in another tank available for sale, here is the thread: http://www.bcaquaria.com/forum/fres...gus-multifasciatus-tanganyikan-shellies-7612/


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## Mferko

this video makes me realize how scratched the corner of that tank is  wish i could fix that


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## Mferko

someone has been very busy while i was in class today, there is a tunnel right underneath one of the rocks in the rock formation, front to back-left side. i gotta go to another class now till 10pm, wonder what it will look like when i get home. all the rocks are interlocked pretty well so im not too concerned about them making it unstable its just funny they like their rocks like swiss cheese, there is already a hole in that rock that leads out to the back-right side and to the top.


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## Mferko

the demasoni and yellow labs are growing soo much faster than the tangs lol
heres a full tank shot and a few more of a cyp and an amano shrimp and the demasoni
also, i put a couple root tabs under the sword fern when i changed the substrate and its definitely increasing its growth rate.


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## clintgv

Nice. There looking good. Are you going to keep the yellow lab and the demasoni with the Tanganyikan's? Just wondering hehe.


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## Mferko

yeah unless they stop behaving  my wife likes the color but i told her i'll yank em out if they cause trouble


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## ninez

the demasoni is not harassing other fish?

kinda want to put some demasoni in the community tank.


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## Mferko

nope she hasnt harassed anyone yet, shes only like < 3/4 of an inch long tho...
im keeping a close eye on her, yellow labs im not too worried about cuz waldo always has em on the run lol
the calvus are too big for her to try anything on and the shellies work together, yellow labs mostly hang out above the shellies to leach protection from waldo lol, waldo isnt allowed past the great wall of shellna
demasoni mostly stays within half an inch from the rocks or inside the holes


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## Mferko

the yellow labs are the same size as the shellies now, if only the calvus grew that fast lol...
























its really neat tho how the calvus can choose if they want to be pearly white or white with black stripes
















thanks for looking


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## beN

Mferko said:


> they get to be 6 inches: heres a pic of the black version for comparison


oh my thats a beauty!


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## Mferko

hehe yea they look cool, i cant wait till mine get that big lol


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## Mferko

slimer died today, he was hanging out of his shell so i pulled him out of the tank to see if he was responsive ie closing his trapdoor and he smelled soooooooo bad i rushed him to the toilet and flushed him and did a 90% water change on the tank (he was in the 10G at the time with just a bunch of other sulawesi snails)
RIP slimer


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## user_error

aww, he waz a cool trapdoor snail


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## Mferko

yea im gonna have to get another


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## Mferko

its looking like the yellow labs are either male/female or male/subdominant male
i haven't seen the obvious male flashing in front of the other one yet tho.


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## Mferko

shellies look soo cute in the morning when u just turn the light on and theyre adjusting their eyes coming out of their shells lol








waldo ofc is always cute and finding new places to peek out at me from








pleco is starting to get some nice color along with (his?) bristles








and the most exciting part, my cyps are finally getting some color!!! i hope i get at least 1m and 1f out of the 3 so theres the possibility of breeding.


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## silvciv888

give the paracyps some nice vertical or taller rocks. they need more than just the holey or tufa rocks.


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## Mferko

what would they do with vertical rocks? i thought they like open water
theyre just normal cyps btw not paracyp


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## ninez

I like the cyps. Thanks for sharing.


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## silvciv888

ops. lol. i keep thinking paracyps. nevermind. the cyps are open water egg droppers.


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## ncutler

Finally found this thread. My cyps took 4 months to colour up, they are also kerenge island, but essentially they're utinta (when you compare with others) I suppose reservestockcichlids just call it kerenge. Your cyps could be either male or female at the moment, my females sometimes show a hint of blue in them like the shots above.

You're making me wish I brought in a gobe on our group order but was told they could be aggressive so I didn't.


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## Mferko

the goby is awesome, he has the most character of anyone in the tank but he is a bit aggressive towards the yellow labs and the plecos. the shellies keep him in his place though i think, they group up and drive him out if he comes to their side


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## Mferko

I noticed the multis have been rather territorial lately and one of them seems to stay in the shell alot, also saw another one with a swollen ovipositer. im hoping for fry soon but no idea on the incubation time for multi's
the cyps are still coloring up nicely and theyve turned into total pigs, theyre eating more and are right there with the yellow labs when the first pellet hits the water


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## Mferko

took a few pics last night, shortly after the male yellow lab and one of the larger calvus had it out, the calvus won and drove the yellow lab off but at the rate the lab is growing that wont last long, i'll prolly donate him to a friend in a few days. waldo's lips are starting to get more blue too lately i noticed, heres the pics. also if you look underneath the calvus's in the pics u can see tonnes of those sulawesi snails, i introduced about 10 and now theres a million and they all tend to hang out under the calvus, which isnt where the food lands, are they eating calvus poo? if so, awesome... lol.

































































action shot, waldo came over to find the yellow lab chillin out in his spot, hes always chasing them, i think he thinks theyre too bright lol








this one is from the 10 gallon below, red cherries from davej and 3 l144 and a crystal red shrimp from april


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## Mferko

got the male yellow lab out earlier, what a pain in the butt, couldnt take the rocks out cuz the calvus were hiding in them and wouldnt leave lol.


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## Mferko

two of my multi's has decided to break away from the main colony and form their own. one of them (the larger one) was seemingly never really accepted, i saw her swollen ovipositer (which made me think female but idk cuz of its size) and hoped her males would notice too and accept her in order to mate but it never happened.

she? moved to the other side of the tank and found her?self a shell beside one of the calvus. over the next week or so she kept trying to go back to the other side only to be driven back to her side by the small males in the main colony.

now it seems like one of the males? from the other colony has moved over to her side to join her and theyre starting to dig... the calvus shell fell over and landed on their cuz they dug the sand out from under it. kinda neat seeing a new colony get formed but im still really confused about how to sex these things and whether its actually a m/f pair and which one is f etc.. when i got them alot were juvies so not sure how much size helps at this point, can a male have a bump at the bottom that looks like a swollen ovipositer too?

anyway heres pics of the new couple in their newly founded colony and some of the digging theyve been doing, im guessing the one on the left is male and right is female although at this point the one on the right is larger, it was the one with the swollen lookin ovipositer (tube wasnt down, just a big swollen bump like they look shortly before/after spawning in the cichlids ive had in the past)


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## ncutler

I'm rather excited - one of my female cyps looks like she's holding. The first sign of any breeding happening from my reservestockcichlids order.

Hopefully you're only a couple months behind me!


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## Mferko

awesome! i have been noticing more color on the males and some shaking in front of the one that doesnt have color


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## Mferko

heres some of what they look like today, + the l144 and a berried shrimp from the 10G
waldo is posing in the top two shots, watching intently, im pretty sure he watches me more than i watch him


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## Mferko

woops double post


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## Mferko

WOOHOO IM SO EXCITED THIS MORNING
after feeding i noticed a little black spec swimming over near the multi's shells and ITS FRY!! idk exactly how many there are in there but a few seem curious  its gonna be interesting the next while watching the multis defend their colony from the calvus, hopefully there will be several survivors.
heres pics, il get more as more leave the shell over the next few days
these are the SMALLEST fry ive ever seen, that shell is only like 1 - 1.25 inches across

















also just noticed this thread has received over 2000 views now  thanks for looking everybody


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## Cichlid2010

Nice, just hope my Brevis can do the same. check out my goby and cyps pictures
http://www.bcaquaria.com/forum/tank...frican-cichlid-mix-7199/index3.html#post82291


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## djamm

Great Fry!!!

Keep us updated on them


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## pisces

great job! Mferko
the fty so cute! how many u got ? 
congrat..


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## Mferko

pisces said:


> great job! Mferko
> the fty so cute! how many u got ?
> congrat..


i just realized thats not the shell they hatched in, those 3 just ventured there from the shell behind... hard to get pics, il try though.
safe to say theres > 10 but i dont know yet cuz i cant see very deep inside the shells where i imagine most are hiding


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## Mferko

still cant get good pics in focus of the actual shell theyre in but i think these 2 calvus have paired up and are shacking up in that shell together, seen a bit of shaking and prodding so hopefully within a few months they will spawn too









heres the best ive gotten thus far of the shellies other hideout: 2 blurry fry in the first one and a bright blue eyeball in the second lol, soo hard to focus on something so small, wish i had a good macro lens


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## Mferko

the mom brought them a NLS pellet today and theyre eating, ive seen probably half a dozen at a single time but still no idea how many there are in total, its there first batch so i dont know how many to expect tbh


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## pisces

LOOK good!, keep post it up!!
wehre do u get those shell ? i want get few for my fry too! best price !!thks!


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## Mferko

heres a couple more pics, looks like theres only 2-3 left at this point, the female that spawned tho is still very small im sure she'll get better with time. i got 2 dozen more shells today to make the shell bed deeper for more hiding spots etc, soaking them in bleach water now to sterilize em, got 2 more big ones for the calvus's too cuz im noticing them digging now as well.


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## Mferko

saw 4 at the same time this morning, guess theyre still just really shy, still hesitant to leave the shell
(probably a good thing with the calvus's a few feet away, though the shellies have done a good job teaching them theyre not allowed in the shell bed and i havent seen one cross the line in a loong time)


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## Mferko

added more shells at the low point of today's water change, here's how it looks now
































can really see how the cyps color is coming along in this one too


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## ninez

Did you get a new lens?

Looks so clear!!

Nice shots


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## Mferko

just clean glass


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## bonsai dave

Wow Mike your tank is way too overcrowded. You need to get rid of some fish. Jk Tank is looking great.


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## Mferko

Discus Dave said:


> Wow Mike your tank is way too overcrowded. You need to get rid of some fish. Jk Tank is looking great.


lol  thx
once the shellies all start breeding + the calvus get larger it wont look so empty

tbh i was thinking of getting rid of the 3 silvertip plecos tho and moving another l144 in


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## Mferko

k so theres obviously a lot more than 4, even while taking these i could see lots hanging back in the shells, theres some serious size difference between some tho i wonder if this is a second batch coming out now.
















































heres the protective mama


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## Mferko

theyre all over the place now, can see them in a third shell behind the front 2 here


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## Morainy

Really a spectacular setup, Mike. So different from the kind of tanks I've had. I hope to try something like this one day, too. Thanks for posting the photos.


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## Mferko

Morainy said:


> Really a spectacular setup, Mike. So different from the kind of tanks I've had. I hope to try something like this one day, too. Thanks for posting the photos.


thanks 

UPDATE: fry are growing steadily, theres about 15 of them by the looks of things.


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## Mferko

yay! after 11 days away all of my fish and shrimp survived, the shellie fry have grown quite a bit and there is a new batch of them as well i can see hanging back in the shells, things couldnt have gone better - i was worrying quite a bit while away
thanks to ninez for the autofeeder


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## Petah

Hey,

where did you get your tanganyika cichilds?


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## Mferko

Petah said:


> Hey,
> 
> where did you get your tanganyika cichilds?


reservestockcichlids.com

its a shame we no longer have a big als here in the lower mainland, i went to one in calgary over the holidays and they had everything from 2 species of calvus, 2 of comps, shellies, cyps, lelupi, julies, and a bunch of other malawi and vic species too
they also had a big african cichlid show tank
all their shelves were stuffed full of supplies, no dead fish in the tanks and soooo much livestock ive never seen that much in one place b4
their shark was even appropriately sized for their 2000+G tank (it was between 2-3 feet long and was actively swimming around the corals with quite a few other fish in there with it)


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## Mferko

3 bits of news, firstly theres another batch of shelly fry out now from the same parents, theyre doing a good job starting a colony!

secondly i added 3 more female cyps to the group, the 2 males are really bright blue and shaking in front of the females now so im hoping to see some spawning in the next few months
and also i got 3 more gobies alone in their own tank (Eretmodus cyanostictus Makobola Blue Throat), im hoping they breed, im fascinated by the bi-parental mouth brooding and wanna see it for myself.


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## Petah

Ohhh! Would the frys be up for sale?


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## Mferko

for the gobies? Yes  i really hope they breed 
its looking like 2 male 1 female in there now going by size alone, i think they form pair bonds since the male has to take a turn holding the eggs he cant just go fertilize another female :/ i may sell the second male eventually if theres alot of fighting.


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## hp10BII

Nice new gobie additions! Good luck on the pairing!


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## Mferko

hp10BII said:


> Nice new gobie additions! Good luck on the pairing!


thanks  so far no aggression just having some fun with their reflections in the glass, they still hide when i come up to the tank so not quite settled yet.
waldo tho in my top tank is becomming rather aggressive, luckily 95% of it is directed at the yellow lab who is a fast swimmer and is quickly growing to match waldo in size

heres a couple more cute goby pics, the male has a hilarious face on atm and doesnt seem to mind the pleco sharing the cave, i love their cartoonish facial expressions and behavior lol


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## Prelude2Life

Wow i have been inspired... The sand change was worth it!


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## hp10BII

Mferko said:


> thanks  so far no aggression just having some fun with their reflections in the glass, they still hide when i come up to the tank so not quite settled yet.
> waldo tho in my top tank is becomming rather aggressive, luckily 95% of it is directed at the yellow lab who is a fast swimmer and is quickly growing to match waldo in size


With the look on their faces, you wouldn't think that they have any aggression issues. If you need a home for an outcast, let me know!


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## Mferko

hp10BII said:


> With the look on their faces, you wouldn't think that they have any aggression issues. If you need a home for an outcast, let me know!


lol yea theyre absolutely adorable! getting less shy today hoping to eventually have them eating out of my hand, gobies are my fav! and its all thx to you that i got them  i'l let you know if theres ever an outcast or fry

i need to put it to a vote, for a while ive hated the background and bonsai dave recently reminded me how horrible it looks, so which do you guys think would look better

1) a straight black background

or 2) i like deanorammas recent project, would this look better or would the fish have stronger colors against the black?








(taken from his thread, http://www.bcaquaria.com/forum/tank-journals-16/my-15g-planted-rimless-tank-2-a-9359/ )

what do you guys think? today im leaning towards the frosted glass but some days its the black lol


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## Smiladon

If you want colors to stand out more, go for black background. 
If you want something different, then go for frosted.

Frosted doesnt look too bad from the picture provided


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## Morainy

Your babies are absolutely gorgeous! Wow!

I like the frosted glass idea, but I don't think that you can go wrong either way.


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## Mferko

3000 views! thx for looking everyone 



Smiladon said:


> If you want colors to stand out more, go for black background.
> If you want something different, then go for frosted.
> 
> Frosted doesnt look too bad from the picture provided


yea im thinking of trying black first since its cheap and should be easier to take photos against and if i decide to go frosted i think itd look cool with the black behind the frosting



Morainy said:


> Your babies are absolutely gorgeous! Wow!
> 
> I like the frosted glass idea, but I don't think that you can go wrong either way.


thanks  i assume you mean the shellie babies? or the gobies?


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## Prelude2Life

Black is nice but frosted should look super clean. +1 for Frosted


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## Mferko

i think 2 of the gobies have paired up, oddly though its the biggest one with the second biggest one, theyre staying quite close to each other and the biggest one is shaking in front of the other, ive seen them chase off the smallest one a couple times too

the male cyps are bright as ever and doing lots of shaking too, hopefully i'll have some breeding action among both of these species soon

also since black won (and its cheaper) i switched both backgrounds to black, i rly like it on the bottom tank but im not so sure about it on the 37 so i might change that to frosted in the future or even try frosted with black behind that... i wanna give it a few more days though to see if the fish's color changes at all, i'll try and post pics tomorow if i have the energy (got the flu)


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## Mferko

heres a few pics i took today, starting with the gobies that i think are pairing up


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## Mferko

i have tonnes of the little sulawesi substrate cleaning snails if anyone wants some just need to pick em up, they come out of the substrate at night and clean up any extra food and also oxygenate the sand so theres no dead zones

and heres a video of the goby and yellow lab playing hide and seek like they always do, the lab sure is growing fast 
make sure you watch in 720p so its nice and clear


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## Mferko

pretty sure my gobies are spawning at the moment.. spinning around each other and doing alot of shaking in T formation the way my mbuna used to when they mated...its the biggest and second biggest one, the smallest one is hiding in the moss, heres a pic i have a short video too im uploading now... 








i havent seen any actual eggs dropping maybe its my eyes or maybe like us they like to practice sometimes or warm up or something lol
hopefully all goes well


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## Mferko

heres the vid


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## clintgv

Nice pictures and vids. Hope everything goes well for you .


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## Mferko

clintgv said:


> Nice pictures and vids. Hope everything goes well for you .


thanks  neither goby appears to be holding maybe theyre still working up to it
theyve really colored up over the last couple days tho too


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## hp10BII

Congrats! Hope all goes well for impending and future broods...!


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## silvciv888

looks like you do have a pair. gobies wont hang around together like that unless they are a bonded pair.

congrats. perhaps remove whatever other gobies u have in there. gives the couple more security.


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## Mferko

hp10BII said:


> Congrats! Hope all goes well for impending and future broods...!


thx



silvciv888 said:


> looks like you do have a pair. gobies wont hang around together like that unless they are a bonded pair.
> 
> congrats. perhaps remove whatever other gobies u have in there. gives the couple more security.


will do 

btw theyre still both eating like pigs no holding eggs yet, fingers crossed for the future


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## Mferko

the third goby is up on classifieds, price is $20
heres the thread: http://www.bcaquaria.com/forum/fres...odus-cyanostictus-makobola-blue-throat-11428/

and heres a pic of my nerite snails trying to look like a snowman









sulawesi snails are great for keeping your substrate clean, heres a pic taken rly late at night when they come up out of the substrate and you can see them, want some?
http://www.bcaquaria.com/forum/freshwater-livestock-25/ff-sulawesi-snails-11430/


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## hp10BII

The colours are really starting to come out on the cyp!


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## Mferko

hp10BII said:


> The colours are really starting to come out on the cyp!


yea sure is  that photo doesnt even do it justice tbh, its a rly nice saturated blue on the top half of their body


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## Mferko

just noticed another clutch of multi fry hatched and is starting to come out of the shell, theres still at least 1 survivor of the first batch (i only see 1 at a time tho i saw 3 at once a week ago) and hes now about 1cm long
im hoping in the next several months they get several juvies to help them defend the colony before the calvus get bigger and ballsier and try to go over there and eat fry, so far the shellies keep everyone out of the shell bed

heres the pic of momma, the eldest fry, and a freshly hatched baby fry below it in the shell (look for the two little eyeballs):


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## Mferko

kinda strange that the bamboo shrimp i dropped in there half expecting it to be eaten is doing better than the ones in my ebi did (both died)
also wierd that when i dropped it in it was blue, now its red... it has molted once a really big thick hard shell


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## Mferko

really wierd, both of my african cichlid tanks have had a single amano shrimp living in them for ages and today both were eaten in different tanks. all by gobies  i saw waldo munching on a big piece of shrimp meat when i woke up this morning and there were little white flecks floating everywhere in the current, i noticed the bamboo shrimp is still in 1 piece though.

then when i got home i noticed in the other tank with the 2 breeding gobies they had bitten the head of the amano shrimp off and left what i assume would be the best part, the mini lobster tail  so i took that over and fed it to waldo he was pretty happy to get to munch 2 in one day.


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## Mferko

heres a couple more cute goby pics, theyre always within a few inches of each other lots of shaking and spinning and the occasional bit of chasing... i love how gobies always seem to be posing and sitting/leaning on things


















and a couple more pics of the wood shrimp who is still managing to survive, hes often on the powerhead and sometimes after feeding the fish i pipette the green water the food soaked in into his fans to make sure hes getting enough.


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## Mferko

the female goby is starting to look like she might be full of eggs, theres a bit of a bump on her belly where the ovipositer is, il watch her close over the next few days and hopefully she'll end up holding


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## Mferko

the gobies keep getting darker, sometimes they can be almost black, shes still not holding tho but still looks as though she may be full of eggs


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## Phyrex

very nice cichlid tank you have here. What's the size of the tank again?


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## Mferko

Phyrex said:


> very nice cichlid tank you have here. What's the size of the tank again?


thanks
37 gallons, the one with the 2 gobies is a 10 gallon


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## H5N1

Nice tank update! Even more stunning when you see it in person


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## Mferko

H5N1 said:


> Nice tank update! Even more stunning when you see it in person


thanks  
heres a few more pics 
















































the calvus look quite a bit different and bigger than they did at the beginning of this thread now 

thanks for looking


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## Mferko

this is my largest calvus, i believe its a male theres 1 other almost as big that im guessing might also be male... i have a sneaking suspicion he is snacking on multi fry but ive never actually seen it happen... luckily the multi's are very prolific and theres a new batch out already almost as big as the other 3 when they disapeared and theres quite a few more this time








and another goby pose lol


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## corad96

great tank i really think you should add some plants it would complete the whole scene, maybe some amazon sword.


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## Mferko

thanks i'll keep that in mind, im actually going to be upgrading to a 72"by18" tank within a couple months and the calvus will be going over to there as well as the goby and i plan on getting some young frontosa just still deciding which strain, maybe i'll add some amazon swords to that tank, this one is going to be for sale.
considering selling the breeding pair of gobies as well since i think they will fight with my other larger goby and im going to be going down to 1 tank + a small growout tank


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## Mferko

btw if you clip amazon sword leaves and plant them will they root? thats what i have in there already itd be cool if i could do that

the rocks are not going to be going over to the new tank, several members have asked about them, i bought em for 80 i'll be selling em for 50 when the new tank comes pm me if you want them reserved for you

this tank is also likely going to be for sale with the stand and an eheim ecco 2232 cannister filter (no media, il be putting it in the new filter) and a coralife 30" dual t5 fixture (not HO) pm for pricing if your interested, it does have a couple scratches around the bottom from a magfloat

looking for frontosa 'kipili' fry


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## Mferko

Charles just dropped off 4 amazing l240 vampire plecos, i'll take pics when my battery is finnished charging i forgot to unplug it from the computer's usb which always kills the battery lol


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## Mferko

heres pics of the new l240s, love the contrast of them on the white aragonite


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## skrick

Haha Excellent I love them looks awesome


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## Mferko

they actually go really well with the white sand/black background and white/black calvus, i think if the wife had her way the new 6 footer would be a pleco tank


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## Blair917

those are really cool!!


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## Mferko

changed my mind again lol, not going to make it a frontosa tank going to stick with the large tanganyikan community, have a colony of shellies on either side one will be the multies i have, some rocks in the center for the calvus, and im going to get 20-30 paracyps and cyps as well
pics of planned stock:
paracyps:








cyps: bulu point orange tail









im thinking these for the other shellies: lamp. brevis kitumba


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## charles

featherfin is not very friendly fish. If you are going to go with cyps, paracyps, shellies, and calvus, I would skip them.


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## Mferko

okie thx for the heads up charles, any recommendations for sand dwellers? i forget which ones pat recommended on the phone
thinking enantiopus melanogenys:








or Callochromis pleurospilus Flame Rainbow


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## Johnnyfishtanks

Mferko said:


> okie thx for the heads up charles, any recommendations for sand dwellers? i forget which ones pat recommended on the phone
> thinking enantiopus melanogenys:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> or Callochromis pleurospilus Flame Rainbow


i was thinking some of these guys


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## charles

callochromis needs a 6' tank and usually are mean as hell.

Melongenys will be fine. The bigger open area, the better.


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## Mferko

it is gonna be a 6' x 18" tank 
i like the look of melongenys better tbh


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## Mferko

the vampires are gonna eat good tonight, picked them up some fresh tiger prawn and stuck it on 2 screwcumbers for them, one in the pic and one on the other side of the tank










and a new vid from today


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## Mferko

changed stocking idea from cyps to ndole red tropheus  i think they'll be more interesting to watch


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## Mferko

these plecos from charles are awesome, look at the dorsal fins! (sorry for cloudy water... cleaned the substrate earlier)








they ate quite a bit of prawn last night too it was almost all gone, gonna leave em each their own algae wafer tonight


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## Mferko

wow, decided i'd treat the plecos to some cucumber last night so they could eat as much as they wanted, normally i just drop in 2-3 algae wafers when the lights go off at 10pm, apparently they were REALLY HUNGRY, ive never seen them tunnel through the cucumber like this before in my tank usually they just make it look like a bowl trying to eat out the center part, this time they went all the way thru


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## Mferko

new tank came - the wife was literally in tears for at least 10 minutes despite me telling her the dimensions of it over and over the last few weeks, she thought it was too big at first but now she's come around. the filter is also massive!
new fish come friday - im pretty excited 

LED lights should be here next week, water is still a bit cloudy from the aragonite i didnt bother to rinse it 
theres a couple new rocks i picked up in there as well as another couple dozen escargot shells from gourmet warehouse


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## budahrox

Just a friendly suggestion,
There's very little nutritional value in cucumber.
Go with zucchini, better for them. Or yam is an excellent choice as well.
My BN go crazy for the yams, yams also don't pollute your water as quickly either.
Food for thought.
Cheers!!!


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## Mferko

was out of yams that day but tbh thats what i prefer to feed it keeps in the fridge for a long time too


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## 2wheelsx2

The 2080 looks right at home in that cabinet. Now I have filter envy as I have pretty much the exact same setup but want that 2080 instead of my FX5.


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## Mferko

2wheelsx2 said:


> The 2080 looks right at home in that cabinet. Now I have filter envy as I have pretty much the exact same setup but want that 2080 instead of my FX5.


lol yea its a beast, thanks for the recommendation! you gotta put it in the cabinet without the hoses sticking out of the top and even then at an angle to squeeze it in. 
i used a unibit to drill perfect size holes for the intakes and return in the back of the glass tops, theres probably going to be less evap from this tank than my last one even the airline hose hole i made is snug on all sides. the only place moist air can get out is around the electrical cords and theres less than 1/4 of a square inch gap even there.

btw bonsai dave mentioned he was selling a used 2080 soon so mebbe you can tell him to put your name on it


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## Mferko

heres a better shot that illustrates how big the thing is
















its awesome that the flow lever also seals off the hoses so when you lift the stem out holding all three on it theres even less dripping than on my old tiny 2232


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## Vman

*Want to see the tank in action*

I can't wait to see the tank on Friday. It's a good thing you had 6' of wall to spare. Well see you bright and early. 6:15 am.Hope you make a good coffee.Just joking. Can't wait for the new arrivals.

Tank is starting to look good.


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## Petah

oh nice tank! Where did you get it from?


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## big_bubba_B

nice tank should ahve used a better filter though lol j/k i ope it all works out and they look good for u


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## Mferko

its from J&L and thx 
lol bubba il upgrade it later


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## 2wheelsx2

Mferko said:


> i used a unibit to drill perfect size holes for the intakes and return in the back of the glass tops


Since it's a new tank you could have just had it drilled and direct plumbed in the 2080, and then when you're ready to "upgrade" that to a sump, you can just plumb that straight in?  I'm planning to drill my 125 when I have to move it to do some work in the basement.


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## Mferko

mebbe one day, dont have the bit for glass here, the back few inches of the glass tops is plastic


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## big_bubba_B

so what do u do anyhow for work


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## big_bubba_B

u should get to calgary this weekend spencer jack is here speaking


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## Mferko

nah man im going to be sitting in front of my new tank all weekend! cant wait till the fish come tomorow!
bring a camera and record spencer jack if they'll let you


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## Mferko

link to pics of my new tropheus colony is in my signature.


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