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Pet Forum / Aquaria / Cichlids / February 2006Mbuna Cichlids
I am going to setup a Mbuna Cichlids 75gl tak. I would like to keep the top open and suspend a 4' shop light over the tank. Would there be a problem with the fish jumping out? I am not sure if they are jumpers or not. My tank is in the garage and I will build a simple stand. Is it recommended to place styrofoam between the tank and stand? One more question, I will have a lot of rock and sand. would it be best to put a plastic eag crate down and then sand and rocks? Thanks Bob > I am going to setup a Mbuna Cichlids 75gl tak. I would like to keep the top > open and suspend a 4' shop light over the tank. Would there be a problem [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > Thanks > Bob As I sit here with the Mbuna tank behind me the number of splashes would suggest to me that an open tank would not be the best idea...as for styrofoam I would go for it if you are building your own stand - you can get away without it with a factory built tank and stand - but don't risk it... I don't have egg crate in my tank and have around 30Kilo of ocean rock...most people would describe me as reckless doing this - I'd probably agree with them :-) Gill >> I am going to setup a Mbuna Cichlids 75gl tak. I would like to keep the >> top open and suspend a 4' shop light over the tank. Would there be a [quoted text clipped - 18 lines] > > Gill A common method is to put a sheet of Styrofoam down first inside the aquarium. Then assembly all your rock structures. Then add your substrate. Then add water very slowly (on to a plate to not stir up the substrate unnecessarily). As the waterline rises, you might want to pause occasionally to tweak the rockwork. The Styrofoam under the rockwork provides traction (they won't slide around), and removes point-load contact point from stressing the glass. Keep in mind that Styrofoam is buoyant, about 60 lbs per cubic foot. Generally, mbuna tanks have more than enough weight in rocks to hold the Styrofoam down. You could silicone the Styrofoam down to the base, but I've never seen a case where this was needed (the more rocks you have, the more you need Styrofoam, and more unlikely it is that the rocks are lighter than the Styrofoam). Egg-crate is used when you want to stop digging fish from exposing UGF plates. Expanded polystyrene (Styrofoam made of little bubbles of foam) is not as good as extruded polystyrene (little bubbles of air) if you have aggressive diggers (many medium-large cichlids) or chewers (some Plecos). Also expanded polystyrene will degrade with time and begin falling apart after several years. The extruded stuff lasts *much* longer underwater. The use of any Styrofoam under the tank is to account for minor imperfections or protrusions in the stand's surface. It's use depends on your application. It's more commonly used with tanks over 500 lbs (your 75g is in the 675-750 lb range). hth  Signaturewww.NetMax.tk You put styrofoam inside the tank? No toxic chemicals seep out of it I guess then? I have just set up a 30 gallon cube I was thinking of stacking up some rocks for a few small peacocks or maybe some mbuna. probably 15 - 20 lbs worth. Should I put styrofoam in the tank under the gravel? Jr > You put styrofoam inside the tank? No toxic chemicals seep out of it I > guess then? [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > Jr It would help keep it from sliding around. Mbuna like to dig and cause rocks to shift. I'm not sure you want mbuna and peacocks in such a small tank as a 30g though. This could be problematic unless you select very carefully, species which don't get too big, and are not too territorial or argumentative. You also don't want them spawning in that size set-up. jmo Signaturewww.NetMax.tk "NetMax" <computeralias@hotmail.com> wrote > > It would help keep it from sliding around. Mbuna like to dig and cause > rocks to shift. I'm not sure you want mbuna and peacocks in such a small > tank as a 30g though. This could be problematic unless you select very > carefully, species which don't get too big, and are not too territorial or > argumentative. You also don't want them spawning in that size set-up. jmo > -- I was thinking of putting in a few labidochromis caeruleus that I already have and some sunshine peacocks which are on sale at the LFS, plus a couple of silver dollars for dithers, and a wierd yellow puffer I have. Maybe a couple of other small haps or peaceful mbuna if there are any. Any reccomendations? DB > "NetMax" <computeralias@hotmail.com> wrote > >> [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > > DB Get a bigger tank! ;~) You hit capacity with the Labs. I think the Peacocks would need more swimming room than a 30g cube tank could afford. Silver dollars definitely need swimming room and a larger size tank (longer). The puffer is a ymmv. These fish come from quite different water conditions. Signaturewww.NetMax.tk "NetMax" <computeralias@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:UI- > Get a bigger tank! ;~) You hit capacity with the Labs. I think the > Peacocks would need more swimming room than a 30g cube tank could afford. [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > -- > www.NetMax.tk Well, I'm only going to be in this Apartment for about a year, after which I'll probably be returning to New Orleans where I have two 75 gallon tanks which I will be transfering the fish to. As for the puffer, I don't know what ymmv stands for, but I don't really buy all these hard and fast rules for mixing different types of Cichlids. For that matter incidentally, the Silver Dollars don't like the same kind of water conditions that haps or labs like either. I've had lot of success over the years mixing Central and South American, and African cichlids of various types together. All you have to do is manage aggression with various tricks, mainly by knowing the behaviors of the various fish and which are on the top of the pecking order. I've even acclimated Cichlids like Red Devils, Black Belts, Urupthalmus and Mangaguans to fully saline tanks and had them living with Trigger fish, Damsels and Panther Groupers. I'd like to figure out what kind of puffer this is though. It's sort of a metalic lemon yellow in color, quite thin, with yellow eyes. It's behavior is very peaceful for a puffer, though it's quite active. DB > "NetMax" <computeralias@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:UI- > [quoted text clipped - 42 lines] > > DB ymmv = your mileage may vary In regards to water conditions, the tetras are the most out of place. In regards to mixing cichlids, I do the same thing. There is a hard limit with Africans and Central/South Americans as their communication signs are reversed (one brightens for aggression, the other dulls for aggression, making for a lot of mixed signals). I've never heard of taking these cichlids to marine conditions. While some did have a marine stage (supposedly to cross the oceans), I'm surprised that they could handle a high concentration now, especially long term with no effect on their health, but I have no experience with this, and you probably have no pictures or methods of corroboration. For puffer ID, this has been the most useful site I've found. Email the webmaster if you're still stumped. http://puffernet.tripod.com/species.html hth Signaturewww.NetMax.tk "NetMax" <computeralias@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:hdaIf.14175 > ymmv = your mileage may vary > [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > > hth Thanks for the link, I'll check it out. I don't have any photos on the salt water thing, and admittedly I didn't keep them in the marine tank for too long because I started having overcrowding problems in the salt water tank, but I've seen other people do it as well and I've also kept Cichlids in high salinity up to 20 ppt with wild fish from Lake Ponchartrain (which is brackish) for years. I tried it after doing some research for an article I wrote about Non Indingenous fish species in Florida for TFH in 1998, and finding out that some Cichlid species actually thrive in marine environments and can be found in the open ocean. "Mayan" cichlids were the first species I learned of, but I believe it's also well known that some other species such as Black Belts can do so as well. Googling just now I found this article about acclimating cichlids to salt water. I haven't even read it yet but it seems to address the subject. http://64.233.179.104/search?q=cache:VFMEQ4Bpz9EJ:www-personal.umich.edu/~ro ldfiel/Salty%2520cichlids.pdf+black+belt+cichlid+ocean&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&c d=3 My personal experience is that it depends a lot where they come from, some estuarine and lake dwelling cichlids seem to handle it ok (Mayans and Red Devils), deep riverine fish (like Oscars or some species of Tilapia, say) much less so. Some cichlid books I used to have before they were flooded in Hurricane Katrina mention certain species which are found in salt water estuaries or even miles off shore. I also know that since my home town of New Orleans became infested with Cyanogutatum cichlids, they have been found in some numbers in the (brackish) waters of Lake Ponchartrain by researchers at the University of New Orleans. DB > "NetMax" <computeralias@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:hdaIf.14175 >> ymmv = your mileage may vary [quoted text clipped - 58 lines] > > DB Thanks, I'll check out that report. Signaturewww.NetMax.tk Don't keep the top open on an Mbuna tank -- they will jump out. Mine are quite active and aggressive feeders and splash water quite vehemently. Styrofoam is a good idea if your unsure whether your floor is even or not. A friend of mine recently setup a 180G marine tank and went with the styrofoam just in case. Egg crate at the bottom of the tank is a good idea and I've done it myself. The main reason for this is to assist in distributing the weight of the rocks across the tank floor and to prevent and unnecessary crack in the tank floor from an industriously digging cichlid. When you place a rock in a tank, the pressure is going to be exerted most on the point of contact. The eggrate helps to distribute the pressure. Cheers, J www.jaysaquaria.com >I am going to setup a Mbuna Cichlids 75gl tak. I would like to keep the >top open and suspend a 4' shop light over the tank. Would there be a [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > Thanks > Bob |
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