Lake Tanganyikan setup!

[feathers]

Ok people as promised here is my Lake Tanganyikan setup!

Wanted to first start of with a bit of background regarding Lake Tanganyikan.

Scientists estimate that the age of this lake is between 9 to 12 million years. It is considered that this is the second deepest lake in the world and the longest with it being 1,433 meters.

The four countries surrounding this lake is Burundi on the north east, Tanzania on the east, Zambia on the South and the Congo on the west. There is an extremely high mineral content in this lake. The pH has been measures at9.0. There is over 350 species of fish in this lake. The lake has also got fresh water jellyfish, sponges and some aquatic snakes.

The rainy months are from about February through to April, visibility is very poor during these months. During June to August the temp is loc and the water starts clearing but there be algae blooms. As for the most visibility; it will be between September to November.

Would like to thank the following people for this info: Lake Tanganyika

First of all some of the stuff I used: Used some old sea shells that I got over the years, but here is also the shells that comes from Tanganyika.
As substrate I used some crushed coral and pool filter sand mix:

Were it comes to plants: Vallis was the way to go as it helps a lot with filtration and also strong enough to survive in the tank.

Now for my beautiful fish and also a tank shot before they started to do their own scaping!

Neolamprologus multifasciatus Common name Multi Lined Cichlid:
Now for the tank:

At present the tank are still a bit messy but they need time to do their own scaping. Ones I see they have settled in I will remove quite a bit of the shells that has not been taken over by them.

Any advice you guys would like to give is welcome. A lot of them will still move to the other 3ft. But all eating and looking healthy.

Sorry if the photos are not to clear only a phone camera!

[Liz_M]

I'm going to suggest a black background to bring out the fish and shell color more. Otherwise, I'm a cichlid lover and appreciate the choice in fish! Multis are fun, but I hope you try a more challenging species later on. There are other rarer shell-dwellers that you may like much as the brevis species (Neolamprologus or Lamprologus genera). I'm a fan of goby cichlids, though those would need a substantially larger aquarium.

[Roy Deki]

Nice setup you got there. Tang's are my favorite of all the other African cichlids. I use to have a 100 ga setup with a lot of shellies.

[John N.]

Originally Posted by feathers

At present the tank are still a bit messy but they need time to do their own scaping. Ones I see they have settled in I will remove quite a bit of the shells that has not been taken over by them.

Wow, great post and thread. Now I'm wondering what the deepest lake in the world is.

I'm guessing by the quote above the shells get inhabitated by the cichlids, much like hermit crabs?

-John N.

[feathers]

I'm guessing by the quote above the shells get inhabitated by the cichlids, much like hermit crabs?
-John N.

Sorry, yes they are shell dwellers. And I believe in a studying up as much as possible background on the various fish I keep (tend to get a bit carried away when I share my fish and their habitats) LOL!

Liz_MI'm going to suggest a black background to bring out the fish and shell color more. Otherwise, I'm a cichlid lover and appreciate the choice in fish! Multis are fun, but I hope you try a more challenging species later on.

Thanks Liz_M. The second tank I referred too in my post is actually just got it’s dark background so it ‘s great you also mentioned it as I had some doubts what people will say on the dark back ground. But yes it will compliment these beautiful cichlids. Ones the tank is completed I will come give some updates. There is a bit of territory issues at present so the split into the additional tank will be taking place this weekend. Realised when I took them over from a friend it will mean 2 x3 foots so started getting the other tank up and going so long.
Will have to wait a while with the other shell –dwellers,as I’m seriously running out of space in my place unfortunately. With all the tanks, 3 x cats, 1x Alsatian and 3 x bearded dragons. (A bit pet mad, in a big way):29:
Thanks for all the nice responses all.

[KristinM85]

Cool looking tank, feathers. I have a 10g Multifasciatus tank and plan on moving mine to a 20 long soon. Then from there, I may have to get a 3ft or 4ft tank for them. I have about 6 fry that I've seen in the tank so far. I've only had mine for about 5-6 months though. Have yours had any fry.

[feathers]

Thanks Kristen M85, when I took them over from a friend, there was all ready signs of fry as there was a lot of over protective parents when we removed the shells to transport them. After the move they were quite for a day or so and then we started seeing young fry coming out to eat. The parents are very protective and they started attacking some of the other fish. That is also why I have to move some over to their new home this weekend. I’ve realised the min. they start nipping at each others tails there may be more baby fry or they fighting over the shells. Ones they start breeding they multiply very fast. Wishing you hours of joy with your Milti’s as they are truly stunning to look at and the way they rearrange their own space.
You must come show us some photos of yours, please!

[KristinM85]

I have noticed this protective behavior as well. It fascinates me how protective they really are. And I'll sit and stare at the tank for a few minutes and then see all the fry come out.

I will definitely post some pictures of them. I will try to take some of the fry if I can too.