How I set up my 90 gallon Mbuna tank - start-to-finish w/ photos

Havoc

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
May 16, 2007
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Colorado
Hey there MFKers, I'm Shaun. I'm a long-time keeper of fish and an amature ichthyologist, with with the majority of my study focused on African Rift Lake Cichlids. I frequent the cichlid-forum, which is where much of my knowldge and tank ideas come from. I like this website better, as it seems to be a much more progressive group. I wrote this post as a reply to another thread, but as I wrote my reply it seemed more like a book than a response. So rather than write a huge reply to the thread, I decided to make a write-up of my 90 gallon project tank that brought me a lot of enjoyment. I'll include some of the pictures I have of my tank and my fish to help convey the ideas. Whenever possible, ill include links to the hardwear and products I used.

I stocked this tank with pseudotropheus demasoni, yellow labidochromis, a clown pleco and 2 F1 Ngara Flametail peacocks. This picture is of the tank 2 years after it was set up. The algae took root and the java fern was starting to take off.



I began by gathering the materials for the tank. I live in Kansas so I had a ready supply of white cottonwood kansas limestone. I got it from a local rock quary called Bayer Stone. It is rough-cut tumbled limestone of different sizes. If I had known about a new landscaping store, which can do custom-cut limetsone, I would have had them cut me small bricks which would have square edges, making them easily stackable. I used this custom-cut rock in my larger 125 gallon frontosa tank, shown here.



The rough-cut stone rockwork I used in this 90 gallon tank is situated 2 inches from the back of the tank. This free-standing design gives more space for the fish to swim, and gives more escape options for fish fleeing aggression (this is vital to demasoni). Here's a pic of the space on the left:



Because I kept the rock free-standing, I didn't have the luxury of bracing it against the back of the tank. As a result, stacking the 200+ lbs of limestone took me 3 hours :nilly: . I had to stack the rock on a sheet of what's known as eggcrate. It's really just white plastic light diffuser bought from Home Depot. A 4 x 2 foot sheet is around $14 here, you can find it in the lighting section. This stuff is vital to your foundation if you're planning a lot of rock work, and if you're in the African Cichlid section, you're going to want to get familiar with this material, it has so many uses it's a godsend. It's available in different colors but the only kind I've used is the plain white unpainted kind. http://www.louversintl.com/images/products/plastic_eggcrate.gif

Lay the eggcrate directly onto the glass bottom of the tank before you add your rock or sand. The uniform size will distribute the weight of the rock evenly across the bottom of your aquarium and give you a sturdy base to stack your rock on. Follow the aquarist's rule and do things right from the beginning, rather than correct a problem later. As noted by the pictures, I stacked the rock to withing 6 inches of the water surface. Mbuna NEED lots of rock work and by stacking it high I was able to create a kind of condo effect - lots of fish are able to live in relative peace because the less dominant fish are able to inhabit the top row of caves. Fry tended to congregate at the top of the rock structure since most of the activity was around the sand.

Speaking of sand, I used black 3M colorquartz T-grade. You can find it locally by going to the 3M website and researching the sand (which is used in construction jobs). Just look up the sand, then call the phone number and talk to a 3M representative. Ask him or her where you can get the sand locally, they'll be happy to help and will even give you the phone number to contact a distributor. It comes in 50 lb. bags, which is more than enough for a 90 gallon tank. My first bag I had shipped from Houston (I live in Kansas) so it cost me a pretty penny - something like $60 with shipping included. That UPS guy had a hell of a time lugging around that package, he told me so. He also thanked me sincerely for being home to accept that package. The second time I ordered it, a construction crew was working in my area so I was able to pick it up for $20 a 50-lb bag - I ended up buying 3 :D . It's a silica-based processed aggregate rock that's dyed to MANY different colors (check out 3M.com). You MUST wash this sand thoroughly before you add it to your tank - and wear a mask because air-bourne silica is cancerous. Just dump the sand into some big rubbermaid containers and run a garden hose through it, let the small particles drain into your grass, rather than accumulate in your filter.

Sand is the way to go. I'll never use gravel again. Aside from adding a lot of character to the tank, it keeps free-floating solid waste to a minimum. The space between the sand grains won't collect and trap poo like gravel does. This keeps the crap in the filter and out of sight - it also eliminates gravel vacuuming, which I dislike. When you have a lot of rock work, you don't want to poke around in the substrate and risk dislodging your rock. I was very happy with the end result, especially when I added a 50/50 Actinic Blue and Natural daylight flourescent blub to my hood. The bulbs are available in the marine lighting section of your local LFS, a 4-foot light was about $23, but is well worth it. In my opinion, this is the best light available for viewing blue fish. The color it gives my demasoni and frontosa is amazing. Here's a pic of the finished set up it was taken hours after I first filled the tank.



I was in college at the time so I didn't have a lot of money to spend on hardware. I toyed with the idea of making my own sump, but given my inexperience I decided not to risk the catastrophic failure to the tank and subsequent carpet damage to the house I was renting. Instead I spent a little money on a chinese Eheim clone canister filter, called a Jebo. http://www.edtsales.com/products.asp?stid=1659&product_id=200118138717
For only $45, this canister is a bargain. The quality is a little lacking and it isn't comparable to an Eheim in any way, except the design. I have had this filter running for 3 years and have had no problems with it. However, the Jebo Odyssea model I bought for my 125 has recently started leaking at the hose on/off valve. This happened as a result of damage which occured while I was moving and I think it can be solved by a little silicone. Like all things in this hobby, if you take care of this filter you'll be rewarded by excellent performace. In addition to the canister, I bought an Emperor Bio-Wheel 280 hang-on-back type filter ( http://www.bigalsonline.com/edealin...173&catParentID=19169&scId=19169&ctl_nbr=3684 ). I believe in over-filtering my water whenever possible. If you don't have this habit I recommend aquiring it - there is no such thing as having too much filtration in this hobby. I love all bio-wheel type filters because of the availability of the parts, the power, and the filtration capacity. Plus, I was able to find them used locally for about $15. I'm so glad I walked into that fish store when they were renovating their water system - I got 3 :D . Just remember to clean the filter pads every month in tank water - and for that matter don't neglect your canister filter. I also positioned a small powerhead and sponge filter behind my rock work to blow debris out from behind the rock. With a limited budget I achieved a really great water flow with lots of surface agitation. I positioned the canister pick up on the right and put the spraybar on the left. The Emperor was setup on the right to maximize surface agitation where the spraybar left off. To reduce nitrates, I added java fern to my rocks and I kept a peace plant above the tank. The tank is infront of a window so the plant had lots of light, and the root system was dangling into the water so it had more than enough nutrients. Man-made filters can only do so much, natural filters are better.

On to the fish- I got a great deal from California Joe, a breeder in (you guessed it) California. He was about to move and we worked out a deal where I bought his entire stock of juvenille pseudotropheus demasoni "pombo rocks". I got about 30 of them for something like $1 a piece. I am extremely satisfied with my dealings with Joe and I recommend him to anyone looking to purchase cichlids ( http://www.californiacichlids.com/ ). However, a more realistic price for subadult demasoni is between $5-7 dollars, which is still quite a bit cheaper than buying them from a LFS at the usual $15. If you've never ordered fish before, I encourage you to try it. You can get top quality specimens for cheaper than retail prices, even with the added costs of shipping. Finding ways to save money in this hobby is crucial, so I encourage everyone to check out DIY sections whenever possible. You will learn to love your local Home Depot or Lowe's as I do. Just walking the isles will give you ideas on how to make massive projects affordable. Look for anything made of plastic and go from there - play with their PVC parts and imagine what you can make from them. Just don't buy the black PVC - it isn't drinking water safe, which is enough reason for me to keep it out of my tanks. Stick to the regular white stuff and use Rit brand clothing dye to dye it any color you want (I'm partial to black).

Which brings me to my next topic - pvc. I made a pvc under gravel jet system to help with water circulation. Essentially, it's a network of pvc pipes with jets that focus water flow in "dead spots" in your tank. The jets are powered by a pump or powerhead and are a really great idea for large tanks. Check out this article for details ( http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/ug_jets.php ). If you want to make the jets blend in with your substrate, use Rit dye and boil them in a pot several times. However, don't boil anything other than pvc - I tried to dye the spraybar to my canister filter once :screwy: it warped the plastic into a nearly unusable shape.

I had this mbuna tank running for 2 years. In that time the demasoni bred countless times, but the fry would disappear as they were unable to find enough hiding places. To remedy this problem I added a section of skeleton coral, which is visable on the left.



This structure didn't harm my water quality at all and led to many more fry surviving to maturity. I soaked it for a few days and rinsed it before I added it to my tank - fry love this stuff. As I understand it, it's illegal to collect corals from most wild areas now, so even dead corals like this may become more scarce at your local fish store. If you see anything resembling a completly formed skeleton coral and you plan to breed mbuna, I would recommend buying it. I don't care for the looks of the coral in my tank, but the functionality outweighs the asthetics. Netting holding females was not an option in this tank.

Speaking of holding females, I had so much success with demasoni due mostly to the food I was feeding them. I fed them New Life Spectrum cichlid pellets exclusively. This is, in my opinion, the best cichlid food available - hands down. I fed my mbuna nothing but this pellet and in 2 years of operation I hadn't lost a fish. Malawi bloat was non-existent in this tank and the fish were large, beautiful, and breeding. Once I added the yellow labidochromis I dusted a naturally-occuring pigment additive into their pellets called astaxathin. This carotenoid is available from Ken's Fish ( http://kensfish.com/ ) and is easily applied to your fish's food by using the shake-n-bake method - put the pellets and pigment in a ziplock bag, shake together. The astaxathin gave my yellow labs a burst of color, but can be beneficial to any yellow or red fish when added to the food. Their colors rivaled that of some salt-water fish I've seen. Here are some pics of the labs after a year of the astaxathin suppliment (sorry for the poor quality, but you can see the color.)




In addition to the astaxathin, I supplimented their diet by soaking their pellets (you have to soak NLS pellets before you feed) with a liquid vitamin and mineral concentrate made by Tetra called Cichlid Vital. Cichlid Vital is a coveted, "liquid gold" vitamin that has amazing results when used on African Cichlids. In most cases, it nearly always spurs cichlids into breeding. I used it as a vitamin suppliment to feed my subadult demasoni and within a day they showed a new interest in breeding. Which would have been fine, except neither the alpha male, nor the biggest female was of breeding size or age - so the only thing that happened was the male suddenly became more aggressive and started displaying for the females. I'm sure that if they would have been mature enough to mate they would have, and I am confident that the vitamins and minerals in Cichlid Vital caused the change. The only problem with Cichlid Vital is that Tetra discontinued its production years ago due to lack of interest on the part of consumers. Take my advice and scour your local fish stores for the stuff. It has a long shelf life and many smaller (non-corporate) stores have this stuff on their shelves! You just have to look. I've bought every bottle I've come across - I have 3. It's cheap, is in a plain yellow Tetra-style bottle (just like Black Water Extract for your discus people). Anyone who has used it will swear by this stuff, breeders included.

This is probably more than enough information to contain in a single post, so I'll just end it by offering a few words of wisdom.

1) Read. Reading is the most important activity a sentient being can partake in, apart from procreation :naughty: . You have the gift of literacy and it's important for you to use it to your advantage. If you're like me you like to keep fish - read up them and learn how to better keep them. Check out every available forum, especially the DIY sections so you can learn how to save $ so you can get bigger, better tanks.

2) Watch. Watch your fish swim and interact. It may sound simple, but watching your fish is a habit of a good fish keeper - we watch them so we can tell how well we're keeping them. If you can spot a problem while it's arising you can usually nip it in the bud before it becomes a real problem, or worse yet an epidemic.

3) Think. Think about your next project. We're all MFKers here, so it's only a matter of time before we begin our next project. Remember that what the mind of man can think it can achieve. Keep your thoughts on your goals, like owning that huge tank of your dreams and soon you'll find ways of getting it into your living room.

Lastly, keep your fish's best interests as the focus of your activities. You'll be rewarded by healthy specimens, beautiful aquascapes and most importantly - more fish!

That's it for my treatise, here's some pictures of my tanks and fish.

The orange cup is the tiniest tupperware pitcher ever made - I use it to soak the NLS pellets. This is a pic of the tank using just the flash from my camera. The last two pics are of my F1 Mpimbwe Frontosa I snapped on moving day. They're excellent fish, and the variety I have are unusually dark (as seen in the last picture)



 

fish head )'>

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 18, 2006
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1) Read. Reading is the most important activity a sentient being can partake in, apart from procreation . You have the gift of literacy and it's important for you to use it to your advantage.

You ain't kidding. It is kinda a long read, but well worth it. Nice fish, Havoc. Thanks for sharing.
BTW: on the DIY wet/dry, go for it, you will not regret it. lots of great designs here from plastic bins to altering old fish tanks.
 

Scotty

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Nov 14, 2005
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George, South Africa
Thanks for this information. Must have taken you more than 3hrs to write all this up.
What I would like to suggest is that you look at re-arranging you rock work. Think about make a heap at either end! Why I say this is through experience I discovered the most dominant male will control the entire reef when set up the way you have done it. I have a Metriaclima greshakei who did just that. Saw a tank with a pile at each end and that is the way I now set up all my tanks. Am presently running 40 tanks with around 290 breeding fish and around 300-400 fry. About 60 mbuna species. Presently have 15 females carrying and have just had 8 females releasing their fry.
I would also like to suggest you either put in some natural colour fine coral or light coloured sand as the substrate. The contrast between the white stone and black gravel detracts from the colouring of the fish.
By the way I think the naturally cut stone is far better than the clinically cut neat stuff.:naughty: :ROFL: :headbang2 :nilly:
 

Havoc

Feeder Fish
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May 16, 2007
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Colorado
Hey Scotty thanks for the reply.
I've used the rock pile method on some of my other tanks and it works really well. In this tank it wasnt needed because my demasoni (the dominant male) had too many targets to bother with. The extra rock work made it easy for the fish to escape aggression. He didn't control the entire rock formation, he only claimed the prime area where I usually dropped the food. This was probably only a 1 foot cube near the middle left portion of the tank. I made sure to have pieces of rock jut out from the stack to establish territories. Mbuna use rocks as territory markers and they helped to decrease their line of sight, which helped to stop aggression. I live in mid-America so coral is expensive stuff, plus I've never really been a fan of seeing it in a tank. It's all kind of a moot point since the tank is no longer in operation :( I moved across town and am only able to keep my 125g frontosa tank running.
 

Scotty

Feeder Fish
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Nov 14, 2005
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George, South Africa
Sorry to hear that you have had to do away with the tank. Coral is hard to come by, I think, anywhere in the world at the moment. Fairly fine coral makes cleaning a tank an absolute pleasure as the bacteria thrive in it and I find the water and tank stay much cleaner much longer. Gravel is hard work. If not coral then I find a fairly fine sand works well. Fortunately for me I am at the coast and went earlier today, with my Cichlid fanatic 10yr old son, and collected about 100kgs coarse beach sand for the new tanks I have set up and are busy setting up. The Tsunami that hit Indonesia apparently destroyed most of the area where a lot of the coral came from.
:naughty: :ROFL: :headbang2 :nilly:
 

Havoc

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
May 16, 2007
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Colorado
Scotty;922920; said:
Sorry to hear that you have had to do away with the tank. Coral is hard to come by, I think, anywhere in the world at the moment. Fairly fine coral makes cleaning a tank an absolute pleasure as the bacteria thrive in it and I find the water and tank stay much cleaner much longer. Gravel is hard work. If not coral then I find a fairly fine sand works well. Fortunately for me I am at the coast and went earlier today, with my Cichlid fanatic 10yr old son, and collected about 100kgs coarse beach sand for the new tanks I have set up and are busy setting up. The Tsunami that hit Indonesia apparently destroyed most of the area where a lot of the coral came from.
:naughty: :ROFL: :headbang2 :nilly:
Collecting tank decor from the outdoors is a fun way to do it. When I first started with aquariums I was about 12 and I would just roam the neighborhood and nab rocks from peoples' rock gardens. I never got caught, and over a decade later I still have a number of liberated garden stones as decor. Apparently I can find the coveted "texas holey rock" limestone in my area if I look in the right places. I like using coral to help fry hide, but I'm not crazy about the idea of taking it from the wild. However rocks from a farmer's field and a few bits of granite from the neighbor's house is fair game :D
 

mike dunagan

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Nov 11, 2006
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It is always good to try to find things to use. I often prefer to drive on vacations because you may never know when you will have a great piece of drift wood, or rock, or who knows what else.
 
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