50 Gallon Tanganyikan tank

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AudriSampson

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 10, 2011
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Danville, IL
Thanks to a local fish auction this weekend I'm going to re-take the plunge and convert my 50 gallon breeder to a Lake Tanganiykan tank.

What I am thinking of doing is setting it up with the smaller Tanganiykans. Right now the tank has 5 Brichardi Daffodils. I was thinking of adding a small group of Multifaciatus, a few single or maybe pairs of julies, a few lelupies, and maybe a Calvus of some sort.

The filter on the tank is an AquaClear 110 power filter with a 200 watt heater. The PH is sitting at 8.2

My first question is: Can empty snail shells be used for the Tans?

Question 2: Since a Frontasa takes seemingly forever to grow would it be terrible to put a juvenile in with the tankmates, fully assuming I will have to rehome it in a year or so.

Question 3: Same as above but with a pair of threadfins.. paticularly Benthochromis tricoti.

Question 4: Since the PH is ok for Tans should I still use the Tan buffer or the Tan salt products?

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. :)
 
Q1. Yes empty shells are fine, they actually prefer them.

Q2. Fronts can get aggressive, in a 50b with other fish, no..

Q3. B. Tricoti does better in groups, they don't fair too well with being moved around. So It's also a no. Don't put anything you don't intend keep.

Q4. Only as directed.

If the daffodils are well established you may run into problems..
 
The Daffodils are still young and have not paired off or anything. That is sortoff why I assumed this was the time to shake things up a bit before they get established and maybe/hopefully breeding.

Thanks for the info. It is kinda sad to find out I can't do Tricotis since they are one of my "dream fish" but oh well I still think it will be a magnificant tank.
 
Ok, thats good. Just making sure, because it's hard to add anything to a daffodil setup when they're breeding. Yeah, tricoti's are very nice fish; one of my fav. too. Well glad I could help, I'm sure you'll work something out. Best of luck! :)
 
Yesterday was the Champaign Area Fish Exchange's Bi Yearly auction. While I was there I won 6 Syno Petricola for 20.00, 5 Brichardi for a 1.00 and 5 Multifaciatus for 19.00. All are nicely settling into the tank. Hopefully tonight I can borrow a friends digital camera and get some pictures taken.

On another note, a few of the Brichardi's seem to have been bred from bad stock. The tail fins in paticular seem more rounded instead of elongated. Is this just a normal varient that I have not seen before? If is it is from bad breeding stock what would be the responsible thing to do since there is no keeping Brichardi's from breeding.
 
I don't think the brichardi are from bad stock, it is more likely that they got a bit nippy in their old tank. Unfortunately the lyres hardly ever regrow, instead they take on a more rounded or curled in appearance as you stated. Also if you have the daffodils, I wouldn't advise mixing the two species. Interbreeding is always a risk with any two or more brichardi complex's inhabiting the same aquarium. The most responsible thing to do IMO would be to re-home the fish.
 
I definetly wouldnt distribute if it were to happen and would feed the fry to some fish in another tank. However odds are its best not to happen so I guess I'll get them out of there next time I do a water change. I dont think it would be good for the tank stock to remove all the rock in the tank and such and stress them out while they are still getting over the stress from Saturday.
 
Glad to hear that, and yeah I wouldn't want to have to move all the decor just to get them out either; just get them out when you see fit.
 
brichardi are usually great with non-cichlid bottom dwellers, but in my experience, when the time comes to spawn it's like Bruce Banner becoming the Hulk! The savage Hulk at that! I've rarely seen such an intolerant cichlid as a breeding brichardi. Top water dwellers (like cyprichromis) seem to do well with them, but other mid and lower level dwellers get punished.

A friend took me into his fish room to show me some of his stock, and when he noticed my curiosity about a 75 with 8 fully grown mbuna species crammed into the right 1/3 of the tank he told m eto look closer at the left 2/3. There I found 2 pairs of brichardi being assisted in raising very young fry by an older generation of fry. Amazing!

In my tank one pair butchered some beautiful male peacocks literally overnight. The brichardi are fascinating to watch as a social colony, but be careful of their tankmates!
 
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