Matt724's OFFICIAL Neolamprologus Multifasciatus Photo Tank Journal [LOAD WARNING]

[Matt724]

LOOK: Part I: Intro; Part II: Pics of the Fish; Part III: Pics of the Tank; Part IV: Closing remarks and questions
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Part I: Introduction
(9/11/10) Okay, I finally finished setting up my LONG awaited Multi tank. For those of you who've been following my posts for a little over a year you've known how badly I've wanted these little guys because I live under the rule of the parentals and they're not a fan of high gallonage so mini tanks is all I'm stuck with. Anyways, I've always been into Tanganyikan fish, especially the shell dwellers. I've read almost every article about these guys that one can find on the internet, read every published work on these guys, and have watched every youtube video out there on them. But it wasn't until yesterday that I was finally able to see them for the first time in person when I opened up the cardboard box, took out the stuffing and found three small individually wrapped kordon breather bags each carrying a single specimen of one of the smallest cichlids known to man. So after a 2 hour drip acclimation, they finally went into my 10 gallon acrylic tank that I modded myself by including a 3D background (If anyone wants the hookup to the seller just hit me up!), and a DIY 54 watt light canopy that I wired myself from two desk lamps.

Anyways, in short, I love these guys and I literally watched them for at least a good 3 hours total since last night just darting in and out of there shells and exploring the tank.
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Part II: Pics of the Fish
Here are the three fish - each fish has 3 individual pics from right after I received them (and if someone could help sex them that'd be very kind) :
1.

2.

3.

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Part III: Pics of the Tank
Pics of the tank setup (sorry for the heater and thermometer issue - will try to fix both for better aesthetic purposes).

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Part IV: Closing Remarks & Questions
Parameters -
pH: 7.7
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0

In Tank Time: ~28hrs

Looking good so far (fingers crossed) and as for aquascaping I plan to add a nice centerpiece rock (deciding calcareous or not) for aesthetic purposes.
My plan is for them to breed and raise a couple generations up.
I tried to feed them flake this morning but they wouldn't take it so I just tried frozen brine shrimp and they loved it.
*** Shout-outs: Thanks to Pitbull for the amazing shells! Thanks to Bannh on aquabid.com for the fish!
I guess that's it. I'll try to update this every now and then and if anyone has some good tips for these guys please let me know!

 

[iamzrad]

I suggest more shells.

Nice write-up!

 

[Pittbull]

I like that background whose your connection..

 

[Matt724]

I like that background whose your connection..

PMd

 

[Pittbull]

Thanks

 

[Matt724]

(9/19/10) So, it's been a pretty busy week at school and SAT Prep, etc so my tank developed a super amount of diatom algae (brown algae), but since it's sunday I figured that I should wipe some of it off of the front pane so I could take a few pictures, as I just have. So, I don't have any water params for this update, but they seem fine from what I have observed. I have noticed one odd behavior, which is that two of them are at the substrate layer going to town on the sand, but one of them remains in the upper level of the tank and seemse ot have made his "shell" the slot behind the filter output, and just stays around there. I think that this is the result of a territorial dispute between two males because they seem to nip at each other when one enters each other's "level".

Look at how much they've changed the substrate in just a week!

Questions of the day: Should I consider removing the "outcast" one, or let life play out and see if he'll be fine (point to consider: I have not sexed them yet, so these are just behavioral observations and inferences therefore.)

And

What should I do about the algae? Should I add some malaysian trumpet snails? But I heard that they may eat the eggs of the fish, so I wouldn't want that. Any recommendations?

And

My silicone is developing this white crusty layer, what is it, and what should I do about it? It rubs off really easily so I just rub it off and catch it in a net.

 

[valderi123]

cool set up

 

[Matt724]

cool set up

Thank you

 

[Matt724]

(9/26/10) Another week, not much going on. Lots of digging and piling of sand. They seem to be growing a tad bit and feeling more at home. Well, at least the dominant male and female, the other male is still hangs out by the filter. So far, it seems to be just headbutts and nips, but from what I can see, no ripped fins, and no signs of sickness so I guess we're still in the clear. Algae has turned from brown diatoms into the green film algae, and I'm okay with that, as long as I can clean it from the glass. The dominant male also seems to be a lot lighter than the other male. The other male seems much darker. Is that bad?

Their handiwork:

Them:

 

[Matt724]

(9/30/10) So, its been what? 2 weeks? And already, they've bred!!! So far I've only been able to spot 3 free swimming/wriggling fry emerging from 2 different shells that are within close proximity. I've been letting the algae grow profusely in the tank for this exact reason, though I did just sweep in there and clean the front pane of acrylic for some shots (which didn't really help as you'll be able to tell because they've pretty much set up a wall of sand against the front pane so its difficult to get level with the shells to get good pictures, so things may seem distorted or out of focus. Enjoi!