120 Gallon African Tetra Aquarium

Triport · Feb 14, 2020

The 120 has cleared up a great deal the past couple of days. Just look at the size of those Madagascar lace plant leaves.

120 gallon aquarium by Kaveh Maguire, on Flickr

Quint · Feb 15, 2020

Tank looks great.

Big fan of the Kribensis, we use to always have them at my parents shop but now a days I never see them in any of the LFS (well before they closed down anyway).

Triport · Feb 17, 2020

Ongoing saga of my Pelvicachromis kribensis 'Moliwe' parents. After laying their eggs in the half coconut I posted the photo of above it seemed to me that the parents guarded the coconut cave until they hatched. They then suddenly started guarding the hollow branch of this large piece of driftwood in the photo below. I would often see the female swimming head first into the hollowed out left branch as if she was tending something. I assumed that she moved the wigglers there (wigglers are what baby cichlids are called after they hatch but before they become free swimming) but I wasn't 100% sure because I wasn't able to see them. I just had to wait and see but I was certain she was using defensive behavior so I was pretty sure this was the new spot for the young.

Pair of Pelvicachromis kribensis 'Moliwe' by Kaveh Maguire, on Flickr

Then yesterday I noticed she had moved to the small piece of driftwood resting on rocks in the center of the tank. Her behavior was still guarding behavior so I was pretty sure the wigglers had been moved again. Early today I finally had confirmation when I saw some free swimming babies following her out of the little protected area she had brought them.

Very quickly they started making their way around the tank on the hunt for food. They ended up on the large piece of driftwood grazing on biofilm. This becomes a danger because the further up they go from the sand the more likely they are to be picked off by the African tetras who always stay in the upper two thirds of the tank. In fact after watching this next video I realized that while I was filming a few babies strayed from the protection of the parents and one of them is grabbed by a two and a half month old Steatocranus. The father chases him off but it is too late for that baby. As upsetting as this is it is actually ideal that I have confirmation that these "teenage" fry are big enough to prey on the babies. I do not have room for all of them and I have found that other young cichlids work best for keeping the population under control.

We'll see how many babies survive.

Triport · Feb 22, 2020

How good are these kribensis as parents? Not the best. They are down to just 9 babies...

Squisher · Feb 22, 2020

Damn! They need to up their defensive game. That must be so cool to watch though, I hope atleast a few of the little guys make it.

Tiger15 · Feb 22, 2020

I have the regular Kribensis pulcher in my 75g and they are fun to watch to parent the fry. But they only guard them up to 2 months and abandon them and the fry start to thin out, not sure by predation of the parents or by opportunistic tankmates. At the end, about half a dozen manage to survive which is about the odd expected in nature.

I really like the Kribensis Maliwe and want to stock some in my 125g. But Maliwe is less available, less domesticated and thereby more sensitive to keep from what I read. BTW, your female Kribensis looks like regular pulcher as mine, not Maliwe

Triport · Feb 22, 2020

Tiger15 said:
I have the regular Kribensis pulcher in my 75g and they are fun to watch to parent the fry. But they only guard them up to 2 months and abandon them and the fry start to thin out, not sure by predation of the parents or by opportunistic tankmates. At the end, about half a dozen manage to survive which is about the odd expected in nature.

I really like the Kribensis Maliwe and want to stock some in my 125g. But Maliwe is less available, less domesticated and thereby more sensitive to keep from what I read. BTW, your female Kribensis looks like regular pulcher as mine, not Maliwe

They are definitely both Moliwe. The females are less distinctly different than regular kribs than the males are but they are different. Two months is definitely about the cut off when the fry are on their own. In the past I have had many (too many at times) survive. Once there are young fry in the tank though they hunt the new spawns so that helps keep the number down but this is the first set up I have had where I got to see it in action. The original Moliwe pair were definitely expensive but they certainly don't seem any more difficult or sensitive. They started spawning like 3 days after I got them and I have had many generations ever since from the original pair.

Bump:

Squisher said:
Damn! They need to up their defensive game. That must be so cool to watch though, I hope atleast a few of the little guys make it.

Not looking good for them! Maybe I should have moved fewer baby Steatocranus to this tank.

Tiger15 · Feb 22, 2020

Triport said:
In the past I have had many (too many at times) survive. Once there are young fry in the tank though they hunt the new spawns so that helps keep the number down but this is the first set up I have had where I got to see it in action. The original Moliwe pair were definitely expensive but they certainly don't seem any more difficult or sensitive. They started spawning like 3 days after I got them and I have had many generations ever since from the original pair.
.

You much prefer the older siblings help thin out the fry. I used to keep Tanganyikan dwarf cichlid, Julidochromis and Lamprologus species. The older siblings helped defend the territory to protect the fry and soon there was over population. Since they hide behind the rock, it’s not easy to catch them without removing everything.

Triport · Feb 22, 2020

Yes I had to do that once with my old tank. Removed about 30 young fish and gave them to a friend. Kept only 3 and they immediately started breeding again. Fortunately I think I am down to 5 kribs now but it is the Steatocranus turn to take over.

FischAutoTechGarten · Feb 22, 2020

I love your inclusion of these soft water african cichlids with your tetras. really nice combination.

Triport · Feb 23, 2020

FischAutoTechGarten said:
I love your inclusion of these soft water african cichlids with your tetras. really nice combination.

Thanks! I got into African tetras back in the 80s when very few of them were available for sale on a regular basis. There is something just very rewarding about them. By far my favorite fish. I had kept and bred kribs before as well and since they inhabit such different parts of the tank it really is a perfect mix. There are so many great African tetras and other interesting African fish available now. I can't wait to get an even larger aquarium so I can keep more of them.

Triport · Feb 24, 2020

Down to five baby kribs now. Maybe they will be able to guard such a small number. It doesn't take too long for the babies to become too large to be viewed as food so if they can just hold out a bit longer.

Quint · Feb 25, 2020

Good luck (you and them lol). I remember having Kribs as a teenager but they were the simpler colored black white and red I think. Raised a few groups of them before selling the pair to a shop regular that had a nice big tank. It seemed they got much better at protecting the youngsters with more experience. Yours are really nice looking IMO. They are really cool little fish.

Triport · Mar 12, 2020

All the babies are gone and it caused open warfare between all my kribs in the tank. They actually get along worse in the larger tank than they did in the 40 gallon. One male has been killed since the move and two others have had damage done to fins and lips. Going to just keep an eye on them and the Steatocranus and remove some if I have to.

In the meantime did a water change today and shot some video. The electric blue Alestopetersius brichardi are coloring up nicely.

Quagulator · Mar 12, 2020

Fantastic mix of plants and fish, wow. Looks very nice! Makes me want to shift focus back towards a fish tank with plants rather than a planted tank with fish

Discusluv · Mar 12, 2020

Loving the African Red Cap Moon tetra now that I see them in your video. I had seen them on Wetspots list and looked them up and they looked rather unexciting. But, now iIsee that pictures didnt do them justice. They look amazing in your video.
The plants are starting to fill in nicely as well. i think you really captures the look of an African biotope. It may not be a biotope in the strict sense, but it certainly looks like one.

Triport · Mar 12, 2020

Discusluv said:
Loving the African Red Cap Moon tetra now that I see them in your video. I had seen them on Wetspots list and looked them up and they looked rather unexciting. But, now iIsee that pictures didnt do them justice. They look amazing in your video.
The plants are starting to fill in nicely as well. i think you really captures the look of an African biotope. It may not be a biotope in the strict sense, but it certainly looks like one.

The African red cap moon tetras are neat but apparently ship poorly. Every time I try to order them they tell me that they don't like the looks of them and won't ship them. In their place last order I got some more African one line tetras but those ended up coming down with Columnaris (I am pretty sure). They had that saddleback white fungus coating. Treated with Kanamycin and that seems to have gone away but several of them have white clouded eyes. They may end up staying in quarantine forever. Unfortunately I also have my (very expensive) Fantastique Congos with them in quarantine. They seem OK but I think once I have my second quarantine tank freed up I will move the Fantastique and observe them for a while. My experience with Columnaris in the past was that it seemed like it was gone but never truly was and fish would get sick and die over a period of time and never really fully get better.

Lesson learned when buying new expensive fish quarantine them alone.

I wish I could get better video of the A. brichardi. Their coloring is so intense in the right light.

And yeah definitely not a biotope person but most of the plants are at least from Africa/Madagascar. I think biotopes are interesting but these are tanks for my pleasure not a museum display and at the end of the day it is really about fitting in as many interesting species of tanks and plants and making it look pretty.

Triport · Mar 19, 2020

A few of the more dominant Alestopetersius brichardi are really coloring up nicely so I tried to get some good photos of them with my Nikon D750. My iPhone just can't do justice to the reflective blue scales. These photos still don't quite capture their beauty but you get the idea. In time the fins should get an even deeper red on a few of the fish.

DSC_060Alestopetersius brichardi9 by Kaveh Maguire, on Flickr

Alestopetersius brichardi by Kaveh Maguire, on Flickr