My First Tanganyika Setup



After few years with Malawi Cichlids, I wanted to try out Tanganyika. I found an awesome hobbyist/seller (The Coral Reef Aquarium http://www.theafricancichlids.com/). Got a dozen of Albino Brichardi and Transcriptus 1 month old fry (which I normall do) and put in the tank which was meant for Frontosa for quite some time.

They jelled with the tank really well and like my setup. Enjoy the video.

Breeding Green Texas cichlid fish

Got 6 young green texas fry (1 inch in length appr).

After around 3 months, one green texas grew bigger than others and started bullying other fishes in the tank. It started to dominate the entire tank except for the Piranah. That fish turned out to be an adult male green texas.

The male Gree Texas cichlid:

I left 2 females and that adult male in the breeding tank and turned on the heater. Also did some water changes which triggered the breeding conditions. The pair started digging out pits in the aquarium.













The second female was just to keep the male busy and not to bully its female pair. Green Texas are usually very aggressive fishes in particular the adult male. so make sure that the adult is accompanied with some fast running fishes so that the female doesn't get attacked during the breeding process.

Soon, the female lays her eggs on a surface like rock (in this case) and the male slowly moves over the eggs to release his sperms to fertilize them. After a day or two, some eggs turn white, which are the unfertilized eggs. The unfertilized eggs can be seen in the below picture, where the female is guarding the eggs. I would say approximately 200 eggs were laid.

Cichlids are well known for its parental care and it takes care of its young once very well. In my case, the first set of frys were eaten by the male and the female turned dark black and agressive to guard it. So on my second attempt, I wanted to remove the parents after seeing the free running frys. But thankfully the female has moved the eggs to a clay pot I had kept in the tank and the frys hatched inside that safely. Once I saw some signs of hatching, I remove the adult male. The fry didn't come out of the pot for a week as it had the egg sack for feeding. First very few fry started to come out and I moved the female to the community tank.

After few days all the frys started swimming. I read that newly hatched brine shrimps were really good for frys so I wanted to try that. I got some eggs from an online store and after 2-3 attempts, I was able to successfully hatch brine shrimps. Also, my aquarium had some culture of copods which were consumed by the fry after few weeks. Other foods were powdered flakes and food were given to the fry.

Female guarding her eggs:

1 week old green texas fry:
 







Free running frys (1 week old):

 












It took almost 3 months for the fry to reach an inch. But only few reached that size and the tank was not enough to hold all the 200 frys. So I had grow out tank ready for some of the frys to be moved. After that even more young ones started to grow. If we make sure that every one of the babies gets enough food, then we can guarantee good growth in them. With frequent live food, the growth of these babies can be enhanced as well as the natural color of these fishes.

3 months old Green Texas fry:
 
More than 80% of the frys survived and with even more care, we can increase the survival rate.

Do it yourself Aquarium hood

Plan for 2 aquariums

Aquarium 1 :

Tank Size: 36'' X 18'' X 18''
Hood size : Add 2 inches to the actual size ie 38'' X 20''. This would be the size of the plywood that needs to be cut. 2 inch buffer includes thinkness of the plywood.

Aquarium 2 :

Size: 36'' X 18'' X 24''
Hood size : Add 2 inches to the actual size ie 38'' X 20''.


The height of the hood is 8'' in my case. It could be adjusted as per your requirements. Choose an appropriate height to fit lights inside the hood.





































Pre-Requisite:

1. Adhesive (Fevicol)
2. Scale
3. Hammer
4. Plywood
   
5. Nails (size depends on the thinkness of the plywood choosen)
6. Screw driver
7. Marker/Pen
8. Measuring tape
9. Sand paper

Plywood pieces cut as per the measure.

The rear end will have a L-shape piece fitting in, to hold accessories like air pump etc.
The top is cut in the middle to assist us in opening/closing the hood for maintenance etc



















Mark plywood with proper measurements where the nails would be laid. Use a marker or pencil for marking.


















Adhesive (Fevicol) is very important here before nailing the edges with other plywood pieces. First apply the adhesive on surface of both the pieces of wood. This will ensure that a strong bond is made. Then lay the plywood piece that is to be nailed to the shown piece of plywood and start nailing.


















A video on how to apply the adhesive on the edges of the plywood pieces.


A video on how to nail the nails on the marks made.


After applying adhesive and nailing, the finished side is shown.























Top and left side of the hood completed.


















Top, front, left and right side completed. The rear would have a L-shaped piece fitting in.























Paint the visible side of the hood with the color of your preference. Do not use direct paint on the plywood as I did, as it absorbed lot of paint on raw wood. Buy a white primer, which is quite cheap and use it for one or two layers through-out the hood - both inside and outside. Then buy a wood paint with the desired color for the visible area. In the invisible area ie inside the hood use white color because that would give you a better reflection of the light from the bulb inside the hood.
I choose black on the visible side.





















And white on the inside.


















A finished aquarium hood. Notice at the rear, the L-Shared finish. The hood has light fitted in it.


















Front side view.



















The second hood on a different aquarium.


















I had cut the pieces of plywood in the shop where I bought the plywood, with proper measurements.

With all the items in place and plywood cut in pieces, the only work left was to make the markings, apply the adhesive and nail them to connect the pieces. That could be done in a day.

The total cost of one hood came to approximately Rs. 600 (cost of plywood is the major contributor)

Welcome to my blog on Make My Aquarium.

Am a aquarium hobbyist and to be fish breeder. Cichlids are my favourite.

I would like to look and create the perfect habitat for fishes.