# Tanganykian 220



## toddnbecka (Jun 30, 2006)

Picked it up about a month ago, have it up and running now. Couldn't pass up the deal, $550 for the tank, stand/canopy, glass tops, 3' and 4' strip lights (tank is 7'x2'x2') and an FX5 less than a year old. Cost me another $150 for gas and help moving the beast, 25 square feet of 3/4" glass is heavy. 
Substrate is 50 lbs of find-grade gravel similar to pool filter sand and 100 lbs of Black Diamond sandblasting grit. Actually coal slag but looks and acts like sand, except no silica content so no there's diatoms in the new setup.
Currently running 3 aquaclear 110's and an air-driven hydrosponge to establish the tank. I'll take off 2 of the hob's after the FX5 is running/established. Currently there are only a dozen 2" O. ventralis orange caps in there, and a few BN fry that hitchiked inside a resin tree stuump ornament. Scape is pretty bare, though I did collect some new rocks today, will have them cleaned and in the tank tomorow.
I will be moving a group of juvie Synodontis lucipinnis over shortly, and looking to pick up a group of Neolamp buescheri Zaire gold fry next month. Will be getting a pair of plagiostoma spiney eels early next week, and waiting to hear back from someone about M. parva rainbows. If those won't work out in the high pH I'll look into some Cyp's, but I love the color of the M. parva.
Filling the tank to male sure nothing happened while moving it:








Left-to-right photo sequence:








Resin ornaments that the BN fry came along in:








Few cichlid stones in the tank, more on hand and coming next week:








Few Val's starting out, will add more later:
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The dozen featherfins mainly hang out around the available cover, school pretty tightly too:


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## grogan (Jan 23, 2011)

Wow nice tank. Looks like your tank room is awesome. That happens to be be my dream tank.....grr


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## toddnbecka (Jun 30, 2006)

Most of tanks are in the basement. I also have a 125, 90, 3 75's, 2 40 breeders, 33 long, 30 long and a 20 high running now. Took down a 55 and a 40 high to put up the 220.


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## grogan (Jan 23, 2011)

That's awesome. You should post a thread showing of your fish room cuz it sounds hella cool


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Nice, I need that. Picked up 5 tiny Lepidolamprologus lemari. Now know they will be 21 cm ambush predators. Little speckled brown fish with amazing intelligence and personality for 1/2" fish.


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## toddnbecka (Jun 30, 2006)

Little buggers that grow to 12" and eat other fish, everything else I'll be stocking would become expensive feeders. Larger predatory fish usually do act more intelligent than schoolers or plant eaters, but limit your stocking options.


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## toddnbecka (Jun 30, 2006)

Moved 8 juvie Synodontis lucipinnis from a 75 into the big tank for leftover food cleanup. Also tossed in a handful of nearly grown BN to help out the fry that hitchiked inside a resin tree root ornament. They'll start spawning sooner or later, should keep the spiney eels happy eating their eggs. I got a pair of plagiostoma, but unfortunately the male found a small opening and escaped, found him dried out inside the stand the same day they arrived (last Friday.) Picked up 2 multi's and another really small Tang spiney eel Sunday, not sure of the species but tanganicae looks likely. I've used bigger earthworms for fishing bait, hopefully she'll put on some weight:













































No word on the parva rainbows, so I'm going for a group of speckleback Cyp's. Hopefully this week, will post some fresh tank pics after they're in. Planning to pick up 5-6 1" buescheri and a single blue-spot goby cichlid at the CCA meeting on the 12th. With any luck there will be some more multi's there too. Not sure whether the 2 I have now are a pair or just still schooling juvies. Only a slight difference in size between them and they hang out together, and also occasionally school with the larger featherfins as they swim back-and-forth. They don't seem too interested in either of the 2 shells in the tank, though the smaller one seems to like one of the medium cichlid stones. Have 3 dozen escargot shells coming this week, so they'll have plenty more options shortly.


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## toddnbecka (Jun 30, 2006)

Update time, tank is pretty well stocked now, though I'm hoping to find some more Pavo Cyp's somewhere along the way.
Current stocklist:
12 O. ventralis orange cap
9 speckleback Cyp's
9 multi's 
8 M. parva rainbows (1 looks a bit rough and is hiding, not sure that one will make it long-term.)
8 Synodontis lucipinnis
5 buescheri Zaire gold
2 (pair) Pavo Cyp's
1 Eret cyan goby
1 plagiostoma spiny eel
1 tanganicae spiny eel
Unknown number of BN pleco's, likely more than 12 though.
Recent full tank shot:


















Left end:









Middle:


















Right end:









This one is looking much plumper these days:









Might be the bloodworms, but I'm pretty sure they eat the NLS Grow pellets along with the other fish too:


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## P.senegalus (Aug 18, 2011)

I love the way you set it up. It looks amazing.


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## toddnbecka (Jun 30, 2006)

I may have overloaded the tank now. I picked up a pair of hecqui and 6 cylindricus fry at the CCA meeting today. The new fish are going to have a tough time establishing territories with the 5 Zaire gold buescheri already in the tank. It appears there may be 2 pairs of them now, and they pretty much patrol the entire bottom of the tank. One of the females was defending a particular spot for a couple days, but if she had eggs they must be gone now. I'll probably keep one pair and swap off the other 3 to make room for the other substrate spawners.
The multi's have established themselves in the front right corner and there are 3 different sizes of fry hanging out among the plastic plant mat now, the smallest just recently free-swimming. 
The ventralis are growing out nicely, one male in particular is showing good color and doing the shimmy dance to attract the females. Still no love for the male Cyp pavo from the lone female. The speckleback Cyps are coming along though, looks like they'll be spawning in a couple more months or maybe even sooner.
Lost one of the parva rainbows last month, no clue why, but one fish out of all that I've put in there isn't bad.
The Val's are losing the battle, not enough light and overgrown with algae, all the long leaves have broken off. I picked up an Anubias today, will see if it does any better.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

keep up the pics and updates.


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## toddnbecka (Jun 30, 2006)

Few recent pics, added some plastic plants (not crazy about the decor, but they provide cover) while the fish are mostly growing well and looking good. I've only seen one of the cylindricus since i dropped the group of little ones in, I suspect it's the biggest and the rest were eaten.
Only pic I could get of that one, it hangs out near the 110 intake tubes:









The plagiostoma is fat and sassy, the smaller brown eel is much thinner and wasn't coming out for a photo op:









Male and female hecqui, they hang around the shells on the plastic sword mat with the multi's. Seem to get along well with the multi's, quite surprisingly:


















Goby cichlid (we call it Elmer, only fish in the tank with a name) snatching a pellet off a rock:









Missed some water spots  Orange cap ventralis dominant male, he dug/defends a pit in the black sand (couldn't get a pic of that) and it looks like one of the females is holding now:


















Cyp's, rainbows, and ventralis all get along very well together. The rainbows school with the speckleback Cyp's just as happily as with their own species. The ventralis aren't quite as social, but don't seem to mind the company:


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## BV77 (Jan 22, 2005)

Man, you just screwed up my computer!!! I just got drool all over the keyboard. VERY NICE , tank and fishroom.


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## arch aquatics (Feb 28, 2012)

Do you breed the spiney eels?


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## toddnbecka (Jun 30, 2006)

arch aquatics said:


> Do you breed the spiney eels?


I had a pair of plagiostoma some years ago, and they spawned a number of times, but the male always ate the eggs shortly after. I didn't have another tank to move him into, then I lost the pair during a power outage before the next spawning season came around. Still looking for another male to try again, lost the male of the new pair the same day they arrived. He found a  small opening in the backsplash that I had missed.


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