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Re: [APD] Tanganyika shell-dweller tank



Liz

I have a 37 gal. Tanganyikan tank at work in my office. I have 8 Lamprologus ocellatus and 5 Otocinclus in it. So far the tank has been set up for about 8 months. The ocellatus have spawned three times so far. I have three females at least. The tank has three 20 watt Tritons lamps. I have two small Aquaclear HOB filters. I am using a mix of Seachem Onyx and a fine grained sand left over from a friends reef tank. All Onyx would look better. Little by little I am siphoning out the top layer and replacing the mixture. I fertilize with Excel daily using 4 ml. I use Flourish weekly at 4 ml. I dose 1 tsp of a one part KNO3, one part K2SO4, one half part KH2PO4, one eighth part Fe(II)SO4 mixture weekly. I do 40% water changes monthly or less. I use Rift Salts when making water changes. Anti-chlor only when topping off for evaporation. I also used the Flourish tabs in the sand when setting up (along with a healthy dose of Mulm per Tom Barr-worked great. Fish added next day without any problems.) I added them again after 3 months and intend to keep using them.

What plants?: 5 Cryptocoryne wendtii, 5 C. x willisii, 10 C. retrospiralis, 4 C. ciliata (only temporary until I move them to my bosses tank), 6 C. usteriana, 1 C. undulata, 4 Java Ferns, 3 Anubias sp., (both tied on rocks with nylon thread. I have a mound of Lace Rock and some driftwood in the middle third of the tank with these plants attached. Some of the odd unattached ocellatus hide out in the caves formed here), 12 Valisneria corkscrew.

All of the plants are doing great. New leaves growing regularly. One of the C. usteriana flowered soon after I bought it. If it does it again then I will be happy. I'm sure it was stimulated to flower by the transplant shock of my purchase. The C. retrospiralis is deeply rooted and resists the digging of the fish when moving their shells. I bought some escargot and used the shells after cleaning the butter and garlic out of them.

So far no babies have survived, eaten I guess. One of my fellow employees really wants to see the babies saved and came up with the idea of cutting large slots in a 2 liter soda bottle, cutting off the top at the shoulder, enclosing in a calf length stocking and hanging in the tank as a baby tank. I liked his idea and took him up on the offer to make one. I added some of the sand and mulm, one spare shell, and two C. walkeri (lutea). I drilled two small holes in the lip of the top frame of the tank and also two in the bottle and tied it up in the front corner with the nylon string. I siphoned three babies and added them to the nursery last Tuesday. I haven't seen them since. We did see a baby in the main tank today that I must have missed. Mom is still guarding it.

Jerry Smith in Bloomingdale, NJ


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