Lincoln

[Trinityblood]

That is a huge aquarium. Curious. How do you do water changes on that size?

[dakski]

First, I think Lincoln likes frozen brine shrimp more than bloodworms, if that's possible.

Offered him a few today and he went nuts.

Good to give variety. So the pellets as a staple with occasional brine shrimp and bloodworms. I would also like to try daphnia as they help digestion and work as a laxative, but mixing in F/T foods like the brine and bloodworms help too, as opposed to all dry food.

I don't even want to think about the upkeep on a 240 gallon tank. I keep a 45 and I always think it's a good bit of work but 240 gallons sounds insane. That being said, I would love to put about 200 little South American tetras in there just to see large schooling behavior. I've always felt that parameters were easier to maintain the bigger tank that you have though. Did you find that to be true or was it about the same? Also glad to see folks talking fish on here, would love to get this section going!

Once established, bigger tanks are more stable, in general. I had 12 big fish in there and they were WC (there were no Mpimbwe in captivity in that time breeding - I was one of the first) and allowed to be imported because they are not endangered in the wild. Big fish means a lot of food and waste and WC meant they were more sensitive to nitrates.

The tank went from about 15ppm nitrates to about 30-40ppm in a week. I did 100-120G water changes weekly.

Additionally, they are high PH (7.8-8.2PH) and slightly brackish water fish who also needed harder water. So there was a lot of additives and chemistry involved.

So, had to do more work on it than many large tanks that aren't as full or with as sensitive fish. I guess I did a good job as they bred like crazy.

However, if you had a large tank with less load and that only needed dechlorination or light additives to remove metals, etc. and you didn't have to adjust PH and salt and hardness, it would be much more stable than a smaller tank with the same relative load.


I am also glad that some people are talking fish on here. It is fun. However, it is a reptile forum and there are better forums for fish information. If anyone is interested, I can name a few.

That is a huge aquarium. Curious. How do you do water changes on that size?

Python syphon into the sink to suction gravel and start water removal. Then a small pump to pump water into the sink.

The night before I filled two 60G pails with the fresh water for the tank and dosed with all the additives I needed (PH +, salt, dechlorinator, etc.) and dropped heaters in as well. Very important temps are stable going in and out especially when doing such a large water change - has to be right within 1F or less not to stress fish.

Once the water was taken out and the gravel syphoned, I would use a pump and a long hose to pump the fresh water into the tank.

All in all, it took about 3 hours including prep. So about 1 hour the night before and 2 hours the day of the water change.

Very expensive to get all the supplies (pumps, hoses, etc.) as well as additives and the tank was insanely expensive with stand and lid and light, filtration and heaters, etc.

It was an acrylic tank and was awesome. The company I bought it from now longer makes tanks, but it was great.

[Hugsplox]

I've found mixing in frozen foods with flake/dry food results in better coloration and growth. The fish just seem incredibly more healthy and active than when on a flake/dry food diet only. I'd love some suggestions if you have a few for some aquarium forums. Not that I don't like focusing a lot of attention here, but I understand not everyone wants to hear about our aquatic hobby lol.

Those python syphons saved my back from carrying buckets. I can do a change on my 45 in about half an hour vs how long it use to take when I just had a bunch of 3 gallon buckets.

[dakski]

I've found mixing in frozen foods with flake/dry food results in better coloration and growth. The fish just seem incredibly more healthy and active than when on a flake/dry food diet only. I'd love some suggestions if you have a few for some aquarium forums. Not that I don't like focusing a lot of attention here, but I understand not everyone wants to hear about our aquatic hobby lol.

Those python syphons saved my back from carrying buckets. I can do a change on my 45 in about half an hour vs how long it use to take when I just had a bunch of 3 gallon buckets.

This was the site I wrote on frequently when I kept the Frontosa and also a 90G lake Malawi Cichlid tank.

https://www.cichlid-forum.com

Thought it was a really good site.

Not sure about other sites but have started looking and will report back if I find any good ones.

[dakski]

This was the site I wrote on frequently when I kept the Frontosa and also a 90G lake Malawi Cichlid tank.

https://www.cichlid-forum.com

Thought it was a really good site.

Not sure about other sites but have started looking and will report back if I find any good ones.

I have not spent much time on these, but they look good.

https://www.fishforums.net

https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/

https://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com

This site also has info on what forums are out there, but they show Reddit so who knows. However, shows some forums for specific species/types of fish.

https://fishlab.com/online-aquarium-communities/

[Hugsplox]

I have not spent much time on these, but they look good.

https://www.fishforums.net

https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/

https://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com

This site also has info on what forums are out there, but they show Reddit so who knows. However, shows some forums for specific species/types of fish.

https://fishlab.com/online-aquarium-communities/

Thanks Daskski, I've heard some really good things about fishlore and tropicalfishkeeping but haven't spent much time on either other than when Google sent me there for answers. I'll check both out.

[Trinityblood]

Python syphon into the sink to suction gravel and start water removal. Then a small pump to pump water into the sink.

The night before I filled two 60G pails with the fresh water for the tank and dosed with all the additives I needed (PH +, salt, dechlorinator, etc.) and dropped heaters in as well. Very important temps are stable going in and out especially when doing such a large water change - has to be right within 1F or less not to stress fish.

Once the water was taken out and the gravel syphoned, I would use a pump and a long hose to pump the fresh water into the tank.

All in all, it took about 3 hours including prep. So about 1 hour the night before and 2 hours the day of the water change.

Very expensive to get all the supplies (pumps, hoses, etc.) as well as additives and the tank was insanely expensive with stand and lid and light, filtration and heaters, etc.

It was an acrylic tank and was awesome. The company I bought it from now longer makes tanks, but it was great.

Whew that's a lot of work. Salt? Is it a brackish tank? I'm not very familiar with them. Why did it need PH added?

[dakski]

Whew that's a lot of work. Salt? Is it a brackish tank? I'm not very familiar with them. Why did it need PH added?

Yes, a tremendous amount of work. Hence, not having the tank anymore.

Frontosa are from Lake Tanganyika in Africa. The water has a higher salt content than most freshwater and I believe would be considered brackish, even if mildly, but is considered a freshwater lake. It also has a high PH of around 8-9 and harder water than most.

That's why I had to add all the additives I did. I guess it worked because they bred like rabbits.

Below is a profile from Cichlid Forum on Mpimbwe Frontosa. There are a few different kinds of Frontosa, but I liked the deep blues on the Mpimbwe. The care is very similar as all are found in Lake Tanganyika.

https://www.cichlid-forum.com/profil...es.php?id=1512

[dakski]

Lincoln loves Brine Shrimp. He gets them as a treat 1X a week and Blood Worms 1X a week (1 every 3-4 days) on top of his pellet diet.

Below is a video of him devouring some F/T brine.



He got his 2nd water change over the weekend and seems to be doing great. I plan to test the water in the next day or two and will report if anything looks off or if we have nitrates. In the meantime, I added Seed after the water change, but have not been adding it since the initial week dose aside from the first water change.

[dakski]

Update on Lincoln's Water parameters.

Today, 5 days after last water change, and about 3 1/2 weeks in, the water parameters were as follows:

Ammonia: 1ppm

Nitrite: 0.25-0.5ppm

Nitrate: 5ppm

I did a 20% water change today with gravel syphon and added Seed again.

So the good news is that the tank is producing nitrates from nitrite. The bad news is ammonia was a little high for my liking. Since the tank is already producing nitrites and nitrates, I want to keep ammonia below 1ppm. Between he 20% water change and the gravel syphon, we should be in good shape. My guess is it's down 30%.

I plan to add the Seed for a few days and also add some extra biological media. That will not be seeded, but it's the porous clay stuff and I will put in a small mesh bag. This should speed up the adoption of beneficial bacteria. Not sure I need it, but it can't hurt.

My guess is by this time in 2 weeks, we will only be seeing Nitrates.

In the meantime, Lincoln seems fine and is showing no visible signs of stress. Gills look good, colors are good, and he's eating happily.