I've started this hobby with an aquarium, measuring 100x40x40, in autumn 2006.
We haven't made the back wall ourselves, because the aquarium wasn't
very deep, so there can't be any thick wall in it. I picked a red
colour, because I've seen this in other aquariums and I thought this
would have a nice effect, when it's full with algae. After the wall and
the side walls have been installed, the aquarium has been flushed some
times. After a few days, we decorated the aquarium.
When it got decorated for the first time, this happened with wood and
pvc-tubes (on the bottom a tempex plate and sand). As vegetation I
chose Vallisneria. The choice for wood was easy: I hadn't found any rocks
yet and I loved the sight of wood in my aquarium.
But after a short
time I noticed that the fish need rocks, because wood makes the water
more sour. So we decided to put rocks in. But because I liked the wood
so much, I first made a combination of rocks and wood.
This didn't work
either, because the fish didn't have enough hideouts. So I removed all
the wood and put more rocks in it.
When the rocks were in the aquarium, the fish came more to the front,
and their colour became clearer. They were even starting to show some
territorial behaviour.
The temperature had throughout the year an average of 24 degrees Celsius.
The vegetation existed only of Anubias Nana. This is a hard plant, so the
fish can't eat them.
Not enough?
But one aquarium wasn't enough for me, so i decided to put another one
in my room in January 2007 (40x30x30), for the younglings. I did this,
because all "Mbamba" females were having youngs at the same time. So I
catched the females out and put them in the other aquarium, until they
released their youngs. When this has happened, I placed them back with the
other fish.
These young could grow large without any dangers, because there were no
larger fish around. In the beginning, they were living from food like
Spirulina and Cyclops, but after a few weeks they began to eat Artemia
or a mix of shrimps and peas. After a couple of days you could see them
growing. They were about 4 cm each when the gender became visible. Then I decided to sell them.
In this aquarium are some pvc-tubes and Anubias nana.
The population existed only of 26 Labidochromis sp."mbamba".
Later on there was living a young couple of Aulonocara jacobfreibergi "eureka" in it for a few months.
New Aquarium
So, I started this hobby with an aquarium with the sizes 100x40x40cm. I have a new one since July with the sizes 150x60x50 cm because the old one was getting too small (or the fish were growing too big). The backwall of this aquarium is the same kind as in my fathers aquarium, we made it exactly in the same way.
The flagstones are replaced by bigger stones so that there are more hiding places.
As vegetation I'm using "Ceratophyllum demersum" .
As my aquarium is standing in the attic the temperature fluctuates throughout the year between 24 degrees Celsius in wintermonths and 30 degrees Celsius in the summer.
I am focusing my aquarium completely on Mbuna and fish from the intermediate zones from rocks to sand. Currently I have these fish in my aquarium:
4 Labeotropheus fuelleborni "marmelade" , 1 male with 3 females
4 Labidochromis sp."Mbamba", 1 male with 3 females
4 Metriaclima estherae (pink variety), 1 male with 3 females
4 Metriaclima greshakei, 1 male with 3 females
3 Metriaclima sp."zebra chilumba" Maisoni, 1 male with 2 females
3 Otopharynx lithobates "Zimbawe Rock", 1 male with 2 females
4 Pseudotropheus crabro, 1 male with 3 females
3 Pseudotropheus sp."elongatus spot", 1 male with 2 females
