Show 101
DrTom's Mbuna Aquarium
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This video will take
some time to load. The faster your
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you can't see the
video, shown just
above, try clicking
here.
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DrTom's Mbuna Aquarium contains about 55-gallons
of water and about twenty-five Mbuna Cichlids
like the female Pseudotropheus socolofi, shown
above. She'd spawned two or three weeks before
this video was recorded, and she was mouthbrooding
her fry when this video was recorded.
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This video will take
some time to load. The faster your
internet connection,
the less time it
takes to load. If
you can't see the
video, shown just
above, try clicking
here.
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The video, just above,
shows a Male Mbuna Cichlid quarreling with a
so-called Three Beacon Plecostomus catfish about
which one of them occupies the cave. A few
seconds from the beginning of this video
both fish are in the cave. Then both exit.
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The
Complete Details about this
Aquarium |
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Owner
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DrTom
Bailey
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Location
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DrTom's
basement
in Point
Loma, a
suburb
of San
Diego,
California.
Point
Loma is
surrounded
by San
Diego
Bay and
the
Pacific
Ocean.
Click
here
to see a
map of
Point
Loma.
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Size |
This
aquarium
contains
about
55 gallons
of
freshwater. |
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Material
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This
aquarium
is made of
acrylic
plastic.
The
front,
ends,
and
bottom
are
clear
plastic,
the back
side is
black,
which
you can
see in
most of
the
videos
and
pictures.
The top
side of
the
aquarium
is clear
plastic
with cut-out
areas to
insert
the
aquarium
heater,
the
aquarium
filter,
and to
access
the
inside
of the
aquarium. |
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Dimensions
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Width
from
left to
right 48",
height
20",
front to
back
12.75"
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Filter
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Marineland
Penguin
350B
with
two
Bio-Wheels
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Heater
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100-watt
Aquatic
Gardens
submersible
aquarium
heater.
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Temperature
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Water at
about 76
to 78
degrees
F.
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Installed
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Aquarium
set up
in
September
2008
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Videos
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Recorded
during
February
2009
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Fish
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About
twenty
Mbuna
Cichlids,
plus one
Lake
Victoria
Cichlid,
which
apparently
is an
unnamed
species
now
called
Haplochromis
species
44,
and one
so-called
Three
Beacon
Pleco
catfish,
which
may have
the
scientific
name:
Leporacanthicus
triactis.
This
catfish
has also
been known by
the code
L091. |
pH of
the
Water
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7.6 to
7.9,
which is
OK for
Mbunas
and the
Hap. but
is
probably high for
the
Three
Beacon
Pleco
that
would
prefer a
lower pH
but
seems to
be doing
well in
this
water.
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Aquarium
Ornaments
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17
Cichlid
Stones,
one
ceramic
hollow
log, and
a layer
of
gravel about
1/2"
thick
when
spread
evenly
over the
bottom
of
aquarium,
which
rarely
happens
because
the
Mbunas
dig into
the
gravel
and pile
it up.
This is
#2 size
natural-color
gravel
labeled
for use
in
aquariums.
You
could
use any
color of
#2 size
gravel
that's
labeled
for use
in
aquariums
or no
gravel
at all
in this
aquarium
with
these
fish and
this
type of
filter.
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Lighting
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A two
bulb
lighting
fixture
contains one
36"
30-watt
10,000K
fluorescent
bulb and
one
36" actinic
bulb.
These
bulbs
were
originally
in a
saltwater
aquarium.
Now
the
10,000K
bulb is
usually on and
the
actinic
bulb is
off. |
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Timer
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The
automatic
timer turns
lights
on
at 10:00
am and
turns
the
lights off
at 10:00
pm. |
Aquarium
Stand
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Made of
hardwood
with
dark cherry
finish |
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Canopy
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Sits on
top of
the
aquarium
and matches
the
aquarium
stand.
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Other
Equipment
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Magnetic
Scrubber,
scrub
brushes,
and
Python
Products
siphon,
water
changing
device.
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Water
Conditioner
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When
doing
10-gallon
partial
water
change
twice
each
week,
just
before
adding
the replacement
water
from
faucet,
a high
quality
Water
Conditioner
is added
to the
aquarium
water to
neutralize
the
chloramines
in
10-gallons
of tap
water.
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Food
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Premium
Food
Pellets
fed 3 to
5 times
each
day.
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Maintenance
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1. Use
a magnetic
scrubber
to clean
the inside
surfaces
of
the aquarium
as
needed.
2. Do a 20%
partial
water
changes
twice a
week,
using
a Python
to clean
the
gravel.
3. Rinse
the filter
pads and
scrub
the filter
with
brushes as
needed.
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Comments
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Lucky me! This
aquarium, all the
equipment, including
the beautiful
hardwood stand and
canopy, and all the
fish were given to
me a few months ago.
So the filter was
biologically active
and working well. At
the time this video
was made, I'd had
this aquarium for
about four months.
In that time the
fish had grown from
a range of about 2"
to 2.5" to a range
of about 3" to 4.5"
and had already
spawned several
times.
Mbuna Cichlids
are all
mouthbrooders, and
when these fish
spawn, the female
picks up the eggs in
her mouth, where the
eggs develop for
about 21 days,
before see releases
them. The females in
this aquarium have
released about
100-fry. Most of
those fry quickly
disappeared and were
probably eaten by
the larger fish.
The Hap. sp. 44 acts like a predator
and seems to hunt
for small fish. Of
the 100-fry about 5
have survived and
are now living in
the aquarium. In the
videos from time to
time you may be able
to see a
few of these young
Mbunas.
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Below are pictures
of some of the fish
living in DrTom's
Mbuna Aquarium.
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This fish is a male
albino or partial
albino, and DrTom
thinks it may be a
Pseudotropheus
Maylandia greshakei
or perhaps a very
similar species.
Pseudotropheus is a
genus of Mbunas from
Lake Malawi in East
Africa. Maylandia is
a subgenus, which
some experts think
should be a genus.
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The fish, shown
above, are both
mature males that
measure about 4.5"
long and are probably Pseudotropheus
Maylandia estherae,
a species, which was
originally called
the "Red Zebra" but was later
named after Esther
Grant, the wife of
Stuart Grant, who
shipped lots of fish
from Lake Malawi to
DrTom and Nevin a
long time ago. Most
males of this
species are blue,
but rarely a male is
bright orange like
these males.
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Here is a beautiful
mature male Labeotropheus
trewavasae, a
slender brightly
colored Mbuna,
living in DrTom's
Mbuna Aquarium.
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This female
Pseudotropheus
Maylandia socolofi,
which is often just
called a Socolofi,
spawned with a male
of a different
species in DrTom's
Mbuna Aquarium and
can be seen here
with a mouthful of
eggs. About 10-days
after she spawn,
DrTom very gently
remove the fry, and
you can see two of
them just below.
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After her fry were
removed, this
Socolofi female was
returned to DrTom's
Mbuna Aquarium. The
next day she began
to eat well. In a
few days she was
looking plumper, and
her coloration was
brighter and more
metallic, as shown
in the above
picture.
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This fish is
a mature male with
the so-called "OB"
pattern. "OB" is an
abbreviation for
"Orange Blotch".
Many species of
Mbunas have several
color variations, and
several species
include "OB" males
and females.
This male is probably an
OB Red Zebra, which
has the scientific
name Pseudotropheus
Maylandia estherae.
But this fish may be
a different species. Whatever it
is, it's very
beautiful with a
dazzling
metallic blue sheen.
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The male Cichlid, shown
in the picture just
above, lives in the
same aquarium, but
his ancestors came
from Lake Victoria,
which is hundreds of
miles north of Lake
Malawi in East
Africa. DrTom likes
him so much that he
named him Julian.
Apparently Julian
does not have a
scientific name and
has been given a
number until his
species can be
named. So in the
mean time his
temporary
designation is
Haplochromis species
44.
Whatever his
scientific name,
Julian is
always very active
and aggressive. He's
about the same
length as the
largest male Mbunas,
but slimmer with
less total mass.
He's even more
active than the
Mbunas, and he
constantly quarrels
with all the other
fish.
Maybe he
should not be in
this aquarium. It's
interesting that he
is very colorful
from the side, as
shown in the
picture, and he
often displays his
side to other
fish that are about
his size. But his
colors are more
muted when seen head
on, which probably
helps him sneak up
on small fish, as
shown in the image
below.
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Here is Julian
showing a much
lighter color
pattern, while he stalks a small
Mbuna in DrTom's
aquarium.
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The adult
Mbunas and their
babies have grown
much faster than I
have seen Mbunas
grow in the past. A
long time ago Nevin
and I spawned and
raised a huge number
of Mbunas over a
period of several
years. I think these
Mbunas, living in my
aquarium now, have
grown much faster,
because of the
premium food they
are being fed
several times a day.
I think this food is
much better than the
foods we fed to
Mbunas long ago.
This food also
greatly increases
the coloration of
the Mbunas, and they
seem to be much more
energetic. This is
even more so with
Julian, who is
very energetic,
quarrelsome, and
colorful all the
time.
This new food has
other interesting
consequences. Most
aquariums with
Mbunas seem to have
a typical odor. But
this aquarium has
very little odor. I
have speculated that
this may be a
consequence of the
food. Maybe this
food is more
digestible, leaving
less residue in the
fish's waste, which
might result in less
odor.
Usually when lots of
Mbunas live in an
aquarium, that
aquarium will quickly build up a
slime coating on the
inside surfaces of
that aquarium, but
the inside surfaces
of this aquarium
have very little
slime. This too may
be due to the food,
which may produce
less residue and
less slime. The very
thin layer of slime
is very easy to
remove with the
magnetic scrubber.
It is also very nice
that this aquarium
has no algae, and I have
wondered why? The
timer turns one
10000K 36"-long
30-watt fluorescent
bulb on for 12-hours
each day. I usually
recommend keeping an
aquarium like this
in a room with mild
room lighting and
leaving the aquarium
light off except
when feeding the
fish or watching
them. This schedule
might result in
having the aquarium
light turned on an
average of a couple
of hours a day. I
would have predicted
12-hours of this
light would grow
lots of algae in
this aquarium.
Why hasn't algae
grown in this
aquarium?
I think there are
two factors. First
the premium food,
which as mentioned
may be more
digestible and leave
less fish waste
dissolved in the
water. Algae is a
plant, and usually
fish waste is a very
effective fertilizer
for algae. But a
more digestible
food leaves less
fertilizer for the
algae and results
in less algae or in
this aquarium no algae.
A second factor
may be the high
temperature of the
fluorescent bulb.
Generally plants,
including algae,
prefer a lower
temperature bulb.
So this is kind
of magic, and
this magic trick
makes maintaining
this aquarium very
easy. I am used to
doing more work on
an aquarium, and
sometimes I get
nervous and feel
like I must not be
doing enough work.
So I clean the
filter, which I find
is already cleaner
than I expected.
Then I'll look
through the end of
aquarium at the
front surface to see
if there is a slimy
film, or reach with
my fingers down
inside the aquarium
to feel the front
surface. It's
usually squeaky
clean, but more
often than needed
I'll run the
magnetic scrubber
back and forth. It
only takes a couple
of minutes to scrub
the entire inside
surface of the
aquarium with the
magnetic scrubber.
Twice a week I
remove about 20% of
the aquarium water,
which is about
10-gallons of the
55-gallons of water
in this aquarium.
This is called doing
a Partial Water
Change and is very
beneficial. I remove
the water with a
Python Products
siphon, which is
very effective at
removing the fish
waste that is mixed
with the gravel. The
gravel and fish
waste are sucked up
by the Python
Products siphon, but
the gravel
eventually drops out
of the siphon,
staying in the
aquarium, while the fish waste is
removed.
Next I add to the
aquarium water a high quality
water condition to
neutralize the
chloramines in
10-gallons of fresh
tap water, coming
from the faucet.
Then reverse the
flow in the Python
to refill the
aquarium. This whole
procedure takes just
a few minutes. It
removes lots of
waste from the
aquarium and greatly
increases the
quality of the
aquarium's water.
In any case, this
aquarium with the
Bio-Wheel filter,
the premium food,
and
the 10000K lighting, is very
easy to care for.
The maintenance
takes so little time
that it's really
like magic.
But everything
has not gone well in
this aquarium.
There have been some
problems. The Mbunas
all seem to be
species that grow
large. There are
other species of
Mbunas that are
smaller and are
often called Dwarf
Mbunas, such as the
Lemon Yellow
Labidochromis. These
Dwarf Mbunas will
usually do very well
in a 55-gallon
aquarium like mine,
but the bigger
species like the
ones I have now in
this aquarium will
not do well.
I knew these large
Mbuna species
wouldn't do well in
this aquarium and
have often given
advice to other
aquarists to keep
large Mbuna species
in a group with at
least 15-Mbunas in
an aquarium with at
least 75-gallons of
water, but I ignored
my own good advice,
and that has caused
problems.
Here's what
happened. Quickly
the larger Mbunas
and the Nyererei grew
to be 3" long. A
Maylandia greshakei
grew to be about
3.5" long and had a
territory that
covered about
three-quarters of
the aquarium. Most
of the other fish
were stressed and
uncomfortable. One,
a nice Zebra female,
stopped eating, got
Malawi Bloat, and
eventually died.
Another female,
which was a
beautiful orange
Trewavasae, was
eating very little
and looking thin, so
Nevin took her back
to our facilities,
where she recovered.
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The pictures,
just above, show two
different so-called
Red Zebra females.
Each female is
mouthbrooding eggs
just after spawning
in DrTom's aquarium.
The eggs were very
gently removed from
a female's
mouth and photographed.
There were a total
of 41 eggs, and 25 of
those eggs are shown
in the picture just
below. The eggs were
about 1/8th of an
inch long. After a
few minutes the
female picked up all
of her eggs, and then I put
her back
in the same aquarium,
where she continued
to mouthbrood her
eggs.
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The picture just
above, shows a
so-called Red-Zebra
female about 2-weeks
after she spawned.
Some people have
enough imagination
to say they can
actually see the
eyes of the baby
fish in her open
mouth. |
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After another week,
making three weeks
total, DrTom very
gently removed the
fry, and some of
them are shown
in the picture just
above.
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Eventually
the Greshakei male
spawned with two or
three females,
including a
Socolofi, which is a
different species.
After holding his
territory and
spawning several
times, apparently he
tired, weakened, and
was quickly replaced
another dominant
male Mbuna. Nevin
removed the deposed
Greshakei, and took
him back to our
facilities, where he
eventually
recovered.
A
solid white fish
that looks like a
Greshakei quickly
became the dominant
fish, held his
territory for a few
weeks, spawned
several times, then
lost his territory
and had to be
removed. A third
male Mbuna then
became the dominant
fish. It seems there
is only room in this
55-gallon aquarium for one
dominant male Mbuna.
This might be better
without the nyererei,
who constantly
creates quarrels and
increases the stress
on all of the fish.
One nice
female got Malawi
Bloat and died.
Another female had
to be removed, and
two males were
removed after
dominating the
aquarium for a few
weeks before
weakening. A total
of four very nice
fish gone. But life
goes on. There have
been numerous
mouthfuls of baby
Mbunas released, and
four or five of
those babies have
survived. They seem
to be more
acclimated to life
in this aquarium and
looked less
stressed than the
original fish. I do not
make that comment as
an excuse, but it is
the way it is.
In a much bigger
aquarium events
would have been more
favorable for all
the fish. I was
recently in
Fountains Aquarium
in La Mesa,
California, which is
about 15-miles from
my home. In the
middle of the store
Fountain's has a
huge 1000-gallon
aquarium that 's
packed with all
sorts and sizes of
Cichlids from Lake
Malawi, including
Mbunas and Peacocks.
I saw at least one
huge Mbuna measuring
well over 7" long.
All the fish were
doing well. The
bigger the aquarium,
the better all these
fish do.
I plan to get a
bigger aquarium with at
least 150-gallons of
water for my Mbunas.
In that aquarium
I'll be able to keep
at least 25 adults
and there will be
lots of baby Mbunas
too.
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