3 Variants - 1 Tank - 180 gallon Dubs/Rutunga/Katoto

[TaTeR ToT]

this is something ive been wondering for a while,
will my golden kazumbas get full size in my 75g?
with a colony of 3 males and 20 females, will they reach their full potential?

[myjohnson]

No, they will not no matter what the ratio. Keeping less fishes will help them get bigger.

Tank is too small in that regard. But than again, who's tank isn't? Nothing like swimming in the lake.

[Chris Derrick]

Geoff, I really am digging the "Bare Bottom" tanks man! Is there any down sight to not having sand? Doesn't the Tropheus need it to clean gills or do they just suck it in and spit it all over the tank for enjoyment? I really like the idea of easy clean up and you could direct the jets at the bottom to really get the poo stirred up good and not have to worry about tearing up the sand and filters then! Do you paint the under side of the glass or just leave it bare see through? Very good looking why more don't do this I am not sure? CD

[TaTeR ToT]

Geoff, I really am digging the "Bare Bottom" tanks man! Is there any down sight to not having sand? Doesn't the Tropheus need it to clean gills or do they just suck it in and spit it all over the tank for enjoyment? I really like the idea of easy clean up and you could direct the jets at the bottom to really get the poo stirred up good and not have to worry about tearing up the sand and filters then! Do you paint the under side of the glass or just leave it bare see through? Very good looking why more don't do this I am not sure? CD

i have been wondering if there were any down sides to this aswell.
i hate having to keep the sand stirred and would like to add flow towards the bottm of the tank istead of just the middle and top.

[Chris Derrick]

Come on Geoff fill us in! Have you ever had any down sides to doing this bare bottom? I read where tropheus need to have sand to eat may actually help digestion? I do notice my fish poop has sand in it sometimes! The bare bottome is tempting tell us all please. CD

[ssrprelude]

Goeff's fish breed like rabbits, 500+ spit fry from one tank is proof his fish are happy. Not to mention all of his fish are huge. It's mainly dependent on your eye, like the look or not, these fish are happy.

[geoff_tropheus]

There is no downside except when you drop a rock when your re-scaping. But all my tanks are Oceanic or Acrylic so, I have not had any problem when I have dropped one. Scares the crap out of some people who've seen me do it, but its nothing I have not done before.

I do not paint the bottom, but recently Mary Beth suggested it and so I may try it as a aesthetic point, but may find it has other benefits as well.

Mostly it has benefits of being able to clean 100% inside the tank, and all the debris is either stuck in a cubby hole where you vacuum at the weekly water change, or its in the filter. I clean most my filters very regularly, and I highly suggest keeping a log book on when you change your filter, or at least put some masking tape on the lid with the date last cleaned.

Tropheus don't need sand in their diet. They need CLEAN water, nutritional foods based with shrimp and/or vegetables. Don't get cheap foods, get a good quality food vitamin fortified. And most importantly...give them love. They deserve it. The happier your fishes are, the happier they will be for you too.

[cichlid1409]

what color would you paint it?

[newb]

maybe a tan color like sand???

[geoff_tropheus]

I would not paint it. I would tape a backer on there the same as my background color.

I guess if your trying to be accurate, it would need to be a tan-off white rock/sand color

[TaTeR ToT]

i think a sky blue would look really nice, paint the bottom, sides, and back a nice light blue would look sweet!

[Mzungu]

I do not paint the bottom, but recently Mary Beth suggested it and so I may try it as a aesthetic point, but may find it has other benefits as well.

For the record, I have absolutely no problem leaving them bare-bottom. :) However, the other day we saw some newly-spit fry and were attempting to move them to the grow-out tank, and I stuck my head underneath the tank in the stand and was looking up from the bottom to see if I could see any hiding under the rocks. A thought occurred to me : "Hmm, I wonder if this freaks the fish out?" I mean, all of the sudden your world-view is crushed because what you thought was the end of the world apparently has some giant creature inhabiting it... Maybe I'm anthropomorphizing, but... That's just what went through my head, so I mentioned it to Geoff.

I have a bare-bottom tank which I covered with that aquarium background because it is on the top of a rack of 2 tanks and didn't want the light shining through the bottom as well. I just realized that when you look through the water you can see the bottom background, but not when you look at the tank from the front. So I'm not sure it would matter "aesthetically" what color the bottom was. But we thought for the fish, a sand color like that which has been suggested might be good. :)

[myjohnson]

MB like BARE-BOTTOMS! )

[Mzungu]

I'm not going to say what Geoff did when he saw you guys were asking about his bare-bottom... )

[geoff_tropheus]

I water change 50-75% weekly on all my tanks.

This tank's filtration I clean the 2262 every 3-4 months, the 2217's I alternate and clean monthly.

The 2262 is packed with 4L of effimech, 12L of Substrat Pro, and then topped off with Polyfilter pad cut to fit.

The 2217's are packed just like they come out of the box and I put 2 bags of Chempure into each one.