[cough_cough_eer]

I used to have a pair of Jack dempseys. Female went blind and lived 9 more yrs. had them 11 yrs total. If I had a bigger tank I would have a cichlid tank with live plants. I have photos on here somewhere, I'll edit them in later.

[Endonoid]

@Dreams, or anyone else with driftwood in the tank.

Be carefull not to use to much driftwood in cichlid tanks as it drops the ph. Be sure to monitor it on a weekly basis. Things like fish waste and dead fish add ammonia to the tank, which is converted to nitrite, both of which lower the ph over time also. Just a heads up.

Some types of Pleco's will also eat driftwood. It's not bad for them thoiugh.

Here are some ph ranges for the three main lakes.
Lake Malawi..................7.4 - 8.6
Lake Tanganyika...........7.8 - 9.0
Lake Victoria..................7.2 - 8.6

A 250 is a nice sized tank. What kind of filtration do you plan on running? I'm personally a fan of the Emperor 400's. Easy to clean and have a great gph rating.(400 gph) two of them would flip the water in 250 about 3 times an hour.
Canister filters are ok too, but they are kind of a hassle to clean in my opinion, though they can get higher gph ratings,
I don't recommend undergravel filters much of the time, unless you use a reverse flow power head, then it keeps a large majority of the debris floating so the the hang on filters can catch it. Just a normal undergravel sucks all the crap to the bottom and you have to clean it out just as you would without one.
I try to avoid the aquaclear filters to do a design flaw. Instead of having filters aligned parallel to the tank, they have a large rectangular sponge that sits in the bottom of the filter with a media bag on top. They work fine unless they get neglected, then the dirty sponge gets pushed upwards and blocks the flow, making the filter dump water all over the floor.That wasn't a fun learning experience.
Also probably don't need air pumps depending on the filters you run. If you have hang on the back filters that have the water pour back into the tank, or a canister filter with the spray bar above the water and pouring it in, they oxygenate it plenty.
Unless of course you like the bubbles, they don't hurt.

@Darkstar

Tropheus are strict vegetarians, I saw that you said you planned on feeding them veggies, I just wanted to make sure you know that they can't really process meat. I always fed mine spirulina. They are definitely a Species tank kind of fish considering most cichlids aren't vegetarians. I agree with MaynardG. They do best in groups, and his Synodontis recommendation is perfect.

[darkstar270]

Originally Posted by Endonoid

@Dreams, or anyone else with driftwood in the tank.
@Darkstar

Tropheus are strict vegetarians, I saw that you said you planned on feeding them veggies, I just wanted to make sure you know that they can't really process meat. I always fed mine spirulina. They are definitely a Species tank kind of fish considering most cichlids aren't vegetarians. I agree with MaynardG. They do best in groups, and his Synodontis recommendation is perfect.

Thanks Endonoid, I do know they are strict vegetarians, I should have mentioned before.. We have a pretty good cichlid club in my area and I was active in their breeding program years ago (hence the species only tanks). I still have some good connections in the club but Tropheus in my area go for about $16- $20 per 1 - 1.5in each, so I want to make sure everything is perfect before I get them as I know how touchy they can be. A few years back I had 20+ tanks of Africans going but it was a lot of work so I cut it down to 2. But now I have tropheus fever so whats one more tank. While I'm at it I have my eye on some Neolamprologus multifasciatus (love shell dwellers). I swore I wouldn't get crazy with this hobby again but, damn it's addicting!

Sorry Dreamz, not trying to hijack your thread

[demasoni]

chalosis and labs here.
Hey dreamz of green, good idea on the tank size increase with the yellow labs and kenyi in there, we should see some interesting showdowns between the twos biggest alfas but still have enough space. Keep it mbuna, all lake malawi

Before I knew better i started with a kenyi... I wont keep kenyi ever again unless I have a pond or something as there are just too many other even more aggressive varieties I'd rather keep in my setup over time, don't need a less colorful but over aggressive variety taking up space.
I wanted kenyi for the blue and black stripes of the females but they always turn into insane males. Then I found out about demasoni.
fuck petsmart, they only sell kenyi, labs... imagine how many people go buy a 20 (or 40 gal) and plop a few of those fish in there. not gonna work.
Great points so far- stay away from petsmart/corporate, keep your tanks either all lake malawi, all tanganyika, or all south american. The cichlid compatible catifish keep things clean. minimal or zero driftwood eliminate ph drift. lots of caves. watch out for the excavation and rocks collapsing

would be awesome to dive lake malawi

[darkstar270]

demasoni are cool fish too!

I would HIGHLY recommend a reef-ready tank to anyone thinking about setting up a new system. The ability to hide everything in a sump/undertank is priceless. every piece of support equipment is hidden in my stand except a pair of Koralia 2's. Not seeing BS is so worth the extra few $.
I have a 29G sump, with a eheim 2213 canister, a fluval 303 canister, mag9, 2x 250w stealth heaters, Maxijet1200, etc.. all hidden in the stand.

[MaynardG_Krebs]

Originally Posted by darkstar270

demasoni are cool fish too!

The males can be real pricks tho.. (like lots of mbunas)

mgk

Shitty pic from tonite..

[MaynardG_Krebs]

Originally Posted by Rysam

Shitty pic from tonite..

Looks like you're from Wisconsin..

mgk

Minnesota born, Cali raised, and Cheese in the blood.