No I just sold my 21 Tropheus Lufubu F1 that where in the bottom tank I moved what was in the top tank down into the bottom tank.

All I have now tanganyikan wise is 3 Altolamprologus compressiceps bulu point WC, julidochromis Marlieri katoto WC, I will look at getting some more Cyprichromis in 6 months or so, or maybe sme more shellies but fo rthe time being i'm going to put all my attention into the top tank.

Well after 3 years of keeping Tanganyikan cichlids in all my tanks I decided enough was enough when it came to buffering my water.

After a sleepless night on Saturday I turned this:


Into this:



It's gone a lot clearer over the past few days and today I put a dozen platinum tetras in. very attractive little fellas I also have 80 lemon tetras on order but i may put a few in a different tank to start with and see how thing s go.

not bad for my first planted tank!

I had a decent group of wild caught Cyprichromis leptosoma Utinta up untill last week sold them for ?200 (well swapped them for 20 F1 Tropheus Lufubu! had quite alot of fry off them Have you tried mikes rifts he has both of those fish instock and he delivers! only place i get my tanganyikans!

do bigger water changes the more you take out the less nitrite there is! do a 80% water change plus! take it your cylcing your tank with fish in? It will build back up intil your filter can handle it so keep an eye on it and keep up with the water changes

Thanks I thought for a while no one was interested in tanganyikans lol

changed it a round abit now bottom tank has 20 Tropheus moorii Lufubu

top tank still has 4 alto's but i've added 2 L200 green phantoms no pics yet as got them today from pier aqautics, fancied a change from L187b!

It's been a while since i last posted on this forum, pretty much from when i started out keeping tanganyikans back september 2010.

I've come along wa since then and here are a few pictures of my setups ove rthe years:

current setup:




old setups:








heres a picture of a few of my fish over the years as well:

neolamprologus kungweensis


lamprologus ocellatus


cyprichromis leptosoma utinta


neolamprologus savoryi


lamprologus brevis



julidochromis transcriptus katoto


altolamprologus compressiceps bulu point



altolamprologus compressiceps sumbu shellfish


altolamprologus calvus nsumbu


neolamprologus pulcher kasanga



julidochromis regani


cyprichromis leptosoma kekese


Challochromis pleurospillus kigoma

neolamprologus caudopunctatus aren't a true shell dweller! I love my WC Brevis kigoma out of all the shellies i've had gold ocellatus,multis, blue ocellatus, and compressiceps sumbu shel fish!

I have 3 altolamprologus compressiceps sumbu for sale if anybody fancies a beautiful shellie!

the most sensible way to buffer your water is to do it via water changes and a little each week till you get it to the correct hardness then keep it the same every week! if you do it all at once you'll end up upsetting the fish or worst killing them!

i pre buffer my water 3 days before adding it to the tank, i keep it in a water butt with a heater and a airstone running, then add epsom salts and sodium bicarbonate till my ph, kh and gh are a the levels i want i only add the water conditioner just before i transfer it to the tanks!

not saying it won't happen i'm just saying i never saw it happen when i kept them with shellies the synos will be a pain in the A**e though!

is a small footprint though theres no denying that!

I disagree Julidochromis regani will be fine in your set up and even if a pair form they allow submissive julies in to protect the fry and area from other fish! this is what happened with mine granted they where in a bigger a tank but they will be fine with shellies! don't get me wrong there will be some chasing round untill a hierarcy is established but they'll be fine! they'll get around 6" not 12"

I wouldn't add any more petricola though infact if your serious about cichlids i'd move them on but it depends on what you want to do!