Big Changes = Long hours

[fitch]

Hello All,

I am in the midst of a major change in my fish room!!! I am setting up 2 - 65 gallon tanks and taking down 6 - 10 gallons and 1 - 15 gallon.

This all stems from my "new" (about 5 months in my possession now) peacock cichlids , which have been happily residing in a 35-40 gallon tank (Surface area [S.A.] of a 65) now needing to be separated. I have mapped out all the changes , and the last 2 nights I have begun work on this project. There is of course still lots to do!

I will post the actual steps involve as a follow up to this, but I just wanted to list the new occupants of each of my tanks involved, to see if anyone sees any potential problems with my combinations. So here goes:

Tank 1 - 40 gallon (S.A. of 65); My Tanganyikan breeders - J. Malieri, L. Brevis, and N. Brichardi (2 of each) Not concened about the young'ens any more
Tank 2 - 35 gallon (Short); 3 socolofi breeders (1M, 2F), 1 Spare Vic Hap Male
Tank 3 - 50 gallon Tang community stays the same.
Tank 4 - 40 gallon breder; 1 M and 5 female Vic Haps
Tank 5 - 15 gallon; Spare
Tank 6 - 40 gallon (short); Albino Peacock (M), A. Jacobfreibergi (M), and a pair of Juvanile Vic. Hap "Rock Kribesis"
Tank 7 - 65 gallon; A. sp "Lwanda" (4 maturing juvanlies), 1 pair L. Caeruleus, 1 blue zebra (not specific just a spare fish)
Tank 8 - 50 gallon (short); 3 OB peacocks (1M, 2F), 1 Pair Cynotilaplia afra Nkhata Bay (note - taking spare Vic Hap Male from here)
Tank 9 - 65 gallon; O. Lithobates "Zibawe Rock" (6 maturing juvaniles), 1 pair L. sp. "perlmutt"
Tank 10 - 33 gallon; A. regals (6 maturing juvaniles)
Tank 11 - 25 gallon (short); Malawi and Vic Fry (Afras, Regals, Vic Haps, Perlmutts, etc, all under an inch)
Tank 12 - 20 gallon; Grow out tank
Tank 13 - 20 gallon (long); Spare
Tank 14 - 20 gallon; Grow out tank
Tank 15 - 100 gallon; Grow out tank


Tanks that I am concerned about the new occupants are: 6,7, & 9.

Please if you have any comments on the combinations of those tanks let me know, especially if you have experience with the proposed combination.

Cheers
Jay

[fitch]

Not important, never mind... just know that there are alot of tanks and occupants being moved around!!!

Cheers,
Jay

[Rudy]

Good luck Jay.

How do you maintain all those tanks anyway?

[fitch]

Lots and lots of hours, luckily the wife also has a time consuming hobby (scrapbooking). It gets worse when I have to leave the country for months at a time, she does a little maintenance... which is more than I expect, but I usually come home and have a weeks worth of work just to catch up.

Cheers
Jay

[Overawed]

Wow Jay, I thought maintaining my 4 tanks was too much. Is your Albino Peacock a Red Eureka? Just a warning if it is, they can become hyper-dominant in prescence of a female. You probably know that, but I am just making sure.

Best of luck with the tanks!

O

[fitch]

From looking on the web it looks as though my albino is: Aulonocara hansbaenschi ("Albino Red Shoulder" Peacock), I never really bothered to find out, as it was salvaged from a friends tank when they moved.
Here is a link to the pic that helped me identify it, and if you disagree with their (and now my identification) please let me know... as I should know what kind of fish it is, for my own betterment.


http://www.acay.com.au/~hyperd/albinohansbaenschi.html

Also the only female in the tank will be a Rock Krib.
Cheers
Jay

[fitch]

Current Status:

Tank 1 - set-up and occupied by propre fish
Tank 2 - set-up and occupied by propre fish
Tank 3 - set-up and occupied by propre fish
Tank 4 - set-up and occupied by propre fish
Tank 5 - set-up and occupied by some small J. malieri
Tank 6 - set-up and occupied by propre fish
Tank 7 - set-up and occupied by propre fish
Tank 8 - set-up and occupied by propre fish
Tank 9 - set-up and occupied by propre fish
Tank 10 - set-up and occupied by propre fish
Tank 11 - set-up and occupied by propre fish
Tank 12 - Still to set-up
Tank 13 - Still to set-up
Tank 14 - Still to set-up
Tank 15 - set-up and occupied by propre fish

Changes:
Tank 13 is going to be set-up under tank 3, will change my numbering, but that is about all.

Still to do:
1. Take a lot of fish to the shop and get rid of them.
2. Build platform for Tank 12 and 14. I need to extend the shelf so that these tanks are more accessible.
3. Cut slab of wood to set-up Tank 13 under Tank 3
4. Set-up tanks 12, 13, 14.
5. Sit back and enjoy the new set-up

Other Notes:
1. Still have two ten gallons running where Tank 12 and 14 are to be placed.
2. Have Tank 12, and a 15 gallon running on the coffee table to keep abunch of Tanganyikans in. Till I get a chance to take them to the shop.

Sorry guys/gals if you think this is a waste of your time to read, it is helping me keep a log of what I have to do.

Must everything went smoothly so far, aside from the fact that I have been up to 3 and 4 am the last two nights respectively. The only fish that has suffered in anyway during the move is my female L. caeruleus, who had a mouthful of eggs. She spit the batch during transfer. During the transfer which probably entailed 3 hours in a bucket for her (given the grand scale of the moves I was performing) she was beat quite a bit by one of the pailmates. Not sure if it was the male or the Blue Zebra. I know that I should have separated her, but I really didn't have the spare buckets/containers to give here her own space.

Well that is how everything is going. I don't think that I'll have a chance to get much done this week-end, prior engagements. But I shall keep those interested informed.

Pics to follow soon.

Cheers
Jay