Aquarium Reflectors
When using a wooden hood it is always best to try and reflect as much light back into the water as possible from the tubes. This is usually done with aquarium reflectors which can be quite expensive especially on larger hoods.
A cheaper alternative is to use tinfoil and wood glue. I have used this technique on all of my wooden hoods and it works a treat. Cover the inside of the hood with wood glue then carefully lay down the tinfoil and smooth flat. Try and wipe of any access glue before it dries and don`t worry if you rip the tinfoil because you can easily patch it up. If the hood is quite large then you can always do this in sections to make it easier as the tinfoil may get a bit sticky.
Breeding Nets for Fry
If you are keeping African cichlids then you may already know how readily they breed. I try and keep every batch but this can be hard to do at times especially when space is an issue. I began to use mesh breeding nets, the kind that have suckers enabling them to stick to the glass. I use these so that I can keep a holding female or her fry inside another tank that already has some young in it. This works fine, however after a while I noticed a serious problem developing.
If the holding female is small then her fry will be small too and if the breeding net is in a tank with others then the small fry can be pulled through the mesh by the hungry tank mates and eaten. After loosing nearly a full batch of fry I came up with a solution that works really well. I purchased some "Ankle High" ladies tights. These are very cheap and are like socks only made from the same material as regular tights.
I found that one of these fits nice and snug around the breeding net giving an extra very fine mesh layer keeping out any hungry tank mates. I now have one on every breeding net and all my fry are safe now no matter how small they are.
Egg Tumbling
When a holding female has her eggs in her mouth this can be a very stressful time for her. If like me you like to try and get the female into a separate tank to have her fry in piece then you will know that sometimes she will spit out her eggs especially in young first time mums. If these eggs have been safely caught in a net or container then they can be placed into the fry tank along with the female. The female may or may not collect the eggs back up in her mouth but if she does not then you can try the following which I personally have had success using.
In the fry tank place a net across the top so that the mesh goes down into the water. Alternatively you can use a mesh breeding net that uses suckers to stick to the inside glass. If you are using a net then you will need to weight it down with something, I use a very small flat piece of rock or led weight. Once the mesh is down into the water and not floating about connect up a small air pump and fix the airline/airstone right under the net so that the bubbles are floating up through the mesh. You can hold this in place by suckers or led weight.
Now place the eggs into the net, the bubbles from the air pump constantly churn the eggs around which is what the female would do in her mouth. Make sure that the eggs do not get stuck under the rock. Once you notice the eggs hatching you can feed them with a liquid feed such as Interpet Liquifry No1 until they are big enough to take crushed flake.
Feeding Mbuna
Mbuna are vegetarians and can not properly digest fleshy foods so only feed them vegetable based foods. You can always suppliment their normal diet with cucumber and garden peas. Buy any cheap bag of frozen peas, leave a few out to defrost or place them in some boiling water for a few minutes. Once defrosted split and remove the shells then drop the peas into the tank. Peas are always appriciated by any type of Mbuna and can be refrozen without the shells and then defrosted for use at a later date.
Maturing a Tank
Over the years I have set up quite a lot of tanks including closing down a fully stocked Malawi tank measuring 72" x 24" x 12" just to change over to a 72" x 24" x 18" and had it up and running all in the same day. If you have ever found yourself having to set up a tank in a hurry for what ever reason then here are some tips to help get the good bacteria going fast. It is not always possible to keep the tank water so the next best thing is the muck from another tank which can be a friends.
Once your new tank is running clean out as many sponge media from any filters into the new tank or a container. However remember that the bacteria from the sponge can only last about an hour out of tank water so be quick when transporting the muck. When this goes into the new tank it will make the water look dirty but in time this will clear and the bacteria will find itself into the new filters. You can also take the dirty water from a friends tank when they do a water change.
Another tip is to drop in a small pinch of food, usually flake into the new tank every couple of days. This will encourage the different bacteria to start and also give them something to feed on before introducing the new fish.
Water Chemistry for Malawi Cichlids
There are products that you can buy that add all the trace elements into the water however on a regular basis these products can be expensive. Here is a cheaper alternative than buying shop products, it was provided by MCH and I have been using it for a long time now.
"Common bicarbonate of soda is effective at raising the PH, not to mention it is very inexpensive. Epsom salts (i.e magnesium sulfate) can be used to harden the water in lieu of calcium. Then you could also add aquarium salt (i.e non-iodized salt) to provide trace elements and potassium. For every 5 gallons of water add 1 tablespoon of epsom salts, 1 teaspoon of baking powder soda and 1 teaspoon of aquarium salt".