Lake Tanganyika Riparium

[dw1305]

Hi all,

I am more inclined to get fish (such as Tanganicodus) that will spend more time among the rocks.

I've never kept any Tanganyikans, but I believe that all the Goby cichlids are pretty tricky to obtain and then keep, because they show a lot of intra-specific aggression, they come from the "surf zone" and need highly oxygenated water and they are aufwuchs feeders and need very careful feeding.

cheers Darrel

 

[hydrophyte]

Hi all,
I've never kept any Tanganyikans, but I believe that all the Goby cichlids are pretty tricky to obtain and then keep, because they show a lot of intra-specific aggression, they come from the "surf zone" and need highly oxygenated water and they are aufwuchs feeders and need very careful feeding.

cheers Darrel

I'll figure something out.

 

[hydrophyte]

I have a good idea for an additional fish to add to this tank. There is quite a bit of open water space up in the front of the tank and I have thought that it might look best if I could include some kind of schooling fish. One idea that I had earlier for the fish stocking was to use a group of Cyprichromis, and then call it good. These active fish get to be several inches long however and this 36" is rather short for them. They are also rather delicate. While snooping around I encountered this fish that I had never heard of before...

Google: Lamprichthys tanganicanus
Lamprichthys tanganicanus - Google Search

What a cool fish! This is a killi that occurs in open water habitats in Lake Tanganyika and it's gorgeous. It looks something like a rainbow. However, L. tanganicanus also gets to be rather big, to 6", and it would be better suited to a bigger tank.

While looking around some more on the Internet I saw some descriptions of using this fish as a Tanganyika tank dither and something of a stand-in for the less hardy, larger-growing and hard-to-find L. tanganicanus...

Google: Oryzias wowerae
oryzias wowerae - Google Search

What a great idea! O. wowerae is not from Africa at all, but it makes sense to use it in a Tanganyika setup. The area in Sulawesi where it originates has karst (limestone) topography and streams with high dissolved mineral content and probably few underwater plants.

I should be able to track down a group of these, then if I can just add one Tanganyika cichlid that will use the rocky areas in the tank this setup will be complete.

 

[hydrophyte]

The Asclepias Mexican milkweed is blooming! This plant flowers readily in the riparium if you give it light.

 

[jack-rythm]

Such rich reds in the under leaf.. What plant is that? This project is really cool man. Love the colours and size

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
Asclepias is A. curavassica, it used to self seed into the floor of the glasshouse, but I'm not sure if I have any left now. The red veined leaf is a Caladium cultivar. "Hydrophyte" will have to tell you which one as they are very popular in Florida etc. and there are a lot of cultivars.

Have a look here:<Rainforest Caladiums>

cheers Darrel

 

[hydrophyte]

Hi all,

Asclepias is A. curavassica, it used to self seed into the floor of the glasshouse, but I'm not sure if I have any left now. The red veined leaf is a Caladium cultivar. "Hydrophyte" will have to tell you which one as they are very popular in Florida etc. and there are a lot of cultivars.



Have a look here:<Rainforest Caladiums>



cheers Darrel

Such rich reds in the under leaf.. What plant is that? This project is really cool man. Love the colours and size



Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

The Asclepia curavassicas is a great riparium plant. If you can find any over there you should try it out in a riparium. It is very easy to grow and bloom.

That red-verined leaf is from a special plant, Cyrtosperma johnstonii. It is a hard-to-find and usually expensive collector plant, but really stunning. It grows to 2M tall, but I am able to keep the pups going as riparium plants for a little while.

Here are a couple more shots of the Asclepias.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Cyrtosperma johnstonii

I was confident with that ones as well! I'd never heard of Cyrtospermum before, now I know I can see it has a waxier leaf. Just looked it up and another Aroid from wet places it looks very suitable for these planters.

I've no idea why ripariums aren't more popular in the UK. Asclepias curavassica is really easy from seed. "Chiltern Seeds" sell it in the UK (along with a lot of other strange plants, I see they have Colocasia fallax & Amorphophallus bulbifer seed for sale).

Cheers Darrel

 

[hydrophyte]

Hi all,
I was confident with that ones as well! I'd never heard of Cyrtospermum before, now I know I can see it has a waxier leaf. Just looked it up and another Aroid from wet places it looks very suitable for these planters. I've no idea why ripariums aren't more popular in the UK. Asclepias curavassica is really easy from seed. "Chiltern Seeds" sell it in the UK (along with a lot of other strange plants, I see they have Colocasia fallax & Amorphophallus bulbifer seed for sale).

Cheers Darrel

Yeah C. johnstonii is a great plant. Another really cool related plant is Lasia spinosa. I link a picture of my L. spinosa with spathe below.

We'd love to find an importer/distributor for the Riparium Supply product line in the UK

I've started the Asclepias curavassica by planting the seeds right in the gravel in the riparium planters. Another very good riparium plant also easy to start from seed is Ruellia brittoniana.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Lasia spinosa

That is a beast, I remember that one from your "Hillstream Riparium" thread <Hillstream Riparium | UK Aquatic Plant Society>.

We'd love to find an importer/distributor for the Riparium Supply product line in the UK

I'm surprised no-one is interested, keep the posts up and I think you may create your own demand.

Another very good riparium plant also easy to start from seed is Ruellia brittoniana.

I might have a go with that one, I used to have a good range of Acanthaceae in the glasshouse, but they've dwindled over time. I've just noticed that another Acanthaceae, the Hygrophila corymbosa that has escaped from the tank in the lab is starting to flower.

cheers Darrel

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
Looking back a the Cyrtosperma picture I noticed the light. Is it a T2 fitting?

cheers Darrel

 

[hydrophyte]

Hi all,
Looking back a the Cyrtosperma picture I noticed the light. Is it a T2 fitting?

cheers Darrel

Darrell no that's just a standard HO T5 fixture.

Did you see the menacing spiny rhizome of the Lasia spinosa?...

That's a helluva plant!

My Tanganyika plans for this setup might have been thwarted. I recently found out about potential availability of these two species...

Etroplus canarensis Canara chromide pearlspot
Etroplus canarensis (Canara Pearlspot Cichlid) — Seriously Fish

Mesonoemacheilus triangularis batik loach
Mesonoemacheilus triangularis — Loaches Online

...both from the same source. I have had it in my head to put together a Western Ghats setup and these are such cool fish. I could probably put one or two of the chromides and a little group of the loaches in this setup. There are proabably a number of smaller Indian barbs that I could also use for a more or less representative combination.

 

[hydrophyte]

Here it is with the gold Asclepias grown up quite tall.

Here's a specimen shot of the Asclepias. I like the look of this plant, but I'm going to cut it back to reduce the shade and give the shorter riparium plants a chance to grow up.

 

[justin85]

Very nice looking setup. what will you be stocking in there ?

 

[hydrophyte]

Very nice looking setup. what will you be stocking in there ?

Thanks so much! I am still working on the new fish stocking. It will depend upon what I can find.

 

[hydrophyte]

Another view of those Asclepias blooms...

 

[justin85]

If you live in the UK here's one of the best suppliers of Wild tangs and F1s he also has tank bred: Malawi and Tanganyikan Cichlid supplier Mike's Rifts


This is where I will be ordering my wilds from for my 240 in the next week or so.

 

[hydrophyte]

If you live in the UK here's one of the best suppliers of Wild tangs and F1s he also has tank bred: Malawi and Tanganyikan Cichlid supplier Mike's Rifts


This is where I will be ordering my wilds from for my 240 in the next week or so.

Thank you but I'm in the US. I have a few pretty good sources I can tap into here.

I finally made up my mind about a cichlid for this setup. This is what I'm going to use...

Julidochromis transcriptus 'Pemba'
Cichlid Profiles

I can get these pretty soon from a local seller. It would have been fun to track down one of those more unusual species that occur in the papyrus habitats, but I think julies might be one of the most sensible options. The 'Pemba' type locality is especially attractive. I hope that they will be OK with the lampeye killis if I add the latter in a good-sized (~12 individuals) group.

 

[hydrophyte]

This tank got a major trim! I mowed the two Ruellia and the two Asclepias back to the last couple of leaf nodes. They will resprout in no time. I hope that the Asclepias will grow back a bit more compact. Now the Cyperus will get some more light.

Here's that picture from a week ago for comparison. My camera has rather poor auto white balance and you can se it especially with the inconsistent colors of the rocks.

 

[hydrophyte]

Here's a quick shot of the Cryptoheros cutteri. I really like this fish; he has a lot of personality. He is coming out of this tank again when I add the new fish.