500 gallon redo…

[danotaylor]

In the wake of the sale of the fresh water stingrays, I was given the opportunity to purchase an adult group of Placidichromis phenochilus “Mdoka” aka Mdoka white lips.
I picked up the group yesterday from a fishy friend of mine in Cincinnati.
15 adults, looks to be about 6-7M the rest females. All fish are from the AquaHaus German line or 1st gen offspring from the original German fish.
Here’s a couple preliminary pics. Video to come once they’re settled in.
The right hand end of the tank hasn’t been scaped yet as I am planning to divide the tank, 2/3 for the mdokas, other 1/3 for some of my tropheus…
Tank is a little hazy from a 400gal water change yesterday morning before I went to pick them up.
Enjoy!
Dominant male. 1 pic w actinic blue light on, 1 with just the white lights;

[danotaylor]

[danotaylor]

I received my divider from Amazon this afternoon. It was 12 square pieces each 11.5”x11.5” that lock together to interconnect. Plenty of suction fittings to get it secured properly. This was the only budget friendly option to divide my internal width/height of 34”x28” other than cutting and connecting white egg crate, which actually would have been more expensive and much more of an eye sore. This cost $45 shipped.
I’d say the outcome is acceptable. It’s not beautiful but not as ugly as a hat full of bum holes either.
Ima see how it sits with me over the next few days b4 I had the trophs to the smaller side.
The trapezoid overflow position determined the place the divider was fitted.
74x34x28” for the Mdoka.
44x34x28” for the trophs.

[Second Hand Pat]

Looks good Danny. I remember when I separated my 230 into 1/3 and 2/3 sections. I had a wild pair spawn and wanted to separate the pair from the rest of the fish. Also had a sump with overflow. Larry Bugg sent me a large piece of foam which worked nicely.
Pat

[danotaylor]

Thank you Pat. I forgot you mentioned that previously. That would have probably looked nicer and been easier to set in place. The width & depth of this big tank made it very difficult to position the divider. It’s still not perfectly straight but it’ll get the job done ✅

[Second Hand Pat]

Dan, If the fish prove to be too feisty you can also go to a foam divider.
Pat

[danotaylor]

Yes, good point Pat

[danotaylor]

I added the Lufubu purple rainbow group to the smaller divided end of the 5 hundo. There’s 35 total now from 1.5-3”. The bigger ones have just started to show some breeding behavior. They don’t show well against the black background, especially since the light is pretty dim. In retrospect I should have put the red bishops group against the black background and left the lufubu against the blue one in the 125gal. Can always switch them if a new light doesn’t improve the viewing experience.
Here’s a vid…

[danotaylor]

Terrible quality pic, but 1 of my female mdokas has a mouthful of eggs. The bulge under her mouth is where the eggs are held

[AquaticNerd]

Dang Danny, you're such a breeding machine! Are you planning on trying to remove the eggs from the momma or just let nature handle it?

[danotaylor]

Thanks Jake. I will remove the eggs at the 14 day mark so she can start eating again and recondition. I’m not planning to grow out Mdoka juvies as I want to use my 1 grow out tank to focus on tropheus fry to increase my groups sizes. I do have a friend who will take the Mdoka fry once they’re stable enough for a 30 minute trip across town.

[John_Nicholson]

Looks like you got it going on. Congrats. Not my kind of fish but I have owned them at times in the past. Usually because of a fish auction and at the end when everyone was out of money I would make a mercy bid and end up with the fish. I usually kept them for a while, raise a spwan or two, and then sell them to a local fish shop. It was always fun but just not my cup of tea.

-john

[danotaylor]

Thanks John. My taste changes like the wind to be honest. I rarely keep anything beyond a couple years. I get bored and desire change. I have kept and bred many things over the past 43yrs in the hobby. I like to observe group behavior, including breeding, but haven’t really raised and sold fry for years. I am in the process of breeding and raising my tropheus as I want to achieve group sizes in the 50-60 fish range. Because of the price retailer pay from the farms, there’s really no market for anything that makes fiscal sense any more. Haha

[For100]

That’s a great tank! I’ve never kept African chichilds, but I’m sure they’re entertaining to watch. Are you planning to breed them, or are you just going to keep them together and let nature take its course?

[danotaylor]

That’s a great tank! I’ve never kept African chichilds, but I’m sure they’re entertaining to watch. Are you planning to breed them, or are you just going to keep them together and let nature take its course?

Thanks Fred! The plan is to feed them well, keep the water nice & clean, and watch them do their thing. I will probably strip some fry 1 or 2 times just so I can say I did, lol.