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Pelvicachromis Taeniatus "Moliwe" biotope

Jason82

Member
5 Year Member
Messages
75
Location
Western Australia
Hi everybody!
I plan to do a biotope tank for some fish I got a couple of weeks ago. Here is a pic of the fish I purchased:

They were sold as "Striped Kirbensis - Moliwe" and I got 4 of them. 2 males and 2 females. One male was dominant and paired up with a female pretty quickly, so I moved the sub-dominant male and other female in to another tank.
My cat was happy with the new home she got when I took the fish out of the foam box:

I am currently in the process of shutting down a 6x2x2 tank (72x24x24). This tank was full of limestone and holey rock, and had a couple of colonies of my favourite Malawi Cichlids. On the weekend I took all the Malawi cichlids I had to my Local Fish Shop. I now want to plan a Biotope (or as close as I can to a Biotope) for these new West African fish I have in the 6x2x2.
This is what the tank looked like with the limestone and malawis in it:

And what it now looks like:

I only have some bristlenose catfish in the tank now and a clown loach that I'm giving to a friend this week. I will then drain the tank and start planning the new tank layout. I plan to put a 3D background in the tank since it is such a large tank for such small fish. This is the Back to Nature background I plan to put in the tank:

I want to achieve from this tank a Biotope that looks like a really nice display tank too. I currently have 6 tanks at home, but plan for this to eventually be the only tank I have in the house so I can focus all my spare time on this tank. I have been doing a lot of reading on Pelvicachromis Taeniatus "Moliwe" and have struggled to find much information about Biotopes. I have a couple of books on West African cichlids that I found helpful, as well as an article by Ted Judy in my copy of the July 2011 TFH Magazine entitled "Collecting Pelvicachromis Species in Cameroon" which have given me some idea what to do.

So what I would like to ask is can someone tell me the ID on these fish?
Are they indeed Pelvicachromis Taeniatus "Moliwe"?
What should I be trying to achieve with this tank to try and make it a Biotope?
Will the decor be bogwood and rocks? Any plants?
Should it be a slow flowing stream? Or a fast flowing stream?

I appreciate the help and advice.

Regards,
Jason
 
Last edited:

Jason82

Member
5 Year Member
Messages
75
Location
Western Australia
A couple of Anubis nana and cofeefolia as well as African lace plant (bolbitis) might look the part. Still unsure if these fish are from fast flowing water with no plants, or slow flowing with the above mentioned plants.
 

Jason82

Member
5 Year Member
Messages
75
Location
Western Australia
I managed to get more wood over the weekend, and some large river stones and bolbitis. Next step some substrate. Sadly I lost my pair of Moliwe fish during a heat wave we recently had.
 

Jason82

Member
5 Year Member
Messages
75
Location
Western Australia
So I changed my mind on the background. I got a dark granite background and some fine pebble substrate. Set the tank up on the weekend, and this is how it looks:
dd141002821f6ff2a906c3ced254b43d_zps92e33569.jpg

Got bolbitis on the wood on the left, and plan to put Anubius on the wood on the right. Put a pile of large river rocks on the middle. Very happy with the look of the tank so far. Tank inhabitants are 2 Pelvicachromis Taeniatus "Moliwe" and 6 Congo tetras.
 

Jason82

Member
5 Year Member
Messages
75
Location
Western Australia
thanks for your kind works fishay12
yep sure is a big tank for little fish, but the water is so stable that I won't have to do as many water changes as I used to
the tank now has 15 congo tetras that school together, and I would like to get more taeniatus moliwe, as well as some other fish. Trying to source some crinum plants for in front of the rocks as well

Will post more pics and vids as soon as I get more progress on this tank
 

Captain Jim

Member
Messages
90
I just recently got a half dozen moliwe,..love the dwarves. Are you having any trouble with feeding/shyness with yours? Mine seem to be very scary..in a 20 long.
 

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