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I'm setting up my very first African cichlid tank, a small Tanganyikan shellie setup, and I thought I'd keep track of my progress both for my own benefit and for anyone else interested in setting something like this up.
I had hoped to provide weekly pictures, but I managed to be a complete dunce and broke my camera just this past weekend. Hopefully I'll be able to get another one soon, or borrow one or something.

I'm starting with a 20 gallon high tank (24x12x16), and already I'm thinking that I should have used a 15 gallon tank with the same footprint and surface area, but less height, since shellies tend to stick toward trhe bottom of the tank. I'm using Theresa_M's tanks as a model, and I plan to have a rockpile in the "middle" of the tank, and shells spread around. This has also influenced my choice of fish to keep, and I'm leaning towards Lamprologus caudopunctatus because they might use the caves as much as the shells, and their bright yellow crest is just irrestistable...

For equipment I'm using an AquaClear 30 filter, and plan to have a sponge around the intake to prevent problems with sand damaging my filter. I also have a Jager heater that will be set to keep the water around 78 degrees.

I splurged a bit an decided to use Eco-Complete African Cichlid Sand, which appears to be a mix of aragonite and black sand. I did this mostly because my local hardware store wasn't open when I went to get play sand/pool filter sand, and the pet store had this stuff on hand. The rock I plan to use is Florida moonstone, which appears to be made up of sediment and seashells from ancient shellbeds. Both of these have some buffering capacity, but I have ridiculously soft water, so I'll also be treating my water with Seachem's Tanganyika buffer, which should further harden the water, and raise Ph. I also ordered a whole bunch of shells and a few ceramic caves from www.cichlidbreeding.com

I actually plan to add plants to this setup. Anubias, java fern, java moss, and possibly some crypts. There will also be some frogbit floating on top. I'm hoping that this will help keep nitrates under control, as well as softening all of the rock a bit. I'm unsure whether I want to add a bit of driftwood to the mix... if I find a few suitable pices, maybe. I don't think a few pieces of wood will compromise the buffering of the rock, substrate, and buffer...

And snails... I'm thinking of having some MTS to keep the sand stirred and clean up detrius and algae. Perhaps some nerite snails as well if algae becomes a real problem.

And that's as far as I've gotten at the moment. Everything is sprawled about my living room waiting to be put together. Is there something I'm forgetting? Anything else I should know before I get things set up?
I also have a question about quarrantine: Is it practical/ necessary to set up an african-cichlid-specific quarrantine tank?
I plan to start filling the tank tomorrow, which will pretty much just mean getting the sand rinsed and in place, filling with buffered water, and getting the filter and heater in place. Then will follow the rocks and shells and most of the plants. Then I'll wait a few weeks for the cycle to complete, and finally I'll be buying my fish.

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...

Good luck with your Tanganiykan tank & don't forget to post some pictures, please.

Are you going to add some N.brichardi?.


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Can you post your exact stock when you pick it becuase I am also going to do a similar setup so mabye I can learn a little from yours. thanks

"A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man" Simpsons

Have you thought about a background? Shellies can be quite shy/nervous, many people comment on this when they first get them. They will settle in but still like a 'safe feeling' environment. Ad Konings says one of the most important things to consider with a Tang tank is the background.

I've used Eco-Complete African Cichlid Sand as well; IME it definitely does need rinsing, although the bag says it does not.

What's important regarding pH is to keep it steady. For example, a steady 7.6 is better than 8.2 one week and 7.8 the next.

Are you getting your fish locally or online?

Very excited about your project and looking forward to seeing pics

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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

Well what is an acceptable background? I read that someone like to just spraypaint the back of their tank black and that works well. They said they also spray paint the bottom because they dig through to the bottom of the tank and that the reflective glass at the bottom can stress them out. What do you think of this?

If the background is one of the most important features, what should we look for in setting up a tank?

Also, what would you say is the minimum ph that some shellies would be content in? Are the ph and hardness equally important?

And Theresa, will you be selling multis in the summer????

Many people paint the back of the tank black. I've always gone with purchased backgrounds, either black or something simple like rockwork. There are also people who make DIY backgrounds; here is one example.

Personally I'd say a minimum pH would be 7.6 although some people keep Tangs successfully in lower. Consistency is very important.

Quite honestly I only test for pH and temp

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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

I've been looking on www.shelldwellers.com a bit, and noticed that a number of people use 3d backgrounds in their tanks, and I really like the look of them, so I'm going to give a 3D background a try. I'll probably put it on 2 sides: the back and right-hand side. It's dark and natural looking, and will block from view people walking by and the cats' curiosities. I'm also going to have plants and frogbit floating on top, so hopefully this will add to their security and I'll see them out and about.

I'm actually having a problem finding African cichlid dealers who will allow orders of less than $100, and it's really bothering me. So Aquabid is probably going to be my best bet. I'm going to start with just a small group of shellies, preferably 1 male and 2 females, but a group of 6-10 may be the most cost-effective way. If I had a 20 long, I'd be more likely to add tankmates, but in just a 2 foot tank, a single-species setup seems best. Perhaps a single specimen of one or two others might be okay, depending on how well the shellies do, so I might add a single comprisseps or possibly a pair of small julies. No brichardi for this tank, though. If all goes well, maybe in a few years (when I have money for a new larger tank) I'll set up a Tanganyika community, but for now, I'm going to take it one at a time.

Unfortunately, I broke my digital camera just last week, so while I do promise pictures will be forthcoming, it won't be for a few weeks.

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...

Here are a few sites that I'm 99% sure don't have a minimum order requirement:

Wet Thumb Aquatics

Neptune Aquatics

Tropical Cichlids

Armke's Rare Aquarium fish

I like to use Cichlid-Forum.com's review section to read about personal experiences with both online and lfs.

By the way, I ended up switching my 20 long to a species-only tank (stapps)....I'm sure I have a mix of M/F but after a few months of having them and not seeing fry I suspected the calvus might possibly be eating fry. So they moved to my 29g with the regani and so far that's working out well. I know people keep shellies with other Tangs, I don't know if I just had bad luck or if a larger tank works best for that type of setup.

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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

Hey Theresa_M! Thanks so much for the links!

Initially, I had really hoped to have a small community of up to 3 types of fish (shellie, julie, and a brichardi-type), and I had even found one person's webpage that featured exactly that... but I realized that it was only one webpage out of thousands where this situation worked, and it was clear that fry and ostracized fish were moved to other tanks (which I don't and probably won't have), so single-species seems to be the way to go.

Far in my aquaria plans for the future is a larger (40 breeder) tank for a relatively small tanganyikan community, but that's after this tank, and after I get out of debt a bit more (almost done with school loans, YAY!), and after my birchir/oddball setup is underway...

It's unfair that there are so many cool fish, and so little aquarium hobby time/space/money/etc.

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...

Quite honestly I only test for pH and temp

What a relief!

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~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~

In regards to hardness and Ph:

My tap water is ridiculously soft and slightly acidic. Gh is usually below 20 ppm, and Kh doesn't register on the test. Ph from the tap is 6.8.

I did purchase Seachem's Tanganyika buffer, which when combined with the sand, rock, and shells, should bring my hardness up a lot, and it says on the bottle that it will raise Ph up to 9.0. That seems awfully high to me... Most of the cichlid sellers I've been looking at say they keep ther fish in water with Ph around 7.4 to 8.4, so I'm worried about losing fish during acclimation if my Ph is too different. And then there's the problem of keeping things stable when I do water changes. I have plenty of buckets for aquarium-only use, so letting water stand overnight isn't really a problem, I can add the buffer and test before adding it to the tank, I guess. Any hints or tips for using buffers?

My shells arrived yesterday! I'm using mostly turbo snail shells, and I got a few ceramic caves. I'm getting very excited!

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...

Well, the 3D background idea just isn't going to work out. Since I'm using an AquaClear filter, the intake tube is too close to the glass to allow room for a 3D background. I'm a little disappointed, but I was also having trouble finding a background that didn't look tacky and coordinated well with the rocks I have. Oh well... perhaps on another tank someday.

I spent last night rinsing sand and filling the tank for the first time. It looks pretty cool. I'll be washing rocks and siliconing them together so they don't topple over the weekend. The tank will run fishless for a few weeks so I can get the hang of doing water changes with sand (first time I've ever used sand, and I've been avoiding it because I've read that it can be a real pain), and so that I can get the hang of using buffers and keeping a steady Ph. The first thing I'll probably add are a few MTS, and that should also get the cycle started.

And Plants... I'll be getting plants and seeing how they do.

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...

Be careful MTS can take over a tank rapidly. I started with 2 and now have hundreds in just a few months.

"A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man" Simpsons

This is a bit of a concern for me, as I've had snail infestations before and eventually had to tear down my tank and bleach the gravel to get rid of them, and I certainly don't want to do that here. I think I just need to make sure I don't overfeed to keep them in check.
On the other hand, I have terrible luck with snails (I havn't been able to keep mystery snails alive form more than a few days, and nerite snails for up to a week), so the question may be moot. If I can't keep snails, what are some other things I can keep as a clean-up crew? I am especially worried about algae, but I don't want uneaten food dirtying my sand, either.
Any thoughts?

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...

Is it okay to keep live apple snails in a shellie tank?

Well, it's better than keeping dead apple snails in a shellie tank...
Sorry...
Seriously, though, there are a number of people who do this with no problems. The shellies are not going to be interested in the snail's shell while the snail is still inhabiting it, and they won't kill or try to eat the snail. The biggest problem keeping snails with shellies is that the snails will sometimes eat the shellie eggs.

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...

Hi, I like the sound of your setup but I have 1 concern with what Ive read in your post. You said you were going to silicone rocks together - that's a really good idea but please don't forget to soak them in separate water for 48 hours before putting them in your tank otherwise you'll poison the tank....
Shellies are great fun, I've got 5 Ocellatus Gold (2 wild and 3 tank bred) and a pair of Brevis and they live in a 48x15x18 tank in with a variety of Alunocara, Blue Haps and Daffodil Brichardi fry we are growing on.
We have the sides and back of the tank painted sky blue and use coral sand with a fluval 4 internal filter.
Good Luck with your tank.

Well, I stacked and stuck together a bunch of rocks and a few ceramic caves, tied on some anubias and java fern, and stuck it in my tank... and it's a lot of rock. It takes up about half the available space of the tank. On the up side, it hides the filter intake without blocking it, and looks kinda cool. It will look even better once the java ferns grow a bit.
However, this is impacting the kind of fish I can have, and how many. Lamprologus caudopunctatus are cave dwellers as well as breeding in shells, so that may be a very good choice if they use both the shells and the rockwork. Julis may be possible as well for the same reason. Maybe brevis will be okay if they only need 2-3 shells per fish. Shellies that need more shells than that probably won't be possible simply because there is no longer enough space for enough shells. Maybe the rockwork wasn't such a good idea, but it really does look pretty cool, so I'm not sure I want to take it out. I just have to chose my inhabitants a little more carefully.

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...

The tank is finally set up, planted, and ready to cycle!

It will be interesting to see how the crypts do in the sand substrate, I tucked most of the roots under the rockwork a bit so hopefully they will not get dug up. Otherwise, I have anubias, java fern (narrow leaf), and bolbitis fern all tied to the big pile of rocks.
I really wish I hadn't broken my camera, as I'm quite pleased at how the tank looks, and it will look even better once the plants settle and start growing.

I'm going to be adding some MTS, I think. I have the worst luck EVER with snails, so it will be interesting to see if they manage to live. I think the problem in my other tanks is the very soft water and below-neutral Ph. I can keep shrimp and crayfish in my other tanks with no problems at all, so I don't think it's copper or water quality problems. I really hope the MTS work out, as it will be a big pain to be picking dead snails out of this tank.

And I really have to decide on what I'm going to stock this tank with... Decisions decisions. It would be great as a caudopunk species tank, and maybe I can get a breeding colony going. I think I've found an LFS that will take fry off my hands if I need to, or I can try my hand at selling fish on Aquabid.
I'm also still toying with the idea of a pair of juli transcriptus or ornatus, and a brevis species. This might not work, though, and if I did try it, I'd need a place to put one species or the other. I'm considering tearing down my quarrantine tank and setting it up with sand and hard water just in case.

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...

It sounds like the tank is coming along nicely As far as stock I'll give you my thoughts...

I wouldn't mix the punks with other shellies simply because of the fact that you might end up with territory issues over the shells.

I've found that julies-like a lot of other Tangs-are slow growers. If you could find a pair that would be great. Otherwise you'd have to purchase a group and wait for them to grow up and pair off. If you don't mind the wait that's ok but would you have someone to take the extra julies? And while they're cave spawners they tend to choose sites as close to the substrate as possible, which again could cause territory problems.

So you could try for the julies along with brevis; maybe 3 pair in a 20g. Or go with a species tank of punks..that's my vote

And good luck with the snails!

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There is water at the bottom of the ocean