View Full Version : How to make an attractive tank
Okay people here's the deal, Im aquiring a new 6ft tank. now its going to be a Cichlid tank so I cant really have any plants with most of the fish. its going to be a room divider so all sides are exposed so I cant have a background picture. The thing is I dont really like tacky models in tanks and well just rocks and bogwood are are going to make the tank look a bit dull colour wise. Does anyone have any odeas on what I can put in the tank to give it some more colour and interest that wont get ripped apart by Oscars, Sevs and the like? I dont like the idea of a glass bead substrate as I think this will be a nightmare to keep clean looking.
Any suggestions??
N8DOGG
09-07-2004, 11:33 AM
If you want plants you'll need fake ones,and then you'll need to silicone them down or weigh them down. I would go with sand and then some slate rocks. you can build up caves for the fish and still have enough room for them to swim. If you like the look of clay flower pots my cichlids love to hid in them.
Timmain42
09-07-2004, 11:39 AM
Try pool-filter sand (1.5mm stones) as a substrate, readily available at most LFS or pool supply stores. It's small enough to be attractive, but not big enough to keep the cichlids from moving it around as needed (or wanted).
As for decorations... well, grab a bottle of white vinegar and head to the local landscaping supply. Find some rocks that you think might fit well in your tank and splash a little vinegar on them when the landscapers aren't looking. If it bubbles, let it be, find another kind of rock.
As far as something that might work well with cichlids, I personally am partial to this sort of look:
http://www.aquariumdesigngroup.com/uploads\1_10_Tanganyika%20Rift%20Lake%20Exhibit1.j pg
Of course, this stack would have to be modified to fit in a room divider (the stack wouldn't touch either side of the glass, etc.), but it would give everyone what they needed: you-something nice to look at, fish-a place to hide/live.
Just a thought.
N8DOGG
09-07-2004, 12:20 PM
thats what I was thinking to a T
very nice tank.
Timmain42
09-07-2004, 12:49 PM
thats what I was thinking to a T
very nice tank.
Glad it's not mine. I dealt with too many cichlid tanks last year... think I'll just stick with plants/aquaticGardens. That particular tank comes from these guys (http://www.aquariumdesigngroup.com/).
Wow that does look good, I was checking out that link to see the other pictures and they had some fantastic sand and slate arrangements, and a lot of them had some quite blue lighting which really looked good. Any idea on what sort of lighting this is as I havent noticed any blue flouresent lighting at my LFS.
Also some of the tanks had some tree roots coming down from the hood which I really liked are these mangrove roots that Ive heard about? also how would you attach these in your tank without them being a pain when lifting your hood to do waterchanges and other maintenance?
I dream of...
09-08-2004, 7:51 AM
I have silk plants in my tank & everyone thinks they are real. But you may want to go with the stacked rock theme since you are keeping cichlids. Or maybe a few plants for color? Do a search on mangrove trees & you will see a lot of cool pics of them in tanks, but all the ones I've seen didn't have lids or only had partial lids on their tanks. I think they also had to have special lighting hung from the ceiling or something. I've even seen a mangrove tree grown in a bowl with a betta. Enjoy setting up your tank & let us see the finished product if you can!
ArkyLady
09-08-2004, 1:01 PM
The blue lights are actinic lighting, commonly used in reef tanks. You can buy fluorescent bulbs that are 100% actinic or 50/50 regular and actinic. Check out www.drsfostersmith.com or www.bigalsonline.com
LongTime
09-08-2004, 1:06 PM
If you want plants you'll need fake ones,and then you'll need to silicone them down or weigh them down. I would go with sand and then some slate rocks. you can build up caves for the fish and still have enough room for them to swim. If you like the look of clay flower pots my cichlids love to hid in them.
With oscars, I would not silicone the plants down unless you glued them to a large rock. Oscars can move a lot of gravel and I have seen them move all the gravel to one side of the tank. You could end up with a plant just sitting by itself!
Timmain42
09-08-2004, 1:17 PM
IME:
DO NOT USE ACTINICS FOR FRESHWATER TANKS. In my time as an aquarium service technician, I found that *every single FW tank* that had actinics over it had weird algae issues. They are pretty, but will most likely cause problems in the long run. IME. If you want blue, try finding 10-20k Kelvin lights.
Also, you can usually add Java Fern as a live plant to cichlid tanks. It seems that JFern tastes nasty to fish, so they tend to leave it alone. You might not even have to fertilize the Fern, as the fish will provide most of the fertilizer.
These are the two I like.
I was thinking then instead of going for a blue lighting which I think more suit the blue and yellow colours of African cichlids anyway, going for a light sand subsrate, a terracotta coloured slate in stacks with lots of hiding holes and some bog wood and java fern so it has an over all warm affect. And hopefully the fish wont eats the java fern!