Hey everyone. As some of you may know, I recently got a new 55g aquarium. I'm going to do African Cichlids- Lake Malawi specifically as it seems that most of the cichlids I can get around here are Malawis so I thought I might as well do a biotope type setup or as close to I can get to one! I'm taking my time with this one, something I didn't do with my other 3 tanks. I want it to be perfect because this is going to be my last tank (hahaha well we'll see!) and I really wanted to do cichlids because I have grown quite fond of them. This is going to be a "progression thread" as I've seen lots of others doing that so I thought I would try one too! So heres my thoughts for the tank: natural colored gravel (hopefully pea-sized if I can find it) or maybe sand, i'm going to use slate and make a rock structure with lots of holes and things, maybe a few plants- is there anything I can put in there? Java fern maybe? Cabomba? I have a big piece of driftwood thats soaking at the moment so that will be going in there too. I'm going to put a black background on it to make the colors of the fish pop and hide the cords and things. The lighting is pretty bright, i'm not sure what the wpg is, all i know is the light is an Eclipse Natural Daylight?? So yeah, thats my plan so far. I've attached some pics to see how it comes together. I will be updating and adding pictures as I go along. I'm hoping to fill the tank tomorrow if I can get that gravel and get it cycling with media from another filter! The pics are of the tank in the box, the pump and heater, the driftwood, my cat watching me put the stand together and then the last 2 are the finished picture. Thanks for looking and keep checking back!
