More African Cichlids - Peacocks

Just before Christmas '07 I lucked into a couple big tanks another club member was selling. Two 29s, complete. I grabbed them on a whim, and then brought them home to think about where to put them. The best spot seemed to be under the 55g tank, which was unused space, except for being a catchall for junk.

So I broke the 55g down, and it didn't have much in it anyway. I moved the convicts in it to 15g tanks, and put the rainbows in the 110g show tank. Then I cleaned the tank up a bit and emptied out the 'clown gravel' - bright blue with marbles in it! It came with the tank, and I had always disliked it anyway - not my taste!

And I built a new rack. I'm not too happy about having the tank way up high like that, but I really reinforced the center legs.

Now it's looking pretty heavy duty.

I ended up having to modify the front leg in order to slip the 29s in there. They aren't coming back out easily. It's a one way trip.

January 6, 07

Friday the African Cichlid Eco-Complete substrate came from Dr Foster & Smith, my favorite mailorder pet supply. Would you believe it was only $10 to ship 100 pounds of gravel?! What a deal! That's probably cheaper than the gas to drive to Portland to buy it at a pet shop, plus the substrate was cheaper than at the pet shops anyway. I like to give local shops the money whenever I can, but sometimes it's just a better deal to get it shipped in.

Then on Saturday I headed over to the rock quarry on Hwy 503 and told the nice lady there I'd like to buy some rock, but not a truckload, just a little. She had me drive on the scale to weigh the van, then I drove over to the bins of what looked like some good little slabs and blocks of stone. I loaded up a big box in the back of the van with an assortment of interesting looking rocks. Drove back on the scale and got reweighed. Now it was 100lbs heavier. The total cost - $12! $12 for enough rocks to decorate three tanks! Unbelievable!

So today I put it all together. I put some rubber no-slip liner on the bottom of the tanks under where the rocks would be, just to cushion them a little bit. I haven't tried that before, but I don't think it will deteriorate, and it kept the rocks from sitting flat on the glass. I'll see if that turns out to be a bad idea over time, but I think it will be ok. Then I set up my rocks to make some nice caves and left about half the tank for swimming room. The rocks in the 55 of course aren't as tall a display as I would have liked, but I don't want anything to topple over either.

I flipped the backdrop on the 55 around so it was showing the black side.

And filled them up. As I filled them I got the lights and heaters plugged in, and the hang-on-back filters working.

The Eco-Complete comes wet, and the water in the bag is supposed to contain bacteria to help get the tanks cycled. It will stay cloudy for a bit until that all settles. During shipping one bag got a hole in it and leaked, and it soaked through the box and melted the cornstarch peanuts, it was a yucky stinky mess, and the FedEx driver didn't appreciate it one bit.

I used the Eco-Complete 'sand' last time, and it has been a pain to clean, and it gets under the algae scraper and scratches the tank, so this time I bought the 'gravel' size. It's HUGE. The pieces are probably average 1/2 inch. It's actually made up of small rocks, corals, and seashells. It's sure cool to look at. I was expecting it to be a bit smaller though. The main purpose of it is to buffer the water so it's hard enough for the Africans. The 'sand' does a good job, so I'm hoping this will work just as well.

Now I just need to let the tanks settle in and then go find some fish to put in them.