Fish Room History, Tour, and Upgrade 2021.
- Thread starter sir_keith
- Start date
Thank you, kind sir; I really enjoy my fishes, perhaps never more so than right now.
The living room show tank is now back up and running; quite dramatic with the new black background-
I did solve the evaporation/condensation problem by fashioning new covers for inside the canopy, The tank is now back to being a species tank of Tropheus sp. black Ikola (from three different sources), as their former tankmates, T. annectens, now have a 75 in the fish room. I'll post a video of this tank at feeding time soon.
I did solve the evaporation/condensation problem by fashioning new covers for inside the canopy, The tank is now back to being a species tank of Tropheus sp. black Ikola (from three different sources), as their former tankmates, T. annectens, now have a 75 in the fish room. I'll post a video of this tank at feeding time soon.
Finally finished the first bank of tanks today; here they are-
The 75 on the left has a colony of Tropheus annectens plus a young colony of T. moorii Mpulungu 'Sunspot' grow-outs-
The 75 on the right has a colony of Tropheus sp. 'red' Lunangwa South plus four T. brichardi Kabimba 'Canary Cheek'. I'll try to get some better pics of the Lunangwa South; they look awesome in the new tank-
The 45L on the bottom right has a colony of T. sp. 'black' Bemba 'Flame in temporary quarters. These will either go into another 75, or I may look to re-home them-
The 45L on the bottom left has a mixed colony of Neolamprologus multifasciatus and Julidochromis ornatus-
The second bank of tanks is just about ready to be torn down and reconstructed-
The end is in sight!
The 75 on the left has a colony of Tropheus annectens plus a young colony of T. moorii Mpulungu 'Sunspot' grow-outs-
The 75 on the right has a colony of Tropheus sp. 'red' Lunangwa South plus four T. brichardi Kabimba 'Canary Cheek'. I'll try to get some better pics of the Lunangwa South; they look awesome in the new tank-
The 45L on the bottom right has a colony of T. sp. 'black' Bemba 'Flame in temporary quarters. These will either go into another 75, or I may look to re-home them-
The 45L on the bottom left has a mixed colony of Neolamprologus multifasciatus and Julidochromis ornatus-
The second bank of tanks is just about ready to be torn down and reconstructed-
The end is in sight!
Spent most of the day in the fish room, and got both of the remaining stand modifications completed. It was a whole lot easier the second time around. Looking to have this project completed and the fish room back together by the weekend after next.
The last two stands are ready-
The tanks are ready-
Hopefully I can get my neighbor to help me move the tanks back into the fish room this weekend, and I can then begin the final reassembly. Finally.
I do have a little road trip tomorrow morning to pick up a new filter.
The tanks are ready-
Hopefully I can get my neighbor to help me move the tanks back into the fish room this weekend, and I can then begin the final reassembly. Finally.
I do have a little road trip tomorrow morning to pick up a new filter.
It's been a month since I last updated this thread. The day after my last post my neighbor helped me move the second set of new tanks onto the rebuilt stands, and everything was ready to go-
But then-
I thought I'd get a lot done on this project since I was confined indoors anyway, but somehow I just didn't have the energy to do anything except make sure my garden (and new lawn) were getting watered sufficiently.
Then I got back to it: installing the new FX5 from @DMD123 on the living room 75L (and moving the displaced Eheim 2217's to the new 75s in the fish room)-
And setting up 3 of the 4 tanks on the second set of stands-
The new 75 on the left has several spawns from my WC Ophthalmotilapia nasuta Kipili Gold colony that I am growing out, plus 7 young Xenotilapia flavipinnis 'Red Royal.' The 75 on the right has a newly established breeding pair of Xenotilapia spilopterus, plus two other X. spilopterus and seven Enantiopus kilesa. The two 40L tanks on the lower level will be utility tanks- the one on the right may get some brooding Tropheus females in a week or two- and the one on the left still needs to be set up, obviously. But the end is in sight! This has been a fun project and a significant upgrade, and I am very happy with how it turned out. I'll post a new fish room tour video once it's all done.
But then-
I thought I'd get a lot done on this project since I was confined indoors anyway, but somehow I just didn't have the energy to do anything except make sure my garden (and new lawn) were getting watered sufficiently.
Then I got back to it: installing the new FX5 from @DMD123 on the living room 75L (and moving the displaced Eheim 2217's to the new 75s in the fish room)-
And setting up 3 of the 4 tanks on the second set of stands-
The new 75 on the left has several spawns from my WC Ophthalmotilapia nasuta Kipili Gold colony that I am growing out, plus 7 young Xenotilapia flavipinnis 'Red Royal.' The 75 on the right has a newly established breeding pair of Xenotilapia spilopterus, plus two other X. spilopterus and seven Enantiopus kilesa. The two 40L tanks on the lower level will be utility tanks- the one on the right may get some brooding Tropheus females in a week or two- and the one on the left still needs to be set up, obviously. But the end is in sight! This has been a fun project and a significant upgrade, and I am very happy with how it turned out. I'll post a new fish room tour video once it's all done.
Looking good @sir_keith!
I had a second spawning in one of my new 75s this weekend, and this is the one I've been waiting for- Xenotilapia spilopterus Mabilibili. As I mentioned in my last post, I moved a newly established pair of X. spilopterus from their 125 grow-out tank into a new 75 along with two other X. spilopterus and a small group of Enantiopus kilesa. This pair has spawned at least once before, but not carried to term despite my best efforts to give then an appropriate territory in the 125; it just seemed to me that they were too crowded. They may still be too crowded in the 75; I'll just have to watch and wait.
These are biparental mouthbrooders, very different from the maternal mouthbrooders that make up the bulk of the cichlid species in the Rift Lakes. X. spilopterus pairs form a strong pair bond, establish a territory, and share in fry rearing. The female carries the eggs in her buccal cavity for the first half of the incubation period (about 2 weeks), and then transfers them to the male for the remainder of the term (another 2 weeks). The pair subsequently guards the fry upon release.
I have been looking forward to being able to see these behaviours for a long time. I did get to see the actual spawning, and it was magical. They spawned late in the evening, with just the actinic lights on, and it was like a ballet- graceful and unhurried- quite unlike the frantic affairs that typify the spawning rituals of maternal mouthbrooders like Tropheus. The only other spawning rituals I have seen that are similarly beautiful are those that occur in the Anabantoids.
These are biparental mouthbrooders, very different from the maternal mouthbrooders that make up the bulk of the cichlid species in the Rift Lakes. X. spilopterus pairs form a strong pair bond, establish a territory, and share in fry rearing. The female carries the eggs in her buccal cavity for the first half of the incubation period (about 2 weeks), and then transfers them to the male for the remainder of the term (another 2 weeks). The pair subsequently guards the fry upon release.
I have been looking forward to being able to see these behaviours for a long time. I did get to see the actual spawning, and it was magical. They spawned late in the evening, with just the actinic lights on, and it was like a ballet- graceful and unhurried- quite unlike the frantic affairs that typify the spawning rituals of maternal mouthbrooders like Tropheus. The only other spawning rituals I have seen that are similarly beautiful are those that occur in the Anabantoids.
Well, thanks, but a bit premature. In many cichlid species the actual spawning is the easy part; getting the parents to hold to term and rear the fry is the challenge. If it doesn't work this time I think I'll move all the other fishes out, and perhaps give the pair a few Cyprichromis as dithers. But that's contrary to my instincts.
It's been more than a year since I posted in this thread, so perhaps this is good time to update the update. Let's start with my most recent upgrade, courtesy of @fishguy1978. If you scroll up to the June 1, 2021 entry in this thread, you will see a pic of my 75L show tank in my living room after I had dismantled the setup to paint the back of the tank black. You will also notice that I ended that post by saying-
'I'm really thinking that I should retire this tank- it's 35 years old- and am keeping my eyes open for a 60" x 18" 100g. New acrylic ones are crazy expensive.'
Here's the 75L after I finished putting everything back together last June-
On October 1 @fishguy1978 posted a FS ad here for a 60 x 18 x 21" acrylic tank, and I jumped on it. He was kind enough to deliver the tank the following weekend, as I am vehicle-compromised for this sort of thing. Here's the 'new' tank after a bit of polishing, with my old acrylic canopy installed. The tank actually turned out to be 60 x 18 x 24", which works out to 112g, a 50% volume increase over my 75L-
The 112g, ready for some water-
A couple of days later, ready for some fishes-
And running at present-
The tank was originally set up with about 20 Tropheus sp. 'black' Ikola from two different sources, but when I dismantled everything to do the swap there were 33 Ikola plus about 10 little ones, which I moved to a grow-out tank in the fish room. I've had this colony going continuously now for 15 years or so.
This setup originally contained the first equipment I bought when I moved to Seattle in 1987, but the only thing left now is the acrylic cover; everything else comes from Fishbox members! The 'new' 112g tank came from @fishguy1978, the stand came from @FishBeast, the FX6 filter from @Tank, and some of the Ikola from @Elblin. Thanks guys; it pays to hang around this board!
I'll post a video of this tank at feeding-time-frenzy soon.
'I'm really thinking that I should retire this tank- it's 35 years old- and am keeping my eyes open for a 60" x 18" 100g. New acrylic ones are crazy expensive.'
Here's the 75L after I finished putting everything back together last June-
On October 1 @fishguy1978 posted a FS ad here for a 60 x 18 x 21" acrylic tank, and I jumped on it. He was kind enough to deliver the tank the following weekend, as I am vehicle-compromised for this sort of thing. Here's the 'new' tank after a bit of polishing, with my old acrylic canopy installed. The tank actually turned out to be 60 x 18 x 24", which works out to 112g, a 50% volume increase over my 75L-
The 112g, ready for some water-
A couple of days later, ready for some fishes-
And running at present-
The tank was originally set up with about 20 Tropheus sp. 'black' Ikola from two different sources, but when I dismantled everything to do the swap there were 33 Ikola plus about 10 little ones, which I moved to a grow-out tank in the fish room. I've had this colony going continuously now for 15 years or so.
This setup originally contained the first equipment I bought when I moved to Seattle in 1987, but the only thing left now is the acrylic cover; everything else comes from Fishbox members! The 'new' 112g tank came from @fishguy1978, the stand came from @FishBeast, the FX6 filter from @Tank, and some of the Ikola from @Elblin. Thanks guys; it pays to hang around this board!
I'll post a video of this tank at feeding-time-frenzy soon.
As promised, here are two videos that represent the first installments of the Fish Room Tour 2022. I thought about starting a new thread for this, but decided to keep the whole story in one place, here. I plan to make a set of videos, following the same schema I used last year, namely, starting with the show tank in the living room, proceeding down to the TV room, and finally to the fish room, with the notion that it will be easier to follow the evolution of the tanks over the last year if they are presented in the same order. So here are the first two videos, one showing the new 112g Tropheus setup, and the second the same setup at feeding time. I still haven't figured out how to pause and restart a video whilst recording; thus the two videos, below.
Fish Room Tour 2022- Part 1.
Fish Room Tour 2022- Part 2.
Fish Room Tour 2022- Part 1.
Fish Room Tour 2022- Part 2.
Yeah, well, I'm single, so...
Such unique fish! I love watching them interact.
Those males are beautiful too! I look forward to the fishroom video continued.