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Photos of My Tanks & Fish


CThompson

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G'day,

Here are a few shots taken of my tanks. I have been asked in the past for an update on my big tank, so thought I'd take the opportunity to include a few photos of some of my other tanks at the same time. All photos (except for the brichardi) taken with a Nikon D50.

The 10 footer (3m by 66cm by 1.10m (H)). This shot shows the tank lit with 8 by 4' Nec Triphosphor fluorescents, 3 metal halides and 8 small blue LEDs which normally come on just before main lights go off/on (dawn/dusk lighting). Metal halides are used as a "sunrise" function, and are on only about 30 minutes each morning. Normal daytime operation just sees 4 by 4' fluorescents on to light the tank.

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I have learned that having a tank of this height really adds an extra dimension to fish behaviour. Tanks of a standard height, though they of course have height (top to bottom), effectively gives the fish little "usable" room. In this tank, I have seen fish form territories, where these territories had a maximum height to where they protected instead of a territory that would have gone all the way to the surface. With this tank fish could safely swim above and over, be seen, but be ignored by the fish from within their territory.

I have also been surprised how much food is missed initially by fish when it is effectively not that far away, but is say at an oblique angle. It seems to me that in standard height tanks if the food is in striking distance, it is more or less seen as an opportunity. But with this tank, though all the food is eaten, many times I have seen food fall in an area that I would have considered visible, but the fish has obviously missed it completely. It makes me wonder how much food is missed by wild fish.

All species in this tank have breed except the calvus (would no shells stop them?), petricola catfish (all males as it turned out) and the last fish added being a regani pair.

The biggest problem I have had was with the brichardi, which bred to plague like proportions, and once the babies got old enough to breed things got worse as they took over most of the rockwork, leaving only the tough to eek out an existence in what they could hold. I have caught out most of them now. The other problem I had was with the filter. It works REALLY REALLY well, and the water is crystal at all times, but I had a leak that I just couldn't pin down. When I eventfully worked out where it was, it was in a completely inaccessible area at the back. To remedy, I had to take the whole trickle draw filter out, and reseal, which took an entire day (what a nightmare). It has worked without water lose since then.

Problem I am still working on is where most of the Kitumba young disappear to. I thought they were being eaten by the brichardi, but now most of those are gone, so I wonder if the grill to overflow box is too large a mesh size. I have caught out most of the brichardi, and have put a smaller mesh size to the overflow box so the next Kitumba mouthful that is released will be telling (I hope). I have to be careful not to have too small a mesh size as this will catch too much debris, block up, and potentially cause a tank overflow. Flyscreen wire for example was too fine.

View of the tank as you enter my front door.

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Close-up of top of tank, showing universal rock hanging/stuck to underside of bridge.

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Right end of tank

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Afternoon sun hitting the tank.

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This shot with only the LEDs on is a bit over exposed, but it hasn't burnt it out too much, and looks great don't you think?

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This is what the tank actually looks like (as close as I could photographically get) when LEDs come on at night.

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View through porthole (Kitumba young and brichardi)

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Paracyprichromis nigripinnis

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Callochromis melanostigma

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Neolamprologus brichardi "Kiku"

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Cyprichromis leptosoma "Kitumba" & calvus

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Cyprichromis leptosoma "Kitumba" (Yellow marmalade)

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Julidochromis regani "?"

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Cyathopharynx foai "Sumbu" spawning.

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Cyathopharynx foai "Sumbu"

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Breeding and grow out tanks.

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2 foot Neolamprologus multifasciatus tank. Sold these fish, but have always wanted to post up a shot to show numbers

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6 by 2 by 2'7" (H) Tropheus tank - a few quick shots.

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Craig

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I have been lucky enough to see this tank and it is truly breathtaking! thanks for sharing Craig.

Bruce - Paracyprochromis is correct, i also keep these and would recomend for any tang tank, very peaceful. I 'm not having any luck keeping my fry alive at the moment but when i do i should be able to build a decent colony, females are excellent holders.

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Sorry for the "mindo" guys on the Cyprichromis/Parachprichromis, I've fixed it up now. Geez guys, with all the effort to go to to get these up, don't pick on me okay!

Yew, I didn't know that. Next time (?) I'll try to do it that way rather than bother the mods.

Great looking tanks Craig! :)

And that's probably one of the best looking black calvus males I've seen. He looks big and stunning

I'm not sure now, but I think that is one of my females. My males are bigger.

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Mate..you got beautiful tanks!Love them all.

Got anymore?hehe

Thanks for showing us your pics!

By the way what size tank are your demansoni kept in and how many cichlids are in that tank?

Cheers!

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For those of you that have not seen craigs tanks in person these photos do not do them justice. His massive tank is simply stunning. I could not stop looking at it when i was there. Mate i love your yellows and demasoni. If i am out your way again i will be sure to grab some fry off you. Those brichardi kiku are awesome as well, i love thier markings on thier face and of coarse i could not forget you have unreal tropheus. How they going for you i think last time you had some babies in the tank that a female must of spat out. lol.

Cameron

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Unbelievable! That 3m tank has sooo much rock in it. Kinda makes you wish you were a fish :shock:

Great big T tank too! I can only dream of owning a tank of that size one day. The water changes must be a fair task!

Cheers

Shane

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Holy ____ (insert your own word)

That is utterly AMAZING. To have a tank that size and actually see fish how they would "interact" in a way, in the wild must be awesome to watch!

SOMEONE TAKE A VIDEO CAMERA! And take some videos! I know i sure as hell would watch them!

Furthermore, would you be able to give us a quick run down of the fish? namely the sort of numbers there are (rough guesses)

I'm fascinated!

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Fantastic tanks. Makes my four footer look like a goldfish bowl in comparison.

Are the LEDs your using an off the shelf set up? or someting that you knocked together yourself. I've been thinking about a similar setup for night viewing.

Are the fish actually aware the blue lights are on or is this outside their recognisable spectrum?

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Richard, the only sun that hits the tank is from the front door. Door closed and no light. I have carefully…blinkered the light on the tank, so little light hits the inside front glass, and the port holes at the back receive less than this. All in all I probably spend around 20 minutes per month cleaning the glass. I have two methods to do this, one is a large (approx. 25 by 12 centimetre) “white” pad on a universal joint and a length of pvc, and an old credit card attached to the other end of the same piece of pvc. Either end will be the best at certain algae types).

Clownknife – The LEDs have something like a life of one hundred thousand hours, the front of the LED is sealed (i.e. no water/humidity gets in), and I use them to simulate dawn and dusk. They are the first light to come on in the morning, followed 20-30 minutes later by the metal halide which takes a few minutes to warm up, creating an absolutely terrific gentle way to introduce the fish to a brighter light source. Both these lights are replaced by four, four foot fluorescents for the rest of the day. Ten or so minutes before the fluorescents go out, the blue LEDs come on, and stay on for half an hour or so once the fluorescents go off. Interestingly, when the fluorescents go off, I see the school of young Kitumba, gently and calmly all come together, and school up for the night.

One top of that, at night-time when all lights are out, I have one of those child LED night lights, that produces just enough light to create at one end only black and near black silhouettes, to simulate moonlight.

mOoks – The demasoni tank is …4’8” by ….19” by …..18” (H) I think. In regards to how many in that tank…I’d say lots wouldn’t you! Don’t know how many, but all get on without any damage, they are water changed regularly and tank is turned over 6+ times per hour.

Camo – thanks for the compliments. The Tropheus are doing really well, I stripped out 54 young the last time I caught out holding fish. I saw one young one sub 10mm zipping around on the weekend, so I must have missed one of the girls. I’ve got some excess adult brichardi if you want them?

Kilroy – you’re right, water changes can be fairly onerous. But I have always believed you take on a tank, you take on the maintenance. That doesn’t mean you can’t be smart about it. Water changes on the 3m tank are pumped out at over 2000 lph, and the water change tank is plumed into the main tank, so it is just a matter of changing a couple of tapes to refill the tank from the same pump. Filling up takes the longest as it has a fair bit of head to compete with, and those Eheim hobby pumps (1060) don’t have much grunt. The water change tank is connected to the mains (WAZ’s idea), so I don’t need to drag hoses in from outside. Both the 3m tank and the Tropheus tank have denitrate filters too, and I water change once a fortnight. The Tropheus tank filter gets cleaned each water change, and the 3m tank has Purigion in the sump. The grow out tanks are all done twice weekly (3/4) and the rest are all on a strict weekly water change of 1/3 (breeding tanks).

Tunnel Rat – the last time shots of this tank were put up there were some shots in there that will give you some idea of size. Maybe they are still there to find (in the cichlid discussion if I remember correctly). Both the big tanks are Tang tank, one is a species only tank with Tropheus in it, and I assume this is the tank you refer to. The background is a Universal rock background, purchased second hand from a special order that had the height at two and a half foot.

Mezzacam – Kitumba, 10 adults (four females six males) the rest are their young (approximately …..50-70). Foai only three, brichardi…..perhaps 30 (down from 150 plus), petricola half dozen. Regain = pair, nigs = ….10 (?) Calvus is 3 (lost one female recently), melanostigma is around 10. I think that’s the lot? I will add more petricola next time I strip my breeding tank, and I will add one more male and two female calvus soon too.

Mr Fishy – the whole light was made to my specifications, and is a one-off. The LEDs can be purchased over the counter. Yes the fish are very well aware of the blue light these LEDs produce.

Thanks for all the rest of the compliments.

Craig

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