Any aquarium keepers in the house?

[Mike_G]

I currently have a 55G, a 37G, and a 10G set up for breeding and rearing African cichlids.

My stocklist in the 55G is:

"Electric yellow" Labidochromis (1M, 2F, one female has bred several times and is very prolific, the other female is young and has yet to breed)

Aulonocara Jacobfreibergi "Hongi Island" (1M, 1F, they've spawned 3-4 times now)

Cyrtocara Moorii (1M, 1F, getting close to spawning age)

Placidochromis Electra (2M, 1F, the dominant male has been courting the female, I'm hoping they'll spawn soon)

Pseudotropheus Demasoni (1M, he's a terror but a gorgeous specimen. My pet bird is fascinated by him and says "fishy" when he comes over to the side of the tank nearest her little play area. She hates the male yellow lab and tries to bite at him through the glass.)

Giant Danio (1?, had two but one jumped out of the tank, I like to keep them with Africans as "dither fish" since they're very active and tend to distract the cichlids from their usual course of aggression)

My 37G serves as a grow-out tank and currently has 5 yellow lab juvies, 6 Jacobfreibergi juvies, and 2 Giant Danios and I've got ~15 yellow lab juvies and 6 Jakes in the 10G. I sell yellow labs to the local tropical fish shops when they are about 1-1/4" for $2 apiece, which pays for food.

[hpiguy]

The 55

[hpiguy]

The 29

[Kennyboy]

Mike, I would like to see some pics of your tanks.

Chris, tanks look great setup with the plants like that.

[Mike_G]

Mike, I would like to see some pics of your tanks.

Here's an old pic of the 37G before I set up the 55, the fish in the pic are now in the 55:

Here's a fairly recent pic of the 55:

I built the stand and canopy myself, the canopy uses CFL lamps and offers a lot of flexibility- here's a pic showing more subdued lighting:

Edited September 24, 2013 by Mike_G

[Mike_G]

Here's a pic I took right after I set it up, I've since changed the rockwork around to create 3 distinct territories rather than 2, which I've found helps to manage aggression:

-Mike

[plasticdna]

[LDO]

Dang. I posted a reply from my phone and it didn't show up. Anyway- the aquarium has been up and running, but got cloudy. it was the gravel. I used enough to almost bury 3" PVC with fittings, so 4 inches or so. It was just too deep to keep clean, so I redid the whole thing, using smaller gravel that's only about an inch deep.

Here's one of the crayfish, remodeling his home to suit his tastes. He's bringing rocks to the entrance to make it smaller. It makes him feel more secure. They really like their homes. They're inside almost all the time. I don't see them very much, but that's OK. They will be more healthy if they are not constantly stressed out, looking for shelter. I think it's kind of cruel to put a creature like that in an environment that is so stressful.

Oh yeah- he's also dragging a snail into his home, I think they get frustrated with the snails. I see them drag them into their homes and pushing them out. Maybe they try to eat them, but can't get into the shell.

Edited November 17, 2013 by LDO

[chevyfever2009]

Need sharks

[LDO]

One of the crayfish moulted. I walked in the door and saw this from across the living room. Part of me thought one of them was dead, but hoped it was moulting. I think it's interesting that he's not blue while waiting for his exoskeleton to harden. His antennae were very short, but now they are full size. Interesting.

[LDO]

The old skin. It looks like he replaced 2 missing legs. Not sure about that, and don't want to disturb him right now. Definitely interesting.