HCCC Fishrooms - Jennifer

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Jennifer's Fishroom

"Hello and welcome to my 'fish room'. It is really a couple of aquariums around the house. One day, I would like to have an actual dedicated fish room. That would take a lot of convincing for my husband and not likely to happen any time soon. I started out with fish as a hobby when I was a kid. It all began with a simple 10 gallon tank with the usual danios, guppies, and tetras. My first experience with cichlids was as a teen. I responded to an add in the classifieds and upon seeing this guy's setup was forever changed (for the better). He had industrial sized barrels of them growing outside, tanks in the garage, tanks in the bathrooms, and a massive show tank in the living room (the full length of the wall) that was hand made. It was filled to the brim with nothing but cichlids! Life takes you for a ride. After getting married and moving away, I no longer had the space for my 5 aquariums (ranging from freshwater to saltwater). A few years later I started a new tank and went all out. I had a custom 45 gallon D.A.S. planted tank. It was set up off and on over the years as kids were born and moving required a time out with the tank. It has finally been revived (again) and has some new friends".
		This is the D.A.S. 45 gallon that I have been carting around over the last 12 years. It has some rough landscaping with live plants and is a species tank for the most part. The tank is filled with Brichardi and 2 albino bristlenose plecos. Once the plants grow in a little better and get rearranged it will be much better looking in there. The tank is filled with hornwort (until the other plants grow in more), java fern, and anubas
nana. The limestone is smooth and was collected locally. The substrate is aragonite. The filtration is built in to the inside of the tank on the left side. The 150 watt Stealth heater is placed within the filter as well. The lighting fixture is run off of 2 - 65 watt 6,500K power compact bulbs.

		Here is a picture of one of the Brichardi that have found a home in the 45 gallon. The variant is N. Brichardi Karilani. Thank you, Diane, for sharing some of your Brichardi offspring.

		The Bristlenose is not bothered too much by the Brichardi and has found the escargot shell to make a nice home.

		This is my 10 gallon Brevis tank 'set up for my sons'. They have really enjoyed taking ownership of the aquarium. There are 4 N. Brevis Mtoto Congo Zebra. They have not paired up yet but would be nice to see some breeding going on in there one day. The tank is decorated with hornwort, holey rock collected locally, escargot shells as well as aragonite for the substrate. The tank is lit by a built in 18 watt 12,000K

		Here is a picture of one of the Brevis. They are from Armkes and are still pretty young.

		The Tropheus tank is 90 gallons not including the sump and refugium tied into the system. The is the big experiment. It is home to 22 Tropheus, 2 Eretmodus, and 5 Bristlenose Plecos. It is a very entertaining tank to watch - just ask the cats! You will usually find at least one cat perched up on the ledge watching the fish. It has been nicknamed "cat TV". The holey rock was locally collected. The bottom of
the tank is covered by egg crate followed by aragonite for the substrate. Those are some heavy rocks and did not want to see 90 gallons of water on the floor if the the glass bottom broke. As the tank was originally planned for saltwater - before coming to my senses that cichlids are the best - the lighting is pretty strong. There are 2 - 150 watt HQI metal halide bulbs at 6,400K as well as 2 - 95 watt 6,500K power compact bulbs. I try not to run them at the same time. The tank has crystal val for now but some amazon swords, micro sword, dwarf sag, and java fern will be in there soon as well. Not sure how the plants will work out in the long run. CO2 is also going to be added to maximize growth. The substrate is aragonite.

		The 90 gallon is run off a wet dry filter. The water is topped off daily in the sump with an auto dosing pump. There is also a ball valve for manually adding water during water changes. The Mag 9 pump splits the return water between the main tank and the refugium. The sump houses the 200 watt Stealth heater as well. Another heater will be added soon.

		The is the refugium. It is tied into the main tank via the wet dry sump. It is chock full of hornwort to help with algae and reducing the nitrates. There are 4 Albino Bristlenose Plecos, 11 mystery snails, too many Malaysian Trumpet and Pond Snails to count that call the refugium home. This thing is pruned back significantly every other week. It is lit by 2 - 65 watt 6,500K power compact bulbs. I have added a power head near the bottom for added circulation.

		Here is a shot of the closest thing to a fish room I have - the laundry room. This is where the refugium, sump, and reservoir for water changes is located. It is on the opposite wall from the 90 gallon in the dining room. Thank goodness it is on tile in here as we have flooded the sump a few times - user error while learning. The reservoir is were water is stored for daily dosing and water changes. A mag drive pump is kicked on so no manual siphoning is needed for filling the tank. The water is added or drained using the connections for the washer.

		This is one of the dominant F1 Tropheus from the 90 gallon. They are the variant Tropheus sp. Red Nkamba Bay Chilanga. These were from the Cichlid Store out of Florida.

		A new addition to the 90 gallon are two Eretmodus Cyanostictus Blue Point South. They are wild caught and have recently paired up. These are from River City Aquatics.



© Hill Country Cichlid Club 2004 San Antonio, TX hccc@xdeleon.com