Scifisarah's 65 Gallon Bowfront

[scifisarah]

Sold my surplus fish from the auction and got everyone consolidated into one tank finally today. I know it is a bit much, but I plan on getting rid of extra males, and possibly one of the species as they get bigger. Unless things remain harmonious, but I doubt that! All fish are 1-2". I am planning on finding more rocks in my yard for increased hiding places once the darn snow stops covering them all. I'll put a black background on with baby oil (I heard this works like Seaview)  once I don't need the HOB filter anymore. Currently running Fluval 305 + ML Penguin 200 HOB and doing water changes of 50-75% every 3-4 days.

8 Maingano
5 Cyno. afra Cobue
7 Ps. saulosi
5 Yellow Tail Acei
5 Rusty Cichlids
2 Bristlenose Plecos
2 Syn. petricola Catfish.

[GrizzlysDad]

Looks like you have a nice color mix Sarah. Be cautious with your rock stacking...once the fish get big enough to dig under the base rocks you need to watch they don't tumble.

p.s. I have used the baby oil trick before...it works, but not as long term as the Sea View product. I've had my 190g set up in the living room for 4-1/2 yrs now and the Sea View looks like I just applied it last week.

[jkeeler]

Nice tank Sarah....I love the black substrate with your rock selection.  Your fish selection will make for a colorful tank.

BTW, what did you use for substrate?

[Regalblue]

Looks good so far

[JeffroM]

looks good.

[djlamonica]

Really nice looking tank and good choice on rock, more natural then stacking flat rock like most do (including myself)  you stock is fine your not over doing it, with mbuna you can over stock all day actually helps with loses because there are more targets.  Good luck you won those Afra off me btw let me know how they turn out and when they start breeding ill buy some of your fry!

[Ron]

Nice color combination with the mbuna choices and the rockwork.

A background should make it really POP! Have you thought about a couple of high quality, natural-looking plastic plants to place in front of the heater and filter intake?

[scifisarah]

Are there any pointers you can give me for using this kind of rocks? I'd like to give them caves, but not sure how to safely arrange them. I'll just use the seaview then - I don't want to be redoing it.

Substrate is CaribSea Super Naturals Tahitian Moon. Got it at Petsmart for an arm and a leg and cringe every time I suck some up cleaning. I need to get another bag for my 20 gallon. It was amazing how the fish changed their colors with the dark substrate, especially my two kribs. I think it make them feel more relaxed and hidden and they really let their colors glow.

The afra cobues are all still pretty dark. I just transfered them from the 20 gallon to 65 yesterday. They are the largest fish I have in the tank now, so I am hoping they start relaxing soon and showing better color. There are two that have a bit of blue striping, but I haven't seen any sort of yellow on them yet other than the egg spots. Any pointers on how to tell which are male/female at this age?

I have a few Hagen Marina Naturals silk plants I could add. I liked them at first, but now they are fraying a bit and stained from algae. Is there a certain brand and type of plant you'd suggest to keep things looking natural to their environment?

[djlamonica]

Just give the afra some time to settle in.