I had a couple things go better than anticipated financially at the close of last year and I decided to give myself a ridiculous splurge. I got the fiance on board by agreeing remove the 4 aquariums on metal stands with cords all over, in exchange for one large aquarium on a proper stand in the living room. The others will go in a back bedroom which has been my 'fishroom' for several years.
Joe from Glass Cages dropped these off yesterday morning... (Thanks again Joe!!!)
Four (4) 234 Gallon, 72" x 30" @ 25" deep aquariums
Different angle of the same Four (4) 234 Gallon, 72" x 30" @ 25" deep aquariums
One (1) 195 Gallon, 60" x 30" @ 25" deep aquarium
The 195 Gal will get a 90 Gal sump/refugium (I had a thread about this refugium a couple of weeks ago). This will be the living room set up. It will be a Discus tank, but lightly stocked with Discus and housing a small variety of other compatible fish. This will be on a DIY stand. I'm not good enough to quite make "furniture quality" but it'll be a lot nicer than the current metal stands that she's tolerated.
The Four (4) 234 Gal tanks will be stacked over/under on raw lumber stands in the spare bedroom. These stands will certainly be built beefier than others I've built, but its simply a matter of repeating standard practices more times. The hard part is lifting these darn things onto the stands!
Two 234 Gals:
Top: a Colony of Geo Sveni, a couple pairs of Blue Acaras, a few Threadfin Acaras, a (runt) female Gold/Red Severum, Some L333 Plecos. These I have now. Plus I'll be adding a few more compatible species.
Bottom: This will be fairly heavily planted with Dwarf Cichlids and pretty non-Cichlids. I have a few pairs of WC A. Cacatuoides, smaller L333 Plecos, huge Endler colony, Mexican Orange Crayfish (they are dwarves). I'll be adding a variety of compatible small fish.
Two other 234 Gals:
Top: will be dedicated to a Trimac "pair". In the past I had a large male Trimac who was very rough on his women. So I had 3 females that I'd rotate to allow them to recover from his love. I plan to do the same. I also plan to have a few Amatitlania (Convict family) with them as "dithers". There will be small caves and tunnels the Amatitlania can fit in that the Trimacs cannot. I'd like to try to keep two other female Cichlids (Festae or Parachromis Something) with them but this will depend on the temperament of the particular Trimac I end up with. I will be growing out this group of fish together... but only time will tell...
Bottom: Sigh... Indecisive. Part of me wants to do an all female big Cichlid group. But I've always wanted Argentae. And I haven't had Salvini, which I love, in many years. This one will be stocked last, so there is no need to decide now. As I'm sure I'll change my mind by then.
Also, these tanks will be replacing almost all of my current aquariums. I'll have a pair of 75s. And there will be a few 10s & 20s (plumbed into the big tanks). These will be mostly used for grow out and hospital tanks until things get settled.
Anyway. I haven't said much about them here until the aquariums were actually here. One of those, "pics or it didn't happen" things. lol
It'll take a few weeks before I get the first stand up and in place, and even then they'll be slowly coming together. My goal is to have all 5 tanks in place, with water in them by Early April. (give me a break, I'm old and I work a lot).
Joe from Glass Cages dropped these off yesterday morning... (Thanks again Joe!!!)
Four (4) 234 Gallon, 72" x 30" @ 25" deep aquariums
Different angle of the same Four (4) 234 Gallon, 72" x 30" @ 25" deep aquariums
One (1) 195 Gallon, 60" x 30" @ 25" deep aquarium
The 195 Gal will get a 90 Gal sump/refugium (I had a thread about this refugium a couple of weeks ago). This will be the living room set up. It will be a Discus tank, but lightly stocked with Discus and housing a small variety of other compatible fish. This will be on a DIY stand. I'm not good enough to quite make "furniture quality" but it'll be a lot nicer than the current metal stands that she's tolerated.
The Four (4) 234 Gal tanks will be stacked over/under on raw lumber stands in the spare bedroom. These stands will certainly be built beefier than others I've built, but its simply a matter of repeating standard practices more times. The hard part is lifting these darn things onto the stands!
Two 234 Gals:
Top: a Colony of Geo Sveni, a couple pairs of Blue Acaras, a few Threadfin Acaras, a (runt) female Gold/Red Severum, Some L333 Plecos. These I have now. Plus I'll be adding a few more compatible species.
Bottom: This will be fairly heavily planted with Dwarf Cichlids and pretty non-Cichlids. I have a few pairs of WC A. Cacatuoides, smaller L333 Plecos, huge Endler colony, Mexican Orange Crayfish (they are dwarves). I'll be adding a variety of compatible small fish.
Two other 234 Gals:
Top: will be dedicated to a Trimac "pair". In the past I had a large male Trimac who was very rough on his women. So I had 3 females that I'd rotate to allow them to recover from his love. I plan to do the same. I also plan to have a few Amatitlania (Convict family) with them as "dithers". There will be small caves and tunnels the Amatitlania can fit in that the Trimacs cannot. I'd like to try to keep two other female Cichlids (Festae or Parachromis Something) with them but this will depend on the temperament of the particular Trimac I end up with. I will be growing out this group of fish together... but only time will tell...
Bottom: Sigh... Indecisive. Part of me wants to do an all female big Cichlid group. But I've always wanted Argentae. And I haven't had Salvini, which I love, in many years. This one will be stocked last, so there is no need to decide now. As I'm sure I'll change my mind by then.
Also, these tanks will be replacing almost all of my current aquariums. I'll have a pair of 75s. And there will be a few 10s & 20s (plumbed into the big tanks). These will be mostly used for grow out and hospital tanks until things get settled.
Anyway. I haven't said much about them here until the aquariums were actually here. One of those, "pics or it didn't happen" things. lol
It'll take a few weeks before I get the first stand up and in place, and even then they'll be slowly coming together. My goal is to have all 5 tanks in place, with water in them by Early April. (give me a break, I'm old and I work a lot).