And, the discus too!

I used to have about 10-12 tanks with plenty of cichlids. They are beautiful. Downsized to just one little musk turtle next to my desk in a twenty long. Lots less trouble. More time to smoke

Bought my tank, stand, filter, lighting, substraten, heater and more last night! 36 x 18 x 24 (65 gallons). Two weeks or so until it comes in. Can't wait!!!

Good luck. Show some pics when you're done.

No about cichlids, but I found a great deal on a tank.


About a week ago I noticed a leak at one of the lower seams on my tank. Used some Loctite Silicone on the area and so far it has fixed the problem.

But I was still worried about it holding long term. It's a nice tank and stand--but it's old. My uncle gave me the tank years ago...

So I looked for tanks online at Petco and Petsmart. Was going to go with a 55 gal and buy my own stand.

https://www.petsmart.com/fish/tanks-aquariums-and-nets/aquariums/marineland-high-definition-led-ensemble---75-gallon-5306082.html 

A lady was selling this exact 75 gal tank and stand for $300. She said it was two yrs old and that she had two of them and had to get rid of them because she was moving. She had it equipped with a Fluval FX4 pump, which is rated for 250 gallons... The pump alone costs more than 300 bucks new.

I had to drive a little over an hour one way to get it, but it was worth the gas and the time spent.

Will be able to stock it with multiple "creek cichlids" next spring. But for now 4 small fish and 1 crawdad will have a 75 gal tank to roam around in. They will help cycle the tank...

Post us a picture

---

Robert,

Great score!!!

Big difference between 55 and 75 gallons, but they have the same foot-print, don't they? If so, just a bigger picture window to watch through, which is great!

My shop owner talked me into an FX-6 for a 65 gallon because it was only $20 more and it will turn my tank water over almost 10x per hour. He also said he will give me some fully bacteriazed media for the filter which, with a couple of throw-away starter fish, will break-in the tank in within a week- so I can start to stock it with the fish sooner!

Report back how it all looks when you set it up!

^^
Yeah I'm pretty sure they do have the same footprint, bc the stand I was looking on Amazon said it fit both 55 and 75 gal tanks.

It looks awesome in the living room. Amazing how clear the water is... I've never had a filter system this nice...

Took forever to level the tank yesterday. Had to use a couple dozen shims. Lol! Those old Walnut floors look nice and level until you actually put a level on em. We have the original flooring in the living room, one of the bedrooms and the kitchen.

Anyway, I'm really happy with my find. I'll try to post a pic one day, when everything is the way I want it.

How many cichlids do you plan to put in your 65? I'm always worried about being overstocked. Ive seen 55 and 75 gal tanks with 5 or 6 full grown oscars or big cichlids and it seems kinda small for them.

So, I was thinking maybe just try to trap 1 more Bluegill to give me two. I'm trying to think how it will be (size wise) with two full grown fish plus more rocks and maybe some driftwood.

Got a bunch of stuff for the tank & canister filter this week...

Fluval gravel vacuum...the big un

Fluval FX-4 service kit

Fluval FX series fine filter pad

Fluval biomax media

Fluval FX series filter foam block x 2

Fluval FX series bio foam pads

Fluval FX series carbon pads

Fluval FX series water polishing pads

With all that junk above I'll be able to clean the new tank a lot quicker and be able to replace every single part of the canister filter other than the motor--even got an extra propeller and ceramic rod in that service kit.

The lady that sold me the tank said she had been running the canister for a couple years, but I didnt ask her if she kept up with filter maintenance or not. It was clean when I got it, but not sure about anything else.

So I thought I'd do a complete rebuild of the filter unit-- all three stages... Plus I can replace parts when needed with what I have left over.

That's the update for now...

Glad it looks nice!

I may have to shim because the tile floor probably isn't level and I don't know whether my cabinet has adjustable feet.

75 would make an active, real nice, african cichlid tank! I am so not into Oscars anymore. You can catch them in the lakes around here after people release them. My passion is the activity of the tank, so I want a lot of fish to keep it busy


I plan to start out with maybe some combination of:

3-4 small lelupi (or breading pair)
3-4 small brichardi (or breading pair)
3-4 julidicromus (or breading pair)
3-4 small tropheus
1 small frontosa
1 small compreciceps
small catfish, snails or any other clean-up creatures necessary

My goal is to stock the tank once so the fish can grow-out in proportion to the tank; inevitable losses over the years won't leave the tank empty; the tank will be active with fish that all behave differently; and at different levels; to have a great chance of breeding pairs and not to overload the tank.

I'll probably stock with 20-25 total inches of fish-length with fisht that will generally double in size. All in consideration that the tank will only have like 55-60 gallons after water displacement by rocks.

Or, at least that is the current plan...

^

Growing out to fit the size of the tank is ideal. Some cichlids, and other fish, don't stop growing though. Lol Not sure which do and which don't.

I've watched a lot of tropical fish vids and "aqua scape" vids lately. Couple channels that stand out are Aquarium co-op, Prime Time Aquatics, and Ben Ochart. Ochart has some great vids on cichlids--great tanks too.

These guys have fish rooms. Entire rooms full of tanks... They take the hobby seriously to say the least.

Are you going to use the bio media from Fluval or do you know of something else? Some of these guys use crushed coral, but I havent looked for it online...yet.

I believe so, but will be doing whatever the owner of the aquarium store I bought my tank and filter from tells me to d to start off. Been doing business with him for over 40 years and have the upmost confidence in his advice. It will probably depend on the surface are of the media with all the micropores like coral has...

But, I won't be buying all my fish from him. Some, but not all. There are a few cichlid only breeders and stores within an hour of here and I am going to go directly to the source, so to speak, to find exactly what I want.

Waiting for tank and stand lto come in- maybe today? Going to paint the back wall black and then set it up after painters are finished with the inside of the house- don't want any fumes or the like affecting the tank.

Up and running three weeks now during break-in cycle. Ammonia >0, but decresing rapidly; nitrite 0 and nitrate is minimal. Algae is growing. Any day now!

Bought like 65 lbs of beautiful chinese rock from the aquarium store- as opposed to the two local rock yards I visited, other stores or on the internet.

Started out with a bit of biologically mature media (think sourdough bread) from the aquarium shop to jump-start things. Added a couple dozen feeder fish about the size of guppies. Have been over feeding the hell out of them to introduce excess waste into the tank so that the biological cycle can handle anything or more particularly- a fast stocking of like ten small fish.

But first, I am going to borrow an Oscar from the aquarium shop to hunt down all the feeders while I watch.

Pics of set-up with collection of first real fish to come.

^

Sounds good man. You using sand for substrate and then adding the bigger rocks on top of that? Still going with the same lineup of fish as you mentioned in post 30?

I have mentioned this before, but you would really enjoy this guys channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC29pFKzymRAAwbPVXNaKCBA

Ben Ochart. He's originally from California but now lives in Nashville, Tennessee. I think of him as the Mr. Rogers of cichlids. He's super chill and has some beautiful tanks. Every Sunday he does a livestream called "Cichlids and Coffee".

I have spent a lot of free time this winter working on the hobby...

I resealed my 30 gal tank with food grade silicone and it holds water now. Moved it and the stand to the man cave, bought a 200 watt heater and some gravel substrate. Moved the pumpkinseed bluegill, the giant silver dollar and the crawfish over to that.

Started a South American community tank in the 75 gal. Got some dwarf cichlids (German Ram and Bolivian Ram), tetras, cory cats and some hatchetfish. You ever seen hatchetfish? They are really interesting--I kept them when I was a boy.

Here's my lineup:

Selected species:
2 x Blue Ram (Mikrogeophagus ramirezi)
2 x Bolivian Ram (Mikrogeophagus altispinosus)
6 x Panda Cory (Corydoras panda)3 x
3 x Sterbai Cory (Corydoras sterbai)
2 x Bronze Cory (Corydoras aeneus)
8 x Black Skirt Tetra (Gymnocorymbus ternetzi)
6 x Von Rio Tetra (Hyphessobrycon flammeus)
9 x Silver Hatchet (Gasteropelecus sternicla)

https://aquahuna.com/collections/all?aff=2 

Great prices and fast, cheap shipping. They are out of Renton, Washington, a suburb of Seattle. Perfect for a guy like me that doesn't have a pet store within 60+ miles... Of all the fish they sent me, only one single hatchetfish didn't make the journey.

Over the last couple months I've lost a few tetras but that's to be expected. This will be my tank for yrs probably. 38 fish. When you consider tank size plus filtration I'm about 60% stocked according to aqadvisor.com. I also rebuilt the FX4 with the components I mentioned in post 29.

https://imgur.com/a/bvLVSCF 

The next step for me will be live plants. Probably wont buy any until next fall, as lawn and garden season seems to take all of our spare time.

Sounds awesome, can't wait to see the pics rfenst.
Robert, I had German Blue Rams once they were awesome. Especially when they fought and would color up.

I have a breeding pair. They have already spawned twice.

Eventually I'd like to get a 10 gal tank for them. Then I can stock my tank with next gen Rams--kinda like you did with those Saulosi cichlids. I checked those out btw--really nice looking fish...

Tank is up and running! Biological filtration kicked in: Zero ammonia! Zero Nitrites and minimal nitrates!

Took all the rocks I bought out. Arranged them nicely and got 19/24 of the feeder fish I used to break the tank in out of there. The other five will either get killed, eaten or just die off. I will let nature take its course.

I had calculated there is a 96.125% (NOT 98.2%) of at least one male/female pair simply buying five fish randomly because it is nearly impossible to sex most small (1-1.5") Tanganyikans. So, I started out with the following:

5- Lamprologus Leleupi (bright orange)
5- Cyphotilapia Frontosa (black and dark blue/black vertical stripes with fluorescent blue fins)
1- Catfish (don't recall the name). But, it has magnificent black spots (like a leopard) against silvery scales and will grow to about 2-3 inches maximum.

Leleupi are running around the tank like squirrels. Frontosa are still shyly hiding. Haven't seen the catfish yet. With the number of small fish I am starting out with the tank can easily sustain 25-30 small fish. Over time, I know I will be losing some and removing some so others can breed successfully. That is my long range plan.

Next: New order coming in to my shop Saturday, which should include Brichardi, Julidochromis, Compreceps and possibly Tropheus. Unless the tropheus have unique colors, I'll wait to buy them from a breeder in Daytona Beach, which is about an hour away.

I could buy everything online, but then I would not have the loyalty of the store owner who I have been friends with for 40+- years. I got the tank and stand at his price (sweet!) and payed him what he charges for the rest of the set-up as his prices are fair enough or equal to online prices.

REALLY enjoying this!!!!

^

Those Frontosa's are nice. I like the black and white ones too.

Current count in the tank:

N. Lamprologus Lelupi X7
C. Frontosa x5
L. Brichardi x5
J Marlerie x5
Golden Compressiceps x2
Jaguar Catfish x1

ISO: T. Moori with red coloration- still looking. There are several Tanganyikan Cichlid breeders within 75 miles of here and I have to check their stock to get exactly what I want.

60lbs. of rockwork creating dozens of caves, tunnels and pass-throughs so that non-dominant fish have places to escape to.

All fish are 1-1.5" so as not to overload the growing biological filtration. Some to most will die off, be killed, re-sold and bred, when they are bigger- so I am basically just "renting" them.

This will bring my tank closer and closer to my goal of breeding pairs and multiple generations of offspring only. That's why I started with five of each small fish is to eventually soley have breeding pairs and offspring in the tank without any other extra fish.

Five random fish from a tank split 50/50 males and females results in a 93.75% probability of one male/female pair of each type of fish for breeding!

Pics to come once I have everything perfect!

Finished stocking the tank yesterday. Final set-up is:

N. Lamprologus Lelupi X 7
C. Frontosa x 5
L. Brichardi x 6
J. Marlerie x 7
Golden Compressiceps x 2
Synodontis Jaguar x 1
Tropheus Moori- Bulu Point x 5