Marc's fish room build

[MarcW]

Soon!

I've spent this morning trying to figure out how much water to put in the tank/sump without causing a flood!

I think I have it figured out, it's amazing how long it takes the water levels to settle after making small changes!

Just the rest of the tanks to test fill and fix to the walls. Then I'll be able to clip the waste pipe to the front of the racks.

Hopefully next weekend I'll get some fish in! I'm looking forward to getting them all out and photographed.

Then I suppose I'll have to take take a trip to Pier and see what they've got !

[grokefish]

Looks really cool
Makes me wanna so it also!
Miss my fish

[MarcW]

A bit more progress, the tanks have been filled and tested with tap water. The racks are fixed to the wall/each other, and the drains are in place and working.

Just a quick scrub out of the tanks, I'll start rinsing sand and putting filters in. Then it'll be time to turn the heater on and get things up to temperature!

[MarcW]

I'm currently working on the lighting, each tank will have 2 strips of led lighting. The idea being one will be dimmed to 50% ish, and come on 15-30 minutes before the other which will be at full power.

These aren't very powerful but should be fine for my needs, I'm hoping to get some low light plants in the tanks soon, these should be fine for anubias, java fern and java moss based on my experiences using the same lights in other tanks.

The strips of leds are cut to length and placed into aluminium channels using the self adhesive backing. Once I've soldered the cables onto the ends, end caps and a clear plastic cover are attached.

It's very cost effective and simple to put together if you have a bit of experience with soldering.

With a bit of luck I might be able to start moving fish at the weekend, and maybe have a few new ones in a couple weeks!

[kvnbyl]

are you using a large in line heater?

[MarcW]

As there will be several tanks in the room, I will heat the room using an oil filled electric radiator.

I have several regular aquarium heaters so will be able to raise the temperature above that of the room in a few aquariums if needed.

[Mol_PMB]

I agree, Viktor. My father (an engineer) used to say that even if you tried to make a realistic estimate, then in reality the project would take e times as long and cost pi times as much as you thought. That’s the true definition of e and pi!
(e = 2.7, pi = 3.1, both approx)
My experience is the same.
Paul

This is a LOT of work and exciting at the same time! And yes, the same here. I've noted that I on average underestimate how much time something will take by a factor of 3x. Sometimes 2x, other times 6x. Let it be a task / project that I think would take 3 hours, or 3 days, or 3 months, or 3 years. Neither do I appear to learn. Welcome to the club of perpetual, forecast-handicapped optimists.

[jodilynn]

I am truly amazed at what an awesome job you are doing!
I have a back bedroom that in a few years I will be converting to my fish room. Nothing as fancy as YOUR room of course! I plan on leveling and probably reinforcing the floor and installing linoleum and vinyl baseboards, additional electrical outlets and wooden shelves. That way I can condense all my tanks scattered about my house lol!

[MarcW]

Thanks Jodilynn. It's been a long time coming, I'm hoping to move at least some of my current fish in this weekend! It will be so much easier to maintain having them all in one room.

Enjoy planning your room, I made sure I read as many fish room threads and articles as I could, I got some great ideas from them and have hopefully made a better fish room because of it.

Good luck!

[MarcW]

More progress this weekend, I've got the mattenfilters in the tanks and spent most of today washing sand!

The lights are all in place and working too. After putting sand in the tanks I replaced the tap water with my RO mix.

No fish just yet, I didn't want to rush and make a silly mistake, so I'll gradually move them in over the next couple of weeks.

I still need to clean some rocks and wood, then get them in the tanks along with some caves and plants, then I should be good to go.

Once my current fish are moved I'll work on the large tank, I need to buy some more sand and a few giant pieces of wood for that yet.

[SLIMESLAYER10]

what are you thinking of stocking the big tank with?!? or will we just have to wait and see

[MarcW]

In the big tank I'm planning 4-6

L095

, and a group of Geophagus or similar, maybe a

L330

too.

The only thing I'm set on are the L095, I'll see how they settle in before deciding on any other fish for that tank.

Unfortunately the shop which had some a while ago has sold them, they may be able to get some more in a month or two, I'm going up there on Friday so I'll see if I can arrange an order for them then.

[Fundulopanchax76]

As we can see you have a lot of money ? Excuse me Marc, but what do you work ?

[MarcW]

It took a lot of saving, I just have a regular IT job.

Some plants arrived today, I got java fern, regular and narrow leaf, a couple types of lotus/lily, some anubias hastafolia for the big tank and some nana petite, to scatter around on bits of wood. They are just thrown into a tank for now until I get around to sorting them out.

I don't have a great history keeping plants alive for long, but I'm hoping these will do well! I have some java moss in another tank which I'll also portion up and spread around the tanks, hopefully some Cory's or tetras will spawn in it!

[MarcW]

We have fish!

You may have spotted one of them in an ID thread.

I have moved all my current fish:

L128

4 adults (only 3 pictured as the alpha male wouldn't leave the cave!) and the 6 F1 young, now in separate tanks. The young have grown well with the biggest just over 4 inches TL, no where near as chunky as the adults but growing well.

Centromochlus schultzi

4 adults growing well, with a really nice yellow to them.

Corydoras loxozonus

7 adults now in their own tank to being a breeding attempt.

Ancistrus sp(l393)

young growing out.

Aphanotorulus ammophilus

feeding up to try and breed in future.

Hypancistrus sp(l260)

adult breeding group, and 6 new young to grow on.

Spectracanthicus zuanoni

these have put on some size in the past year, I'm fairly sure I have at least one female.

Pseudohemiodon apithanos

New fish:

Tenellus trimaculatus

group of 10

Corydoras sp(c123)

group of 10

I also bought some cardinal and costae tetras to look nice when you can't see the catfish!

I still have plenty of room, 8 empty tanks, but I'm restraining myself, and trying to enjoy planning the hardscape/plants/fish, and not rush out and buy fish just because I have some room!

Most tanks will have plants in them, I'm experimenting with a few types of Anubias, Java Fern, Echinodorus (which I'm planning to let grow out of the large tank), and some floating Indian fern. Once I get around to it, I'll get pictures of the tanks, but for now I've added some fish pictures for you!

[MarcW]

The woodcats now, as I could only attach 5 pictures to the previous post!

[panaque]

Very nice! I especially like the Tenellus. I look forward to future updates on them.

[MarcW]

Thanks!

There's a couple more pictures of them below for you!

They don't appear to have settled in yet, I've had them since Friday afternoon and spend most of their time all huddled in the corner as you can see in the pictures. They'll go further afield for food but always go back to the corner.

Maybe I need to add more shelter or plants for them to feel comfortable, or maybe the big tetras are intimidating them?

[Bas Pels]

I was them at Utaka in a 500 liter tank with a lot of Hemiodon sp (a large, innocent tetra)

All were hidden under half a pipe with the round part upwards. The pipe was some 20 cm deep, and they were at the end, deep in the cave.

I don't remember seeing any wood in the tank, but where dorids and woodcats are closely related, woodcats prefer wood, and dorids might prefer stones.

I would suggest adding a few of these caves.

[MarcW]

Good idea thanks Bas, I have a few large caves that I could add.

I'll add them to the tank later on and see how they are in the morning.

[Viktor Jarikov]

Great job. Lovely and enviable feeling when much labor starts to pay off bit by bit.

[SLIMESLAYER10]

Looking good! where did you get your Aphanotorulus ammophilus from? I have never seen them for sale before

[MarcW]

Thanks Victor, it does feel good to have the fish in now, still work to do but it's more enjoyable knowing good progress has been made!

Slimeslayer, I got the Aphanotorulus from Pier, I bought 4 in March when I was at the CSG convention, when I went back last week some of the same group was still there, so I got the last few they had too.

[FredMotorhead]

Hi Marc,

Too bad you live in UK, I would really want this in real life. But then if you have bought the L095. And who knows, I'll come to you once to admire your fishroom, haha ​​!!

Greetings Fred

[MarcW]

Thanks Fred, I'm looking forward to getting some

L095

, I'm working on the big tank at the moment, the sand is in, hopefully over the weekend I'll get the wood and rocks in and have some time to put a few plants in too.

I've added pictures below of some tanks for everyone. You may notice ceramic rings behind the mattenfilters, this was questioned in another thread recently, in my case they are from an established filter, once the mattenfilters are fully established I will remove the media, and store it in the sump of the big tank.

As you can see I have added two large caves in the Tenellus tank but they still insist on bundling up in the corner! Any suggestions on how to make them feel comfortable/safe would be appreciated, maybe they are just more comfortable in the dark?

[FredMotorhead]

Hey Marc,

I've found something 'bout the Tennellus Ternetzi. "Avoid boisterous or aggressive tankmates as this is a shy species that will hide out during the day and appear for food at night under darkness. Provide a dimly lit tank with floating plants" A litlle bit the opposite of what you have now in their tank.

Greets Fred

[MarcW]

Thanks Fred, they do seem to be a little more settled now. Still haven't seen even one of them go into a cave, they do seem happier when all the lights are off, but when they are on, they insist on staying in the brightest part of the tank!

If their behavior doesn't change i'll probably pull the java fern out, cover the top with floating plants and try some open ended tubes for them to hide in.

[MarcW]

As people seem to like the Tenellus I took a short video of them feeding. It's fascinating watching them swimming about 5mm above the sand with their barbels trailing under their chin, as soon as they sense food they stop immediately and dive onto it!

[Jools]

The

Tenellus

will settle soon. They are a wild caught species and congregate in large numbers in open spaces in the wild, so they're just getting used to the new space they find themselves in. Great to see a decent sized shoal.

Jools

[MarcW]

Thanks for the information Jools. They do seem to be slowly settling, I much prefer to get groups of fish when possible.