newb... is that an 18" fixture... what i did to one of my 55g tanks was a quad light system... that POS came with two 18" fixtures... weak... so what i did was go to walmart and got two 10 dorra closet light fixtures... i took them apart, and placed them inside the lightfixtures for the tank... so bam... i made a 18" bulb fixture into a double bulb... but, i used urethane to clue it together... youcould use silicone to glue it together i guess...





sure beats paying $TEXAS for a cheapo fixture at a LFS...

Gumbii,

It's a 24" bulb fixture. So can you explain exactly how I wire it and rig it. I am scared to do this wrong and not have any lights, haha.


Yasher,

Thanks and yes, the slabs have about 3 or 4 seperate slots inside for the fish to hide. It doesn't look like there is much room but from the side of the tank you can see through the different holes. I plan to buy more slabs and make the entire side stacked to the rim or close.

I thought I would jump in here :-) I found this site because I was setting up my African Mbuna tank and was looking for ideas. I think a lot of people who rate the tanks are just web surfers passing thru looking for ideas, looking at the pictures, etc.

I know for me, I do tend to look for the info on the tank or fish. If the picture is blurry and the photo caption just says "fish" I tend to rate low. I want to know what it is. I know it is a fish! LOL I also look for originality too. Some tanks just jump right out at me and say wow! I don't care if I can see equipment in the back, you can see mine. I place my plants and stuff for the fishes comfort, not to hide things. If I see a tank with an African cichlid living with a bunch of calm non-aggressive community fish, I know those fish are unhappy and being hassled all day. So, no matter how pretty the tank is, if the fish are unhappy the tank gets a low rating. I never rate below a 2.

I do my tanks mostly for my fish. I will change them around during water changes if something doesn't sit right with me, but leave the areas they like where they are. An example of this is my Brichardi tank. I have made all kinds of caves and cool stuff, but noticed that they hid all the time. The only time they came out and was real active was when I removed over half their stuff for cleaning. So, I took out everything but two small rock piles and some plants along the sides. Yeah, its a rather plain tank, but my fish are happy now, spending all day swimming all over instead of hiding. The only thing I can figure is they feel safer in the open. I spend a lot of time in front of my tanks, right up there in their face, so I can get their perspective (They get mine too, because I usually have to look around someone who is in my face too :-) My mom told me once that every time she comes over I am sitting in front of a tank.

I joined RMT and put pictures up because I want to share! I want to share with everyone my new love. I am sure everyone here has gotten the rolling eyes look when you talk about fish! I didn't even think about getting rated when I joined. As I was reading this thread I pulled up the top 10 tanks to see what was up. I haven't looked since I joined. I blush to say my Mbuna tank is #5! When did that happen?? That tank is fun to watch, looking deep and seeing all the tunnels and caves my Socolifi has dug! Also, the fish find my magnifying glass fascinating LOL. I was looking at my holding mama the other day and discovered that when I look thru it they all come out, right up to me and look back at me! Too funny! The mama stays away until I look thru it, then she comes real close to look back at me and I can see her fry wiggling away in her mouth.

Anyways, back on to the rating.... you can just tell sometimes by the picture and what a person wrote how much they care about their fish. Do you know what I mean?

Question for jweb.... How do you keep your big Amazon sword alive with the Africans?? I put some in my tank, along with some anubious and the next day they were all full of holes! I ended up making my own plants for their tank. The only stuff they leave alone is the horn wart, which I don't care too much about because it makes a mess.

jweb, good to hear your fish have hiding places. Pictures like your own and others have pointed me into the direction of reorganizing the right side of my tank with rocks/ledges, just like you said, all the way to the top of the brim. I think I will build the rocks/slabs like red brick work you see on a house except leave openings between each slab, some narrow and some even more narrower with just enough room in the back so the fish can swim behind and up and around the slabs if they like. I figure as long as the slabs are flat it will be sturdy enough to build such a wall of about 15-18" high. I do wonder about the weight, so I guess I must lay it as evenly as I can toward the middle where there is a brace underneath the tank to support the weight. The weight is my only concern; but I know the fish will love it.

dizzcat, your focus is well set. Fish first then show piece second. I like your attitude. It's exactly what I am aim for, what is in the best interests of the fish, live plants and invertebrates.

What is the first part of the acei's latin name? Kenyi's are pretty mean. They don't get along with any other tropheus'. My female is worse than the male. I think she killed one of my other females in there. They get along with labs fine, usually no agression at all. Use the cichlid recipe website for good combo's of fish.

Yasher, one thing I try to stay away from is brick work stacking. It doesn't look natural. Eventhough it is very hard to build a sound structure that is not brick work, I try very long and hard to make them work. I even face rigid edges out to give it a more natural and uncut look. I don't like clean edges or perfect stacking, to me it just doesn't look right. Take this into consideration. The fish doesn't want to live in a cookie-cutter suburb any more than you and I.