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Beardwell4.com Fish I've had a baby !
Well actually my fish have. I've counted five that I can see. All about 1cm long. I'm assuming they are Red Zebras.
Latest pics showing two of my Red Zebras and new look with tree roots and plastic plants.
My Largest Red Zebra showing some good colours.
Briefly the Number 1 voted freshwater tank on RateMyFishtank.com
History
£100 aquarium project
January 2009 I've been thinking about setting up a new tank for some years now. After moving house and letting my 4 foot (140 ltr / 37Gal) marine tank go, there always seemed to be something more important to do.
My inherited goldfish pond has turned out to be more trouble than it's worth. And it appears I have a house with no internal corners or free wall space to put a large tank. A major oversight when buying it I feel. Having got the bug again, after a 5 year absence, I've found the equipment to be quite different and much cheaper than it was last time I set up a tank. I reckon I could set up a small but functional tank for about £100, using mainly Hong Kong equipment from E-Bay and a cheap basic ClearSeal tank. Well there's the challenge ! .............. Let's do it ! General plan As ever this was a limited budget project. I'd looked at some of the "everything included" system tanks available but these meant quite a large initial outlay. (even though some of them are fantastic value for money). Possibly keep a tank full of a single species of freshwater tropicals. The ultimate aim is to have something that looks good enough to actually bring into the house. I'm putting it together in my shed / games room for now.
Sourcing the equipment
30" Basic glass tank £30 Pets at home Hang On filter £19 E-Bay 11W Lamp unit £8 E-Bay 200W Heater £8 E-Bay Holds about 80 -85 L February 2009
Fitted together and goldfish added Ply wood cover in progress (Filter media already matured) Running on a previously used "Prime 10" external filter and the new E-bay hang on filter. Coldwater at this stage, containing three surprisingly large and surprisingly attractive goldfish from my manky old pond. Rocks and corals are from my old tank. Extra costs not bargained for, Coloured gravel - about £3, Under tank foam pad - about £6, Cover glass (plastic) - about £3 all from "Pets at home", Azure blue gloss paint - about £6 from Wickes. March 2009 = £93 so far now the heater is fitted. Goldfish are now back in the pond and I am still trying to decide what to keep in there.
April 2009 Got some "rockery stone" from the garden centre (much cheaper than buying "per kilo" from the fish shop). Also slate chippings from the same garden centre (£4 for a 25 kilo bag) needed a lot of washing but much, much cheaper than buying from the fish shop. Set up for lake Malawi cichlids, initially with 3 x "Yellow Labs" Labidochromis Caeruleus.
Rocky Side view May 2009 Removed slate chippings (too difficult keep clean and a bit ugly) and replaced with mix of coloured gravels for now. Java moss was a messy waste of time and money. Broke up some of the rocks and removed the Java moss shells.
June 2009 Wickes building sand, washed and added for that marine look.
August 2009 Dogon village look inspired by Far Cry 2 game. (houses £1 each from pound shop) Appears to be an ideal environment for the Cichlids as they like caves and rocky hollows to live in. They certainly seem to enjoy flitting in and out of the houses.
November 2009
Added 2 Pseudotropheus elongatus Moved some of the rockery around a bit and changed the substrate for a finer sand. They settled in after a few days and seem to get on very well with the Labs (Swordtails taken back to the shop)
January 2010 Added 7 x Japanese "Marimo" moss balls (about £1 each off E-Bay). Put the shells back in again.
April 2010 Added 3 x Pseudotropheus estherae Red Zebra cichlids
Yes I know they're not Red and they're not stripy but that's what they are called apparently. July 2010 Lost 2 x Yellow Labs, I think through bullying. Not completely sure of the culprit, but one of the Zebras has grown very large and certainly seems to be in charge. Re-arranged rock work to see if that makes a difference. September 2010 Bought 2 x 25 Kg bags of "North Sea pebbles" from the garden centre. removed all the old decoration and stacked the "pebbles" up in an attractive fashion. Still kept the houses for shelter but they are well hidden behind the rocks now. It looks much more natural now. Aufwuchs (brown algae) are growing on the rocks now, and that is the natural diet for Malawi Cichlids, so that's nice.
April 2011
About to have a change around, using LED lighting (Ebay again)
The £8 (now about £11) PLL lights proved a bit unreliable. The starter units fail and replacement bulbs are expensive.
I'm also going to be using Plastic plants (Lots of them).
I figure, the Cichlids like cover to hide in. This doesn't necessarily have to be the traditional rockwork which most Cichlid tanks use. Plants (even plastic ones) could look really good and, of course, don't take up so much water volume. Cichlids, being mostly vegetarian, would eat real plants and a proper planted tank would require a LOT more work than I'm prepared to invest. Plastic is the way to go my Fishey friends. I've recently found a good value local source of "curio wood". Really nice, intricately sculptured, bog wood from African tree roots, nibbled out by insects. This will go brilliantly with the plastic plants I've got from Hong Kong via Ebay. May 2011 Re decorated with Plastic plants and "curio wood". LED lighting has still not arrived from Hong Kong Ebay seller.
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Some Swordtails from another tank just to keep it ticking
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