# 90 gallon "mostly" african saltwater show tank



## spotmonster

I've been on the forum since 2006 and I don't believe I've ever taken the time to post any of my tanks. This is one of my 1st and still my favorite tank. It resides in my family room and it's right next to my couch so I can view it while watching TV. I know many of you like all of the same color rock. But I love the mixed color rocks in this tank. I consider this my Show tank. For me that means keeping bright colorful fish of as many colors as I can find. This tank has many sharp edge rocks, with coral, so I often have fish in here with a torn fin or 2 from time to time. Many of these fish are auction finds. And sometimes fish end up in here simply because I get a great deal on them "the frontosa's for example", so I grow them out in here. They will stay in here for awhile and will be moved or sold down the road as they get bigger. Below are some pics, hope you like it.

- 90 gallon 48x18
- Fluval FX5
- Rock work is made of real coral, real rocks, and also fake rocks of as many colors I can find. 
- The stand was custom hand built around a Fluval FX5 and is powder coated black. If I can find the pics and plans, I'll post info on the stand later.

I'm too tired to create a fish list at the moment, nothing rare in here, you will recognize these fish anyway :thumb:


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## fishy_foo

Wow, that is a really beautiful tank !


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## JimA

Um yeah, you have all those fish in a 4' tank? Genius or insane I cant tell, so wrong on so many levels but if it works for "now" I guess your alright for a week or two...


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## spotmonster

Thanks fishy.

Jim, this tank has been running for 7 years, so I'm pretty sure I'm good for more than a week or two buddie. I've maintained 20-25 fish in this tank for the same amount of years. We're talking small africans here, there are not 30 oscars in there. But I'll take both the genius or insane comment as a compliment  Thanks.


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## ozman

looks great, but allow me to ask what maybe a stupid question:

how do cichlids live in the same parameter waters that allows your corals to survive. perhaps your using dead ones, i don't know!

personally it comes down to individual choice, and for me i'd rather differentiate between a cichlid tank and a saltwater. as you say you get torn fins from the sharp rocks....just my 2c


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## spotmonster

Thanks ozman. The title just means "simulated saltwater look". It's a fresh water tank. The corals are dead.

A "poor mans" saltwater tank if you will. The look of saltwater without the cost and maintenance. Which is why many people fall in love with africans, at least that's how it happened for me. It's a look I love. When I was 1st introduced to cichlids, there were 2 similar show tanks at a very popular LFS near me.


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## dockers

beautiful tank


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## AlmightyJoshaeus

Quite pretty, yes...and I'm sure that all that coral creates an almost infinite number of hiding places for the inevitable chasee.


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## oetheous

Nice tank!! Love the look of the corals.


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## skurj

Saltwater colour (almost) without all the hassles I like it! (just tearing my SW down to be replaced with another FW)

Oh yeah and good job on the photos

But one question... How do ya get fish out of there?


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## spotmonster

Thanks for the compliments.

Yes skurj, almost saltwater colors 

As for getting the fish out, if i have to yank someone, well, it depends on the fish. Some are just not worried about the net at all. I've had Acei that love playing in the net.

I've had some fish that are just not that aware and by leaving a net or two hanging in the water after a few minutes I can snag them quickly.

But for those that are very alert and cautious, well, then i just have to remove most of the rock from the tank. As a matter of fact, I just tore this tank down Thursday night to remove a , (very beautiful hybrid actually) that had become the boss of the tank and would kill any newcomers. I loved the fish and he looked nice, but if i kept him, there would be no newcomers . I knew I would be picking up a few fish to add to the tank if i got the chance at the fish show, so i wanted him to be gone before I departed.

Here's a pic of him. I sold him at the show actually. (sold as a hybrid of course before anyone leaves negative comments). His dad was a Dimidiochromis compressiceps, mom was a Nimbochromis venustus. The fish ended up retaining the flat body of the comp, but with the checkerboard type patter of the venustus. They weren't born in my tanks, I picked them up as fry off of craigslist just to raise them to see what they looked like when adults.


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## ozman

spotmonster said:


> Thanks ozman. The title just means "simulated saltwater look". It's a fresh water tank. The corals are dead.
> 
> A "poor mans" saltwater tank if you will. The look of saltwater without the cost and maintenance. Which is why many people fall in love with africans, at least that's how it happened for me. It's a look I love. When I was 1st introduced to cichlids, there were 2 similar show tanks at a very popular LFS near me.


hi again i understand what you like and i take my hat off to you for going your own way.
my last post was not meant to be critical, just my thoughts. awesome pics of your fish :wink:

every best wish to you and enjoy :thumb:


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## Iggy Newcastle

> Some are just not worried about the net at all. I've had Acei that love playing in the net.


Same here. I have an Acei around 4.5" who swims right into the net, regardless if there's any food in it.

That OB peacock picture is killer.


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## Woundedyak

Amazing fish! I dig the Jewell.


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## spotmonster

No problem Ozman. No offense was taken :thumb: Thanks for the compliment. I appreciate the fact that we can see the beauty in other peoples tanks, even though they might not be of a design we would set up in our own house.

The jewel is hemichromis lifalili. I love these jewels. They are really one of the few choices out there for a true "RED" african. There are many strains of fish in this hobby that use the term "red", like super red empress, ruby red, super red etc... But while they are all very nice fish, none of those fish are actually "red". Usually some shade of orange. Even my very nice dragon blood peacock in this tank, is not truly red when compared against the jewel. If you want to add a "RED" fish to your mixed tank, these guys are excellent as a single specimen. They are pretty laid back in my experience. A spawning pair would be a different story though.


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## CjCichlid

Definitely a colorful tank! I hope that clown loach has a friend or two!


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## spotmonster

Iggy Newcastle said:


> That OB peacock picture is killer.
Click to expand...

Iggy, I love Ob peacocks. There are a lot of "drab" ones out there. But when you get a nice strain, they are really pretty fish. I've had problems with aggression with them in the past when they become large full grown adults. Even as single specimens. Probably due to the supposed "man made x mbuna gene" being in the mix. I've had issues with dragon bloods also. The aggression is usually towards other peacocks. I'm hoping this one stays mellow. I have 4 more males from this strain that I may breed. I'm not sure. While they are nice fish, they just don't bring decent $ in my area unless they are fully colored up adult males.


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## spotmonster

CjCichlid said:


> Definitely a colorful tank! I hope that clown loach has a friend or two!


Yes, the clown does have a buddy. I love how they interact with each other. They seem to annoy each other and force themselves to put up with each others antics, much like young human siblings :lol: I originally added the clowns years ago when the tank became infested with trumpet snails that rode home in a bag of fish from my LFS. Although it took awhile to notice a difference in the snail population, I have not spotted one single snail in 3 years. If there are any left, they find them right away and pick them off. I was lucky in the fact that i have coral substrate in this tank. Trumpet snail shells wold have really ruined the look of black sand!


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## drewmaen

Awesome tank, my first cichlid tank many years ago was filled with dead coral and everyone loved the way it looked. When I got back in the hobby and found this site I didn't see any tanks with coral so I went with river rock and driftwood. After seeing your beautiful tank I am getting the urge to go back to coral.


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## spotmonster

Thanks. Much appreciated. Go for it! Don't be afraid to NOT follow the masses 

I love all kinds of tanks actually. I'm about to revamp my 180 with wood and round rocks. But due to the decor and where the tank is located. I don't think any tank I have will give me as much pleasure as this one.


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## Trackerdude

This is awesome! I never considered corals in fresh water - absolutely amazing. What have you found to be the best avenue to find colorful coral to use?

Thank you for sharing!


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## spotmonster

Trackerdude said:


> This is awesome! I never considered corals in fresh water - absolutely amazing. What have you found to be the best avenue to find colorful coral to use?
> 
> Thank you for sharing!


Thank you! I started out just buying a few fake rocks from petsmart. Rock was so expensive from LFS's, I could not spend that much money at once so I slowly added a pc here and there. There is a pc or 2 of holey rock, red lava rock, black lava rock, lace rock, and there are a few pcs I do not know the name of. Then I added 2 pcs of fake plastic coral for more color. I also had a few pcs of dead coral from tank purchases off of craigslist. Then the real boost came when a co-worker gave me a huge box of dead corals from their old saltwater tank they had in storage.

When the coral is added, the colors are very bright, but as the tank ages, and algae starts to grow on everything, it remains colorful, but the algae sort of blends it all in and mutes the tones a bit. I think the algae growth makes it look "more natural" if you will. While a bushy nose pleco, keeps up the contrast by creating clean white areas on the rocks.

You can pick up pcs of coral at any LFS. But It's pretty expensive. I highly recommend craigslist, garage sales, and fish auctions to score random pcs at cheap prices.


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## Ebi Omer

Hats off. This tank rocks. I've never seen something like it here in my part of the world. Awesome


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## spotmonster

Ebi Omer said:


> Hats off. This tank rocks. I've never seen something like it here in my part of the world. Awesome


Thank you very much for the compliment Ebi.


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## spotmonster

Here's some info and pics of the stand for this tank. I had better raw pics of the stand but I think I lost them when my pc crashed. It' needs a cleaning underneath so excuse the dust.

The stand was custom built out of angle iron, steel tubing and powder coated. I provided the drawings and had it built. It was inspired by the 6th picture. The doors were to be swing open flush mounted doors between the framework. The guy I had build it screwed up on the plans and had to do modify the design so that in the end I could not flush mount the doors in between the framework as i had planned but instead they sit flush on the outside of the framework. Due to the fact this was built very cheaply by a by a friend of a friend there was no complaining to be done :wink: I had plans to make a canopy for it to match, but I lost my contact guy that built the stand so it's yet to happen.

i've included my drawings if anyone wants to use them or refer to them in help in building their own. I'm old school when it comes to designing so they are just written on paper.

The entire stand was built around the idea that it had to house a FX5.

The doors are mounted with door hardware like in picture 7.

1. 

2. 

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6. 

7.


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## aquaticpa

Great looking tank! What type of lighting are you using?


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## spotmonster

aquaticpa said:


> Great looking tank! What type of lighting are you using?


Thanks.

Lighting is a 4ft dual T8 shop light with (1)- 32 watt GE daylight bulb, and (1)- Zoo Med Actinic bulb.


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## VivaGardner

This is a beautiful tank and I was given a similar setup and wanted to try and recreate something with my own theme.

Are most of the rocks touching the back glass or do you leave room for the fish to fully swim around them? I'm not really sure on how to place the rocks.

Hopefully you see this. Thanks so much


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## spotmonster

VivaGardner said:


> Are most of the rocks touching the back glass or do you leave room for the fish to fully swim around them? I'm not really sure on how to place the rocks. Thanks so much


Thanks for the compliment.

Start by putting the larger rocks on the bottom to help make a solid base. Medium after that, and smaller ones, lighter ones on top.

None of my base rocks are touching the glass. All of the middle and top layers are leaning against the glass. By having the larger ones sit away from the glass a few inches, this gives you enough room to start leaning the rest against the glass at an angle so they don't fall.

There is quite a bit of room for the fish to swim behind and around all most all of my rocks.

The other thing that helps is having rocks that are not smooth. Most of the stuff in my tank has lots of area's to "grip" the rocks around them.


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## VivaGardner

Thank you for getting back to me


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## jdthomas2789

Awesome looking fish!! Don't really care for the saltwater look but its all about what you like.


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## spotmonster

jdthomas2789 said:


> Awesome looking fish!! Don't really care for the saltwater look but its all about what you like.


Thank you.


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## jdthomas2789

looks totally un-natural, if u like it I guess that's all that matters. Feel sorry for the fish though


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## Cichlidman14

jdthomas2789 said:


> looks totally un-natural, if u like it I guess that's all that matters. Feel sorry for the fish though


I think that was a little rude, i think the fish seem fine since there are hiding spots and they are feed, its like saying should i use slate or cichlid stones? Either one would work.


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## Fandango2014

Those pictures are AMAZING. I have a 90 gallon too although it has different dimensions. Do you add salt to the water to have Malawis?


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## spotmonster

jdthomas2789 said:


> looks totally un-natural, Feel sorry for the fish though


I take no offense nor wish to offend you. I've heard this stated on many forums and many topics and I still don't understand this rationalization. The fish like to hide and dart in and out of things, what "those things are" does not affect the fishes happiness whatsoever. They could be natural rocks, plastic rocks, flower pots, pvc pipes, tree branches, heck you could throw in a box full of your old childhood action figures and the fish would be just as happy as having rocks found in Lake Malawi herself.

This statement seems to rationalize that a fish born and raised in a glass box in captivity is cast into a new glass box, looks around and says to itself, "man, this is not the same stuff my great grand daddy hid in when he was living in Lake Malawi, this sucks, now I'm depressed". I'm not buying it :roll:

I also think it's funny that most everything in my tank is something fish swim around in nature. there's not one piece of pvc or a flower pot in there :-?


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## spotmonster

Fandango2014 said:


> Those pictures are AMAZING. I have a 90 gallon too although it has different dimensions. Do you add salt to the water to have Malawis?


Thanks you!

I do not add salt to any of my tanks. I used to and saw no long term benefit except the thinning of my wallet 

I do find salt can help when used as medicinal purposed sometimes though.


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## spotmonster

Cichlidman14 said:


> its like saying should i use slate or cichlid stones? Either one would work.


Thanks, my thinking also.


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## trader_sam

That has to be the best Cichlid tank I have ever seen. But I would have gone with saltwater, I hope to move back to salt eventually. I know you must have already had saltwater or your tank wouldn't look as it does. Great job, the coral compliments the fish and the fish compliment the rock


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## Hapguy63

trader_sam said:


> That has to be the best Cichlid tank I have ever seen. But I would have gone with saltwater, I hope to move back to salt eventually. I know you must have already had saltwater or your tank wouldn't look as it does. Great job, the coral compliments the fish and the fish compliment the rock


Not a big fan of trying to make a fresh water tank look like salt. It is my dream too to one day be able to do a large saltwater reef tank. My main holdback is cost. Everything on the salt side of the hobby is way expensive. The cost of the lighting system alone is in the thousands on dollar range. fish, live coral, live rock etc... the costs are just so much more in salt.


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## spotmonster

trader_sam said:


> That has to be the best Cichlid tank I have ever seen. But I would have gone with saltwater, I hope to move back to salt eventually. I know you must have already had saltwater or your tank wouldn't look as it does. Great job, the coral compliments the fish and the fish compliment the rock


Thanks Trader,

I've never owned saltwater before. I just wanted a colorful saltwater look.

As both of you have said, cost and maintenance is why I do not own one. This is the next best thing :thumb:

Actually, I'm not a fan of the the "saltwater look" when attempted with other types of fish, but I feel African cichlids are the only freshwater fish that can pull this off.


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## rkings4d

You obviously are an original, inspiring to see, as I find things a little dogmatic on here sometime. But all the stuff we know came from people trying different things. I posted a question on here about whether mbuna and haps/peacocks could coexist, and does anyone have any success stories- 130 people have read it -0 replys. As for feeling sorry for the fish, that makes no sense at all!! I think that although unconventional, your tank balances form and colour nicely. Is there room for the fish to swim freely in front of the rocks?


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## spotmonster

rkings4d said:


> You obviously are an original, inspiring to see,...
> 
> I posted a question on here about whether mbuna and haps/peacocks could coexist, and does anyone have any success stor
> 
> ?


Thank you.

I looked for your post but I couldn't find it. To answer your question precisely we'd need to know exact species. But to answer it in general, yes..they can co-exist. Actually, this tank has all of the above.


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## Iggy Newcastle

> 130 people have read it -0 replys


I essentially bumped your post. Keep in mind that although it said that the post received 131 views, the site counts non members views. Basically some people looked at it, but were not permitted to post.

Ignore the haters spotmonster! I'm thinking of The Battle of Endor for my next tank. Just silicone the whole Ewok Village in the tank. How awesome would that be? :lol:


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## spotmonster

No problems with the haters Iggy, I'm good :thumb:

All are welcome.

I see some crazy idea's sometimes that I appreciate and admire, but may not do it myself.


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## spotmonster

rkings4d said:


> Is there room for the fish to swim freely in front of the rocks?


Ooops, missed that question, yes the front is open all the way across the front of the tank.


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## Thalas_shaya

What a fun tank! I'm new to the hobby. Would love if you could list your species with your fish, as a learning opportunity. Great photography, too!


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## MelWamble

spotmonster said:


> Ooops, missed that question, yes the front is open all the way across the front of the tank.


Your tank is absolutely gorgeous! I had freshwater for years, then went to saltwater and ran 3 saltwater tanks for 13 years. I bought a bar/restaurant 4 years ago and decided to sell my tanks cause I just didn't have the time anymore....but I've really been itching to get a tank again. I love all the colors and everything of saltwater, but the maintenance and stress is just too much for me these days. Your tank is the best of both worlds! To the guy who "feels bad for the fish," fish don't miss what they don't know, lol. They've got plenty of space to swim, and they look very healthy.....not stressed. Great job! 😍


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## Misman

A realy nice tank!! I Love the look of the dead corals and I just got a ton of inspiration for my future tank build


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## yellowlabradoodle

beautiful


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