# Looking to improve my hardscaping



## t3ch (Sep 22, 2015)

Hi everyone,
I have an african cichlid tank I am looking to change the hardscaping on in order to improve look and reduce aggression. I would like to add much more caves for fishes to hide in and maybe increase swimming space.
Below are videos of the tank as well as pictures (also my angelfish tank why not). Let me know what you think.


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## Samadhikash (Jun 16, 2015)

Welcome to the forum.
My very first thought....
I think you may have given yourself an impossible job. Those rocks are beautiful. But I'm not sure that you (or anyone) could put another one in the tank to create a cave without reducing swimming space at the same time.  
Second thought....
I think you may have too many fish of that size for the size of your tank. However, I'm not an mbuna stocking expert, and I don't know what your overall plans and goals are.

What are the dimensions of your tank?

Final thought....
Love that driftwood in the angel tank.


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## t3ch (Sep 22, 2015)

Thanks for the driftwood I love it too. My african tank is 48x12.5x18 and yeah it seems quite stocked the story behind it is I got the fish in part of a package of EVERYTHING you can imagine which included the tank the angelfish are in now. They were 20 in that tank when the previous owner had them + the Chinese algae eater, I have 4 to my friend and now have 16. The rocks are definitely big and I am looking at the option of getting new smaller rocks all together, all advice is very appreciated!


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## Tony La Morte (Nov 30, 2011)

Wow, that is a lot of fish in a 55 gallon, my guess is they are 4.5" to 5" fish. 
It also appears you have some rocks laying on the sand and not the bottom of the tank, Fix that right away.
What is your water change schedule? If you feed them daily the bio load must be pretty large.
I suggest Flatter rocks of roughly the same size can be stacked easier so the fish can get into the caves. I seriously doubt you can create enough caves for that many fish within that foot print. Also, what is your ratio Males to Females?
Good luck,
Tony


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## t3ch (Sep 22, 2015)

Hi Tony,
Those rocks are on the sand but firmly down to the glass (I know those guys really like to dig)
I change about 10-15% of the water once a week. To take care of the bioload I have a fluval 405 filter+a foam filter, by nitrates are next to 0 and amonia at 0


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## Tony La Morte (Nov 30, 2011)

You should have a Nitrates reading! Ammonia and Nitrites should be 0.


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## t3ch (Sep 22, 2015)

I do have nitrates that's why I wrote next to 0, I have 0.25 nitrate reading, nitrites and amonia at 0


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## smoothie17 (Oct 2, 2015)

I would use another type of rock, personally I find the round rocks to be bland in an aquarium.


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## tanker3 (May 18, 2015)

Maybe too late, but those rocks are not of much use. The fish cannot hide in them when looking for refuge. It is almost like you have 3 big rocks in the tank.


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## wortel87 (Apr 15, 2014)

Spot the robot! No joke. Its there!


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## tanker3 (May 18, 2015)

The Ghost of aquariums past. It's a filter.


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