# rocks...



## joselepiu (Jul 22, 2017)

well almost there, last thing i need to buy are the rocks and im planning to do that this week so...

need to decide between limestone slate and / or round river rocks...

i would be inclined to choose the river rocks but i think it would be a little hard to build high enough rock formations and some caves and yet stable enough that fish or water flow wont make them to stumble down...

most of pics / vids that i have seen only go at most as high as half the tank...

can i see some pics / vids of your tanks showing rock stacks and cave formations for inspiration?...

thanks in advance...


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## caldwelldaniel26 (Jun 11, 2017)

Here's a pic of my rock work.


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## joselepiu (Jul 22, 2017)

is not that to low?...


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

If you can get halfway up the height of the tank but have a stable stack, that is fine. Are you doing mbuna or peacocks?


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## caldwelldaniel26 (Jun 11, 2017)

It's good enough for haps and peacocks.


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## joselepiu (Jul 22, 2017)

DJRansome said:


> Are you doing mbuna or peacocks?


mbuna...


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## joselepiu (Jul 22, 2017)

caldwelldaniel26 said:


> It's good enough for haps and peacocks.


what about bmuna?...


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

The height is fine. I might make piles across the entire bottom though.


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## caldwelldaniel26 (Jun 11, 2017)

Yeah I have quite a bit of open space on the sand because that's what haps and peacocks prefer, but if it were for Mbuna, I'd have added quite a bit more smaller rocks in the front.


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## joselepiu (Jul 22, 2017)

caldwelldaniel26 said:


> Yeah I have quite a bit of open space on the sand because that's what haps and peacocks prefer, but if it were for Mbuna, I'd have added quite a bit more smaller rocks in the front.


i dont know why but i always thought you had bmunas...


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## caldwelldaniel26 (Jun 11, 2017)

No, not anymore my friend. I used to have Mbuna but I prefer my haps and peacocks now.


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## forest109 (Sep 7, 2010)

I prefer rounded or angular rocks instead of flat (such as slate), just because I think it looks more natural, more like the actual rock in Lake Malawi (on a smaller scale, of course), but that's just my preference. I also happen to have a lot of nice weathered granite rocks out in the woods around my house. River rock is fine, but the fact that they are smooth makes them more susceptible to moving around and collapsing if the fish undermine them or you bump something. I used a base of egg crate to set a few larger rocks on, and then worked up. As far as how high you can go, I'd say whatever will remain stable will work. The egg crate will distribute the load and help keep them from moving around. The rock in my 90G tank is up to 2/3 the height of the tank, and stacked against a 3-D background. As far as what my tank looks like, enter "Malawi Rock Habitat" into the Aquarium Gallery tab search bar and take a look. I've had it set up for almost 8 years now and my fish love it - plenty of hiding places. The photos were taken about 5 years ago, and after several years the rock and background have all developed a nice algae-coated patina.


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

I like a wide variety of shapes and sizes of rocks and definitely do not want the stack that we often see. When I look at the reason for putting rocks in, I have to wonder how much thought goes into the question in many tanks. When a fish wants to hide, it really doesn't do much good to give him something that leaves him in sight from several directions. Just sliding under or behind something will do nothing to relieve the stress, whether the stress is from seeing people or from being chased. I have to use an assortment of both rounded and flat to get the "jumble" of rocks that give the small and large spaces which let them fully hide. If I can look in and see my fish, the other fish can certainly do the same so there really isn't much value to a rock pile when we can look in the front opening and see all the way to the back wall. That isn't a hiding spot but just a speed bump for anybody feeling scared! 
So many worry about getting to see their fish and worry that they will hide and miss a critical point. I think of fish hiding and the way I might feel. If I were scared and in the middle of a field with one tree, I might stay behind that tree all day. But if I am in a field with dozens of trees, I may feel much more like coming out to look around as I know I can hide quickly if I get scared. Until my fish really get settled, I try to keep everybody feeling like they all can hide at the drop of a hat! Doing that lets me see them much more and they settle in better without having to fight for a few good spots.


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## fish_gazer (Nov 9, 2017)

Pardon my messy tank, it's due for a cleaning, but I used very large, irregular rocks that when placed on end and facing each other, create a maze of caves and tunnels. I have some other rocks with holes in them that coupled with driftwood, accomplish the same thing. This gives them places to hide completely from view, and in fact, they do exactly that when I am cleaning the tank.



















My yellow labs are almost always out of sight (except when eating or when the lights are off) or within the blink of an eye of disappearing. #cavedweller


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## joselepiu (Jul 22, 2017)

nice... thx... :thumb:

what size is your tank?... :-? :-?

and what is your stock list and m / f ratio?... :-? :-?

i will be also doing driftwood (mopani driftwood ) and rocks (may be slate or river rocks or both)...

:fish: :dancing: 8) :dancing: :fish:


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## fish_gazer (Nov 9, 2017)

joselepiu said:


> what size is your tank?... :-? :-?
> 
> and what is your stock list and m / f ratio?... :-? :-?


55 gallon - 4 yellow labs (2 male 2 female), 4 yellow blaze haps (2 male 2 female), 5 blue ahli haps (2 male 3 female).

I ordered 5 of each breed as 1 inch un-sexed fish. Early on, one of the yellow labs suffered an unfortunate fate and one of the yellow blaze completely disappeared.

I know the male to female ratio is not ideal (and even the breeds for that matter) but I didn't want to order 4 inch fish for the size tank I was starting with. The idea was to start small and let them grow together, then make any necessary additions/subtractions accordingly.

One of the blue haps is the dominant male, I named him Deebo (wha' chu got on my drink, Craig?), the other one is the sub-dominant male. I am not 100% sure of the sex of the YL and YB as they are still small compared to the blue haps (I learned in the past that what you think you have is not always the case) but time will tell as they mature and go through the mating process as the blue haps are currently in the process of doing.


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## The Morning (Nov 22, 2017)

There is a company out there that manufactures cichlid caves called Underwater Galleries. The stones are ceramic but made to look like a granite type stone. I use them along with a mix of real stones. They come in a variety of sizes, look fairly realistic but most importantly do not displace a large amount of water since they are hollow. They can be very difficult to find at times since they seem to sell out often but Amazon has a 10 pack listed right now for $67.


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## The Morning (Nov 22, 2017)

Just as an FYI. The brown rock and the greenish "bridge" rock are both real. The other ones pictured are the caves.


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