# Fish room photo story. Pic heavy



## mattrox (Jul 26, 2011)

I guess this is by way of introduction. I'm Matt and live in Australia.

We have a limitied supply of cichlids because of import restrictions. So when I had the opportunity I built a fish room and stocked it accordingly. The room has been running for about a year now. Just refining the stocklist etc. Popped it in DIY because of the mattenfilters I decided to put in the fry tanks.

Without too much explanation, I'll just post up a photo story.


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## xxbenjamminxx (Jan 22, 2011)

Wow very impressive. Looks like you stocked up on enough NLS for a bit lol.

Hope I will have the means to do something like this someday!


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## z400 (Jun 30, 2009)

That is awesome but how do you get to the back row?


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## mattrox (Jul 26, 2011)

z400 said:


> That is awesome but how do you get to the back row?


Just enough walking room, I'll have to try a bird's eye view.


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

Nice job on the setup. I agree the walking room looks a wee bit tight for comfort. I also noticed the buckets of NLS in the photo.

Now for the questions!! What size are these tanks and are you doing species only in each of them?

Also, how do you do water changes - manual, semi-automatic or fully automatic?

Of course there will be many more questions but I don't want to overwhelm you on your 1st day on the forum. BTW, a very welcome to you and an awesome first post.


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## Norm66 (Mar 3, 2005)

Great first post. Welcome.


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## mattrox (Jul 26, 2011)

The water changes are via bucket for the lawn, or if it has been raining siphoned straight out the window. Its my workout, but I will be buying a long wide-bore hose for the summer water changes. Refill is straight from the hose into the tank with dechlorinator in it. Keep in mind that in winter we don't even get frosts where we are, so the water temp. out of the tap isn't ice cold. I just change less water more often in winter.

I don't keep single species tanks. Tanks have 3 species that don't cross breed, and would be obvious if hybrid fry were produced. I keep a close eye on breeding and in the early stages of the room, when a male bred with the wrong female, colonies were re-arranged. It seems to be working smoothly now.

There is not a lot of room to move, but I can move a ladder around comfortably in there. I really did maximize the use of floor space to make the room as efficient as possible.


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## mattrox (Jul 26, 2011)

Oh yeah tank sizes are 4ft ~ 55g and 6ft x 16 x 20high. Fry tanks are 2ftx12x14high and juvenile tanks are 3ftx14x20. I can fit one more 6ft in the room and I'll be replacing 2 of the 2ft tanks with one 4ft for grow out as well.

I am going to try and sneak a 4x2x1.5high that is in the shed, into the study to hold juveniles ready to move on and re-home.


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## DanniGirl (Jan 25, 2007)

Nice! Can't say that I envy the work of monitoring all those aquariums (  :wink: )....but very nice! :thumb:


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## dielikemoviestars (Oct 23, 2007)

Full tank/stock list?


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## mattrox (Jul 26, 2011)

Aulonocara stuartgranti Cobue 
Aulonocara stuartgranti Ngara flame tail in need of a male ... it died
Aulonocara stuartgranti Usisya Same as above
Aulonocara stuartgranti "Red Shoulder" (hansbenschi)

Copadichromis borlyei 'kadango red'

Otopharynx lithobates 'Zimbabwe Rock'

Protomelas sp. Ã¢â‚¬Ëœsteveni taiwanÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ Chimoto Red
Protomelas taeniolatus Fire Blue

Placidichromis phenochilus Mdoka

Cynotilapia afra Cobue

Labeotropheus trewavasae
Labeotropheus fullerborni

Labidochromis chisumulae 
Labidochromis sp. Mbamba Bay 
Labidochromis caeruleus Nkhali
Labidochromis caeruleus

Pseudotropheus sp. Red Top Ndumbi 
Pseudotropheus flavus
Pseudotropheru cyaneus 
Pseudotropheus sp. 'elongatus Mphanga'
Psuedotropheus sp. 'elongatus spot' 
Pseudotropheus saulosi 
Pseudotropheus scolofi 
Pseudotropheus acei Msuli Point

Metriaclima pulpican
Metriaclima hajomaylandi 
Metriaclima barlowi (in need of females .... died)
Metriaclima sp. zebra gold Charo
Metriaclima aurora 
Metriaclima gresheki

Melanochromis johanni 
Melanchromis cyanorhabdos

Not all are breeding at the moment and still need to refine things a bit.


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## iwade4fish (Jan 5, 2009)

That's alot of $$$ in fish. SOooooooooooooooo jealous. Fair dinkum, mate!!


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## Doc_Polit (Jul 22, 2003)

Your fish room looks fantastic!

I wish I had the room for such a project.


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## iwade4fish (Jan 5, 2009)

What's with the blue tape-like stuff in the bags of fish!!


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## mattrox (Jul 26, 2011)

iwade4fish said:


> What's with the blue tape-like stuff in the bags of fish!!


It's cut up plastic fish bags. It is to reduce aggression between fish in the same bag.


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## mattrox (Jul 26, 2011)

The fish need to move out of the house. I started in Jan, but left it for a while and here is where I got up to tonight.


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## cichlid_crazy (Jul 24, 2012)

Very nice!! :fish: Please keep us updated. And dont be shy with the pictures


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## fusion (Jun 21, 2012)

I want one

Looks great :thumb:


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## mattrox (Jul 26, 2011)

I have installed the door hardware. I just need to weather seal it against drafts. 









I hope to finish the painting tonight and start preparations to get fish into the room.


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## mattrox (Jul 26, 2011)

Painting almost done. Rack in place, will put in some tanks tonight to get water up to temperature. Hopefully more pics too.


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## mattrox (Jul 26, 2011)

Some tanks in with heaters so I can move fish in soon. Have to work out the logistics of it now.


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## cichlid_crazy (Jul 24, 2012)

Very nice. Keep up the good work


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## mattrox (Jul 26, 2011)

Thanks for the comments. Hopefully there will be a lot of progress over the weekend.


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## cichlid-gal (Apr 27, 2012)

mattrox said:


> The fish need to move out of the house. I started in Jan, but left it for a while and here is where I got up to tonight.


I have to laugh Mattrox...1st a fish room, now a fish addition... :lol: Looks like you are doing a great job. Like your build on the racks too. Keep the pictures coming and have fun!


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## mattrox (Jul 26, 2011)

Thanks Cichlid-Gal. Lots of work but I like it.

The juggling of tanks, stands and fish has begun.

I am taking the opportunity to lightly sand and rust protect the stands while the tanks are not on them. I'll be getting a dehumidifier or heat recapture ventilation system in the shed to help reduce this problem. But I'll slowly start replacing racks with wooden ones over the next couple years. I am slowly accumulating tools and skills that I need to do this properly.

Moving/tearing down the tanks gives me the chance to have a second look at the species I keep and hopefully be adding a couple of species to the list.


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## mattrox (Jul 26, 2011)

Some pictures of the chaos. Slowly getting the grow out tanks and some fry into the "new" rack.

Have the contents of 2x 4ft tanks keeping some filters cycled until their rack is in and tanks installed.


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## metricliman (Sep 3, 2012)

I wish I could have something like that! :drooling: Are going to be running the tanks on canisters or a central sump?


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## mattrox (Jul 26, 2011)

metricliman said:


> I wish I could have something like that! :drooling: Are going to be running the tanks on canisters or a central sump?


At the moment I am using canisters on the breeding tanks. I might move to a sump but I like the isolation for disease control.

All grow out tanks are air driven.

:thumb:


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