# New Tank Hardscaping



## Titan85 (Oct 17, 2014)

Hello,

Finally got my 65 gal cycled and now stocked. I have 19 fish in right now. Mostly Mbuna, couple peacocks and a few Tropheus. I'm running an old Rena Fillstar xP3. Do you think I am fully stocked or could I go higher?

Opinions on my hardscaping?


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## The Cichlid Guy (Oct 18, 2014)

The hardscape looks great, but I think you're already overstocked.


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## dsiple3 (Mar 4, 2014)

If you can paint the intake with black, you can do a lot for the look. Rockwork looks fine to me.

From what I see in the pic, your ratios are off. If those are auratus then I would start rethinking stocking options. They are beautiful fish but nasty from time to time, especially when not kept with proper ratios and tank space.

I would also consider rehoming the Peacocks. My basic rule, if mbuna are in the tank, then the tank should be all mbuna. Only exceptions are catfish and BN plecos.


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## Matt- (Jul 14, 2014)

Looks great. Did you purchase all of those rocks? If so what type of store did you find them? Also, is there a possibility of a rock moving and collapsing and perhaps breaking the glass? This is something I've always wondered while looking at tanks with stacked rocks. It's a look I love and would love to try, just always had a fear the tank breaking.


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## dsiple3 (Mar 4, 2014)

Matt- said:


> Also, is there a possibility of a rock moving and collapsing and perhaps breaking the glass? This is something I've always wondered while looking at tanks with stacked rocks. It's a look I love and would love to try, just always had a fear the tank breaking.


If you stack it carefully, you can make a stack confidently stable. You just have to make sure the rocks are not set directly on top of the substrate; diggers can make these unstable. Mine are buried ~2" in the substrate sitting directly on the bottom glass. You can also use fluorescent light diffuser (aka egg crate) on the bottom glass and stack the rocks on it if you are uncomfortable with rocks directly on the glass.


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