# diy (10g cichlid background)



## !shadow! (Jan 25, 2010)

*The rockscaping that inspired me*

Just some inspirational pictures l someday wish to have an aquarium such as the ones below.


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## shane3fan (Nov 2, 2009)

<<<No expert by any means

BUT...

I think you are going to have trouble finding cichlid(S) that you can put in that tank. You might be able to do a pair of dwarf cichlids of some sort--but the decorations you are making take up a lot of space. By the time you put a filter, heater, substrate etc in there-you will probably have a 5 gallon water capacity. 

Cool idea, but I personally think you need a larger tank to pull it off. 

I currently have ONE male pelvicachromis pulcher ( kribensis cichlid ) in a planted 10 gallon and as soon as my 50 gallon is setup I wam moving him to my current 29gallon with a mate.


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## !shadow! (Jan 25, 2010)

Yea l was thinking the same such a shame i put so much effort into it but i guess once i tear down my 40 it would give me something to work with.


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## RipariumGuy (Aug 6, 2009)

That looks really nice!


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## !shadow! (Jan 25, 2010)

the inspirational set ups or mines hehe? i just want to hurry up and finish it and posted it up so the viewers can see without screwing it up


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## !shadow! (Jan 25, 2010)

*And here are the base lookalike rocks that will go with the substrate*

l tried carving them out as realistic as possible with notches on the styrofoam. l used a marker to draw out before i started cutting to make sure i was happy with the look.


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## RipariumGuy (Aug 6, 2009)

!shadow! said:


> the inspirational set ups or mines hehe?


Yours! But the isnparational aquarium look good to!:hihi:


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## !shadow! (Jan 25, 2010)

JakeJ said:


> Yours! But the isnparational aquarium look good to!:hihi:


lol there shouldn't really be a comparison it would only lead to embarassment,im currently working on the upper half of the tank i still need to get a filter going by the reviews i'll probably get a aquaclear one. then i gotta worry about hiding the heater(fun stuff). One thing for sure this project will be breathtaking once it's finished just need a bit more time and then let it cure for a week or so. Only thing i'm debating is what color of sand i should use. l was thinking about using either black quartz http://www.championpartitions.com/images/color/BlackQuartz_77.jpg but probably wouldnt look the best against grey background
white/black http://www.charterhouse-aquatics.co.uk/catalog/images/caribsea/african_cichlid_sample.jpg ooor
just plain white such as here http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dLSVgS5Ax...J1U/_wmCJpuvNr4/s400/aquarium-sand-gravel.jpg
any opinions?


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## lg0815 (Aug 24, 2009)

shell dwellers would work in that :tongue:


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## !shadow! (Jan 25, 2010)

*gravel bed rocks set in place and 2nd coated background*

as you can see in my first picture there was several pieces of styrofoam, well that's what on the aquarium floor as you can see on the first picture, i got a top view as well or tried to atleast  tommorow i'll take a sample picture with black quarts just to see how it looks like hehe. i have a miscolored pices of styrofoam in the dead center i was wondering if i should lay it as it is or raise it about an inch above the center block so that the fish could swim in between, any suggestions?


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## Anton_V (Jan 26, 2010)

good idea! but don't you think that your tank a little too small for this.
ok, u have 10g tank, but when u put inside stones, cement, equipment - the volume get reduce...and fish will get not so much place to swim and live
but anyway good luck  (waiting for a filled up tank's foto)


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## !shadow! (Jan 25, 2010)

Anton_V said:


> good idea! but don't you think that your tank a little too small for this.
> ok, u have 10g tank, but when u put inside stones, cement, equipment - the volume get reduce...and fish will get not so much place to swim and live
> but anyway good luck  (waiting for a filled up tank's foto)


yea who knows i might not do cichlids and just some other type of fish, l guess i just got caught up in the moment when making this tank i'll do my research thats for sure.


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## lg0815 (Aug 24, 2009)

im telling you do shell dwellers there cichlids 

you can keep 2 pairs in a 10


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## F22 (Sep 21, 2008)

you can do more than 2 pairs, gold occelatus do well, neolamprologus multifasciatus would be my pick though, they are not as aggressive and look awesome in a large group...


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## !shadow! (Jan 25, 2010)

F22 said:


> you can do more than 2 pairs, gold occelatus do well, neolamprologus multifasciatus would be my pick though, they are not as aggressive and look awesome in a large group...


thanks i'll do that i just hope their available in my aquarium pet store i'm probably gonna buy some white sand, not sure about the black/white since my tank already has that buffer from the cement even tho i will cure it anyways but again this will be my first time keeping cichlids so any advice would be appreciated.


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## F22 (Sep 21, 2008)

any question you have just shoot it over to me... i'm big into cichlids...


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## !shadow! (Jan 25, 2010)

sorry guys i haven't gotten the time to post new pictures on my diy i've been really busy with work and taking care of my 40g planted tank *cough cough water changes cough cough*. Hopefully tommorow i'll update the thread. l had to trim some of the java moss on my driftwood since it was getting out of hand(my nova extreme's seem to do a good job of helping) but lately i've been getting alot of webbing algae on them so i'm prob guessing it's either my lights are on too long or the current in my external canister is rushing excess nutrients to them,anyways i'll shut up  enjoy


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## !shadow! (Jan 25, 2010)

well i went to the fish store today and looked at some gold occelatus and neolamprologus multifasciatus and boy i have to say the multis take my pick.i'm probably gonna get like 1 male and 3 females since they are harem spawners(yes i looked that up  i like to be informed better safe than sorry). l picked up the sand used to house them shown in the picture(contains aragonite).


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## AlexXx (Dec 1, 2009)

update? im loving this!


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## !shadow! (Jan 25, 2010)

*update*

And here is my tank. As you can see it has the bottom floor already complete and the sand will be poured in between the "artificial rocks" l tried to place the bigger rocks in the background and the small grounds to the front to not obstruct the view of the background. l still got a bit to go on the top half im just trying my best to be creative as i want it to look as best as possible. And last but not least i did stipping(tapped lightly with quikrete colors with a brush) on the layers and background to give it different colors just black for now maybe i'll do brown or green to create the look of algae/dirt i still wanna google some images just to get the look right. Tommorow i post pictures of the aquarium's updated look  well i'm planning on using my old lightning from my old aquarium for the shell dwellers and i took a better quality picture with it and here it is. I'm just finishing the layers. I'm really trying to be very creative as i want to be very satisfied with the final product. enjoy


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## sapphoqueen (Feb 9, 2010)

News flash!
Now you got a nano !!!! And no room for keeping cichlids  , try that scape to a bigger aquarium, think to this as a practice. don't kill you fish please....


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## !shadow! (Jan 25, 2010)

*lol ^^ she's/he's funny*

lol i'm glad you liked my tank so much and i'm pretty informative when it comes to taking care of my fish i know shell dwellers can exists in my tank such as "multis" and as far as killing fish i'll try not to, just for you cupcake


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## F22 (Sep 21, 2008)

i was just thinking this is a bad idea even for cichlids... the problem is a territory issue.. in a true cichlid tank, you will need to move the rock work around periodically, in a system like this you cannot do that... you are kinda stuck with the multis now... I think you should be ok, PLEASE WATCH THEM THOUGH!!!!!!!!


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## !shadow! (Jan 25, 2010)

F22 said:


> i was just thinking this is a bad idea even for cichlids... the problem is a territory issue.. in a true cichlid tank, you will need to move the rock work around periodically, in a system like this you cannot do that... you are kinda stuck with the multis now... I think you should be ok, PLEASE WATCH THEM THOUGH!!!!!!!!


 
l will, i don't plan on keeping alot.


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## F22 (Sep 21, 2008)

that may be a bigger problem, in keeping small numbers there will be no way to split up aggression... my advice is to get 1 male and 6 females...


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## Sierra255 (Sep 13, 2007)

I think shell dwellers would be great in there. I have two bits of advice: if you do get shellies, use a sand, they like to dig (looks like you have this part taken care of); and take your time before adding any fish. I've seen other DIY backgrounds like this that have taken a while for the water parameters to even out due to the adhesives and other things used to make something like this.

Keep up the good work and keep us up to date. I'm interested to see how this is going to turn out.


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## !shadow! (Jan 25, 2010)

Sierra255 said:


> I think shell dwellers would be great in there. I have two bits of advice: if you do get shellies, use a sand, they like to dig (looks like you have this part taken care of); and take your time before adding any fish. I've seen other DIY backgrounds like this that have taken a while for the water parameters to even out due to the adhesives and other things used to make something like this.
> 
> Keep up the good work and keep us up to date. I'm interested to see how this is going to turn out.


Yea i plan to cure it for atleast a week to stabilize the ph and refill the tank and drain it quite a few times. l won't be doing any rushing whatsoever as it just causes problems. l got a freshwater test kit and plan to do lots of testing as well to get it all right but thanks for the advice and you too f22.


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## F22 (Sep 21, 2008)

no sweat. best of luck


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## londonloco (Aug 25, 2005)

This scape is incredible! Very nice. I also wish it was in a bigger tank, but with a few multi's to start, you should be ok. Once they start breeding, I bet some of the colony "outcasts" will take refuge in those back caves. I've kept multi's for literally over 10 years. They do love to dig, but I've also kept them w/shells only as substrate and they do just fine. You need to remember to do 50% water changes with fry in the tank. Good luck with them!


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## !shadow! (Jan 25, 2010)

yea i gotta go pick some shells up at a hobby lobby or something, and i lied about the 
this being my first attempt at keeping cichlids, i bought a electric blue ram about 3 days ago and boy he's a sexy one really shows off the colors at the right angle, hoping to get more german blue rams to keep him company. l got pics of him on my profile if anybody is interested in looking at him.


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## wakesk8r (Nov 26, 2007)

HA,
I subscribed to this thread 2 days ago and I am almost finished sculpting my own background.
Then I noticed you are in austin too.
Is that ram by chance the one that was at aquatech?


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## !shadow! (Jan 25, 2010)

blue-ram said:


> HA,
> I subscribed to this thread 2 days ago and I am almost finished sculpting my own background.
> Then I noticed you are in austin too.
> Is that ram by chance the one that was at aquatech?


nah they don't never get electric blue ones and rarely the german blue ram, i actually got this one at amazonia off of ih-35. it was the last one left and very healthy looking so i took it. All the other german gold rams there had ick so im waiting until they're cured so i don't get my community tank infested as well.


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## lg0815 (Aug 24, 2009)

http://www.shelldwellers.com/index.php


good website use it good luck :wink:roud:


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## lg0815 (Aug 24, 2009)

sorry to double post but go to the local super market and look for escargo shells they work perfect roud:


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## !shadow! (Jan 25, 2010)

yea i picked some up at a local fish store(aquadome) about 10 for 5$ and i got quite a assortment. check out the pic


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## Chrisinator (Jun 5, 2008)

With the different levels of the tank, Id' make it so there are a few shells on the shelves so maybe it could alter the living space.


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## !shadow! (Jan 25, 2010)

Chrisinator said:


> With the different levels of the tank, Id' make it so there are a few shells on the shelves so maybe it could alter the living space.


you know, that didn't even cross my mind(now i have to steal your idea and claim is as my own muahaha ) but the only thing i wonder is that multi's like to dig the sand and excavate around the shell so i'll have to spread some sand around the layers. And don't worry i'll give you credit for that idea hehe.


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## guitardude9187 (Aug 22, 2006)

how many do you need? i have alot left from my old multies tank. PM me, i'll hook you up with a good price.

EDIT: nvm. miss read and didn't see you already bought them. incase you wantemore...


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## !shadow! (Jan 25, 2010)

Man i've been slacking off on this project, l blame my iwagumi for that! *points finger* l just felt so lazy but l MUST finish it. lt's jut that messing with concrete is not fun! i'll try to get more done as soon as possible and sorry guys about the delay l know some of ya'll are subscribe * i have let you down* .


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## fastfreddie (Sep 10, 2008)

Let's see some water in this thing! Looks good so far.


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

looks sweet!

Here's a pic of my diy background i did for a 55 gal tank.

too bad i dont have it anymore, it was awesome looking at it knowing I made it.


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## !shadow! (Jan 25, 2010)

oh wow that is very nice man. Yea there is always that rewarding feeling you get when you make your own stuff something you can't get just by buying the stuff at your local pet store. l wish i could fill it up with water but l kinda ran out of room in my room :S my iwagumi is to blame. so much effort yet it's getting ignored, sucks... who knows maybe i'll leave it as that and cure it and then fill it up with sand?


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

haha yeah, well, good thing with cichlids is they don't require AS much care as planted tanks.

Here's an idea, dunno if you're done tinkering with it, but when i was making my background, i would paint on a layer of concrete in splotches, then pour on some sand and shake off the excess, it gives the "rocks" some texture and different coloring too.

lookin forward to seein it with water!


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## insta (Jan 27, 2010)

IWANNAGOFAST said:


> looks sweet!
> 
> Here's a pic of my diy background i did for a 55 gal tank.
> 
> too bad i dont have it anymore, it was awesome looking at it knowing I made it.


What did you use to color your wall? That's not a Quikrete color...


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

It is quikrete, that picture was taken after a few months so algae and other stuff built up on it. Also, i mixed some sand into the quikrete when i painted it on so it might be the color from that too.


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## !shadow! (Jan 25, 2010)

actually my colors are quikrete


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