I'm pretty happy about my current aquarium setup, so I figured I'd show it here in the event that anyone else enjoys aquariums.
Mostly African ciclids, though I have a south American parrot thats doing fairly well.
[Media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQ3qO1ORKsY[/media]
-snip-
Got the tank for free with hood and lights, the filtration system.is two emperor 400s so this were 60 dollars apiece and the stand was 200 so only about 340 dollars
What's the maintenance on one of these things like? How frequently do you clean it? How much does it cost to operate?
Cost outside of the water bill and electric is fairly cheap and even then with my setup my power bill isn't very much and with partial water changes it doesn't change the water bill much, i spend maybe 60 dollars in food/chemicals/filters/misc items a month for upkeep, as far as maintenance is concerned i do a partial water change once a month, unless water levels are too far off, then i may do a quarter water change.
In my house its a little more on the humid side right now so i usually have to add water once every two weeks, as you can see in the video my water is a little on the low side.
feeding is twice a day, some days ill feed them three times a day if they seem extra hungry, best practice seems to be to feed them only what they can finish in 30 seconds to a minute, they should always appear a little hungry when ever i get near they tank they all swim over to the glass on the side i feed them. (I use Beefheart as a main staple for their diet, and feed them pellets every few days, and occasionally i'll feed them brineshrimp.)
I test the water weekly with a nice test kit (test strips are not accurate) and adjust levels appropriately.
As far as the current fish in the tank go, here is a short list
2 ice blue Cichlids 5 dollars apiece.
3 Golden Mbuna Cichlids, same price.
2 Electric blue Cichlids, 22 dollars a piece. Very aggressive
1 Blood Red Parrot Cichlid, 8 dollars, this one doesn't really belong since he's a south american, but he dominates the tank currently
1 Spotted Catfish, don't know alot about him, randomly threw him in the tank but he's fairly good at defending himself and normally occupies the cave even though the more aggressive fish have tried over and over again to get him to live somewhere else, but with little success.
The only thing I've found to big the biggest maintenance with this tank is having to fill in holes in the rock the cichlids dig.
If anyone would like me to post a better video with them eating let me know.
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