55 Gallon Venture Into Africans

oscarfish1395

Gambusia
MFK Member
Aug 25, 2008
319
1
16
Phoenix, AZ
Hello!

It has been quite a while since my last post on here and quite a bit has changed since then. After about 8 years in the hobby I have decided to keep African cichlids for the first time. In the past I have kept SA cichlids as well as maintained a planted community but until now I have never tried my hand with an African community.

Setup:
55 gallon tank (48Lx12Wx18H)
4x54 watt 48" lights 2 actinic and 2 daylight
1 Fluval 305 canister filter and 1 Fluval 206
70lbs of Gravel
1 piece of driftwood
assorted river rocks

Unfortunately I was so preoccupied with putting the tank together that I forgot to take as many photos of the setup as I wanted.
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These are photos of my DIY stand as well as the filtration. While these photos are from my planted tank days, not much has changed save for the contents of the tank and the Fluval 205 was replaced by a 206.
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Here you can see the reflection of my lighting system on the surface of the water, showing off the different spectrums as well.
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Stocking:
3 Electric Yellow Labs (Labidochromis caeruleus)
4 Yellow Tail Acei (Pseudotropheus acei)
4 Upside Down Catfish (Synodontis nigriventris)

Excuse my novice photo skills but here are some shots of the fish.
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And assorted shots of the finished product.
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The labs are camera hungry
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As a newbie to any sort of Africans, criticism and advice is always appreciated!

Thanks for looking!

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DSC_0659.JPG

DSC_0661.JPG

DSC_0664.JPG

20130721_172212.jpg

20130721_172217.jpg

DSC_0670.JPG

20130721_215802.jpg

20130809_150125.jpg

DSC_0656.JPG

DSC_0655.JPG

DSC_0667.JPG

DSC_0660.JPG

DSC_0662.JPG

DSC_0668.JPG

DSC_0669.JPG
 

asusanne

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 18, 2013
10
0
0
Arizona
Great tank! I really like the scape style you went with. The varied rocks look great with that piece of wood and the fish really pop out from the decor.
 

NSKIRK559

Candiru
MFK Member
Jan 2, 2009
559
0
46
CA
That's a good looking tank man keep up the good work!!
 
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