Hows my set up .Very new too chiclids

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
As I said yellow labs are fairly docile mbuna and are very easy to keep. Mind me asking where your came from? Difficult to tell from the pictures but are your sure they are pure labs? If they are cross bred temperaments can be difficult to gauge. I would say you are probably at max stocking on a 125 and may even have to remove some as they mature.
Hears some close ups of my labs . I have 1 lab with no yellow alsi maybe its albino lab ? Just got them all at local pet store .

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I have to ask, is the bottom glass touching the stand? Or is the black frame?

All you need is fourteen 8ft long 2x4s and you can make one like this.20180801_104605.jpg
 
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If they were purchased from a mixed tank chances are the yellow labs are not pure. Some of the body shapes and mouths look a little off to me to be pure labs. But I will defer to RD on that. His knowledge exceeds mine when it comes to identification. Looking at those pictures be careful wth your rocks sitting on top of the pvc pipes. Cichlids will dig the substrate thus causing everything to shift. I would hate to see a rock fall and scratch glass or worse.
 
If they were purchased from a mixed tank chances are the yellow labs are not pure. Some of the body shapes and mouths look a little off to me to be pure labs. But I will defer to RD on that. His knowledge exceeds mine when it comes to identification. Looking at those pictures be careful wth your rocks sitting on top of the pvc pipes. Cichlids will dig the substrate thus causing everything to shift. I would hate to see a rock fall and scratch glass or worse.
Thanks I zip tied the first layer of PVC onto some egg crate . I figured that way some of the babies that escape mommy's mouth have a place to hide and not get eaten .

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I think it looks great (in spite of that skull.)
I'm just not a dead skull in the fish tank kind of guy.

If you invited me over I'd be tempted to grab it out of the aquarium and re-enact part of Hamlet right there in the living room.

"Alas poor Yorick.... I knew him Horatio ;(
. . . until the villian overfed my Discus!!!"

(I'd also be tempted to look under your stand. ;) )
 
Fish look healthy and happy :cheers:

I would definitely work on those stands though. The issue is that the corners are the weakest part of the tank, and even though they are somewhat supported in your setup, they may be subjected to excessive flex and wear by not being directly supported.

I myself have a stand with overhang that im swapping out asap. Even though i have 1" solid slab reinforced with 3/4" plywood, i have noticed a small amount of settling in the overhanging portion over the 5 months its been set up. Second pic is my new stand and canopy im working on.

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I too am not a fan of pedestal type stands for aquariums. I own an Aqueon 16 bow front on the matching stand and it is a little scary to me.

I can't imagine having 50 gallons of water or more on one of those things! :WHOA:

Engineers refer to something called stable or unstable equilibrium states.

In one case you could lean hard against the aquarium and nothing will happen.

In the opposite case your cat could knock it over. In between is a wide range of possible failure situations.

Pedestal stands depend a lot on plate bending of the top and bottom plates. (If you don't understand plate bending go get a China plate and a paper plate and put chili on them.)

Once you make the plates rigid enough, there's a huge leverage against the connections of a pedestal if you bump the tank.

Or if you live in an earthquake zone.

Lots of people don't even know they live in an earthquake zone because they're not paying the insurance on the place where they live.
 
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IME Maylandia lombardoi aka Kenyi cichlid are nasty little mo fo's, the yellow labs won't stand a chance against an adult Kenyi, male or females, but your tank has a lot of structure so it may work out over time. But if the adult (yellow) male Kenyi sees the adult male labs as a threat, the labs will get shredded.

As far as the yellow labs, the one with no black marking is a hybrid cross, so I would have to suspect all "yellow labs" from that store. Lots of hybrids in the African cichlid circles, so Caveat Emptor.


Aquariums should ideally be supported at all 4 corners.

The issue is that the corners are the weakest part of the tank, and even though they are somewhat supported in your setup, they may be subjected to excessive flex and wear by not being directly supported.

+1

Good luck.
 
That good to know about my "Tank Boss " he is for sure the boss in my tank . I have another fish in there that I was told is a Red Empress. Hes smaller but when he gets pissed he can change his colors instantly . Its sweet to watch . Anyone know if this is a Red empress. I'll attach few pics before and after color changes .

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