Starting a 500 gallon build

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
everyone made it through the night....or was eaten so quickly that I did not see any remains...

During feeding this morning I have never seen the catfish in the tank so active because no food was making it to the bottom they were swimming among the other fish in the middle of the tank (1 black upside down - 5", 1 bullseye cat - 5"). Only need to get the larger black upside down more active (9"). All of them were given to be from people with smaller tanks, and unfortunately the larger cat just sits inside the larger driftwood all the time. The only way I know they are alive is routinely seeing the tail or whisker sticking out through an opening in the wood.

Hopefully I can get some better pictures today after some house cleaning. :(
 
maybe a little better picture

anyone have an idea of what size fish a large sun cat or asian USD could eat? Found a couple more sun cat's at a LFS, but they are about 2x the size of the current one in there

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Going to be starting a final push this week to get a lot of tank work finished except for cabinet doors, which includes a re-scape to lower aggression, algae growth and improve overall tank look. I am aiming to have the tank absolutely completed around the beginning of February. I am hoping to change the "starting 500 gallon build" to a finished "build" after 6 months.
 
You are gonna have a tonnnn of breeding going on in there. What are you feeding the cichlids ? I suggest NLS if you haven't already done so I had great success using it on my Africans.
 
I'm hoping that the few cats I have in there will reduce the number of fry. I have found a few other similar cats at a LFS, but they are currently too big and would be able to eat some of the smaller fish in there right now. So as more and more become mature I may add another cat or two if the current can't keep up.

Regarding the food, I have them on a mixture of things right now, but I will look into NLS. Thank for the suggestion.
 
Tank drained to 18"...electrical down... canopy off...complete re-scape to reduce aggression of existing fish in existing environment...zip tied down largest driftwood in two places to stop it from floating...taller rock wall...more swimming space....removed smallest driftwood....found 2 deads hidden in rocks...double dose of prime for any mini-cycle...refilling now...just need to get the electrical back up in the next 1.5 hrs or so that it will take to refill...dinner time
 
All back together, I'll get some good pictures tomorrow when the bubbles have cleared up. Also, I have 2 - 250 W stealth heaters, both of which now BOTH have a stray charge. It is very confusing to me why this would happen now since I just unplugged and replugged them in. Moreover, that it is both at once. Seems to only occur after a little bit of time when a charge has been built. I may experiment with them later to figure out what is going on.
 
jtalley;3800990; said:
All back together, I'll get some good pictures tomorrow when the bubbles have cleared up. Also, I have 2 - 250 W stealth heaters, both of which now BOTH have a stray charge. It is very confusing to me why this would happen now since I just unplugged and replugged them in. Moreover, that it is both at once. Seems to only occur after a little bit of time when a charge has been built. I may experiment with them later to figure out what is going on.
I have personally had 5 stealths and 3 failed in the first year :( Ill bet its bad luck on my part though :nilly:
 
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