The long side view

jjohnwm · Jan 8, 2023

Backfromthedead said:
Man those first three tanks need work!

The Jelly Cat tank takes the cake for silliness though. "Can't find the long side so here's fish belly!"

I like the matten-sump-fuge. I have wanted to experiment with something like that for awhile.

I knew that only a fellow DIY-er would appreciate the effort that went into these pics; I mean, I spent at least ten minutes total taking all of them.

The sump-fuge...I like that term and I'm stealing it...works great. The cat has its own air-powered sponge filter (19x6x6 inches). The Matten in the sump-fuge also has an airlift returning water to the inhabited side of it, as well as a roughly 1200gph pump taking water up to the cat. Both tanks continue independently if the water pump is turned off. One single heater in the cat tank serves the entire system.

Now that I know it works, I will be moving the Xenotoca to cooler accommodations and utilizing that 70 sump-fuge for my Red Wolf, so that the two fish requiring warmth will share a system with one heater. All my other tanks are being morphed into more temperate habitats for subtropical and temperate fish.

Ogertron3000 · Jan 8, 2023

Here mine, did the annual Christmas holiday rearrange last week so nice and fresh.

Jexnell · Jan 8, 2023

Current tank side shots

Older set-ups

Backfromthedead · Jan 13, 2023

Jexnell said:
Current tank side shots
View attachment 1510660 View attachment 1510661
Older set-ups
View attachment 1510656 View attachment 1510657 View attachment 1510658 View attachment 1510659

Tanks looking good jex. I think plants are the key to that "crystal-clear" quality I always hear lied about, but you clearly have on display especially in that second to last tank dang.

The rest of you MFKers I'm just gonna have to assume have been lazy and negligent and your tanks are too filthy to photograph.

Hybridfish7 · Jan 13, 2023

jjohnwm said:
Cool thread idea! A view not often seen...and perfect for my level of photography skills; big stationary targets. Since I can't actually get in next to most of my tanks I just stuck my arm down the gap and hoped for the best. In each case I did a light feeding to maximize activity in the tanks.

Here's the end view of my 360gallon community:
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A side view of my 240gallon Jelly Cat tank:
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Here's a peek at the end of a 120gallon that's raising up a batch of Cichlasoma dimerus fry:
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End view of a 70gallon growing out a batch of Gymnogeophagus rhabdotus fry:
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A 20long "bookcase tank" housing a breeding colony of Heterandria formosa; this view really drives home how much the driftwood inside is leaching tannins...and how much I detest the "black-water" look:
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A 40breeder housing my young Red Wolf, seen from the end...through a coating of algae that I didn't touch because...well, because I never touch it:
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Another bookcase tank, a 30gallon housing my wonderful little Stinkpot Musk Turtle; not rare or exotic, but one of my most prized specimens. I had to move a bunch of books to take the shot; he didn't fall for the pellets up top, and decided to photo-bomb up close:
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A side view of my basement stocktank/pond; I'm starting to note a pattern here and thinking that perhaps this wasn't the best thread idea after all:
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The sump for my Jelly Cat's home. The far end is a Mattenfilter, behind which is the pump returning water to the cat above. Bubbles in the front are the overflow from the cat. The fish are my Xenotoca eiseni/lyonsi/doadrioi/whatever-we-are-calling-them-this-year. It's not crowded; they're just crowding this end, hoping for me to offer them a tankmate for them to tear to pieces. These are aggressive fish, yet largely herbivorous and they rarely touch their own fry, so easy to breed, and tough as nails:
View attachment 1510618

And, finally...I realized that the Jelly Cat 240gallon, being square in footprint, could just as easily have been snapped from the front, so here's that view. I kept the phone at the same distance from the tank for the sake of consistency:
View attachment 1510619

I didn't take a pic of another DIY 120gallon that is dry at the moment...use your imagination...

Those are some FAT xenotoca

jjohnwm · Jan 13, 2023

Hybridfish7 said:
Those are some FAT xenotoca

And, aside from throwing in handfuls of hair algae pulled out of other tanks, I only feed them every other day, a light meal of Sera veggie flakes and maybe once a week the small pellets. Otherwise, they live on algae...and eat tons of it...

Let's not forget, of course, that they are apparently born pregnant...

fishguy1978 · Jan 13, 2023

jjohnwm said:
I knew that only a fellow DIY-er would appreciate the effort that went into these pics; I mean, I spent at least ten minutes total taking all of them.

The sump-fuge...I like that term and I'm stealing it...works great. The cat has its own air-powered sponge filter (19x6x6 inches). The Matten in the sump-fuge also has an airlift returning water to the inhabited side of it, as well as a roughly 1200gph pump taking water up to the cat. Both tanks continue independently if the water pump is turned off. One single heater in the cat tank serves the entire system.

Now that I know it works, I will be moving the Xenotoca to cooler accommodations and utilizing that 70 sump-fuge for my Red Wolf, so that the two fish requiring warmth will share a system with one heater. All my other tanks are being morphed into more temperate habitats for subtropical and temperate fish.

Why not hide the heater behind the matten filter instead? Or is it in the overflow?
Holy crap, I had not heard of the Xenotoca eiseni before. The body shape is interesting but not a candidate for my fish room. I like my Cory cats and other catfish too much.

jjohnwm · Jan 13, 2023

fishguy1978 said:
Why not hide the heater behind the matten filter instead? Or is it in the overflow?

I want the heater in the Jelly's tank in case the water pump is off, intentionally or otherwise. The overflow is simply a hole drilled near the top, with a short elbow inside to allow me set the tank water level and no chamber that could house the heater; it's shown from the outside in the second pic (the one with the bulkhead and flex hose).

The heater is in a DIY heater guard...a piece of 1.25-inch ABS pipe, swiss-cheesed from end to end...so I don't worry about the fish's safety. It's hardly a display tank, so I'm happy with it for the most part.

This is all a result of my gradual switch-over to a less-heated fishroom, with only a few tanks individually heated and the rest for cool-tolerant fish. I'm sure I will make changes and tweaks as time passes.

fishguy1978 · Jan 13, 2023

140g (60 x 24 x 24)

220g (72 x 24 x 30)

90g (72in x 12in x 21in)

260g with $22 who are pigs and always want food and make it super difficult to photograph the tank. They gang rush which ever end I’m standing at. (84 x 30 x 24)