Slough Shark

:welcome: to the forum.

:welcome: Be sure to search some of Patrick's photos of Victorian Cichlids in the photo section. That might change your mind on mbunas!

:welcome: You have some beautiful small fish!

:welcome: Nice set of Africans you have.

Nice little fox, I'm glad he isn't too stressed out :thumbs:

Mad skills man, some of the best Aro pics I've seen.

Great practise shots! That overhead flash is the way to go. I would use a lower f-stop to make the depth of field even shallower.

I'm glad it worked for you! I guess the net and flashlight like the two above guys suggested might work. Or else the only other way I can think of is to rip the tank up!

Really sharp pics Patrick. That must be great image quality in the closeup to handle a big crop like that, really nicely done!

Thank you. I can post some great links for vague biotope info if you want, but for the good stuff you really have to be specific and interested in your google searches. Be careful though, these biotopes are what gave me crazy ideas about working in wild, outlandish places far from home! It just may do the same to your daughter :thumbs:

Thanks you two! I only have this biotope setup right now. I had pans to set up two more (a 90 and a 55), but I have to prioritize where my money is going, so those will have to wait for several years. I have endless biotope plans for every continent (except Antarctica ).

Thanks Erin, you could always scratch the arowana and put some trout in that big tank your planning You'd have to upgrade the tank later though, these are the REAL big fish lol.

Stunning fish. The tank is too sterile for my tastes, but there's no denying it's cleanliness or your care for the fish!

Great videos again Patrick. It's cool to see footage of the spawn! Still no footage of the Redfin Piebalds?

Thanks Greg, soon this tank will be as green and natural looking as the last one I hope

That's great! I love the tank that has all of those juveniles in it, I can't say I've ever seen so many bettas in one tank before. They'd actually be a really cool schooling fish. :thumbs:

Thanks for the info Randy, that's what I figured. I won't need to soak the Quikrete because this is a removable background for my photo tank that I take with me to photograph wild fish. But that's a good note to remember for anyone who's looking to mount this on your aquarium permanently. Thanks Erin, if you're talking pigmentation, then no I won't be. This is just for photography background purposes, not as a display tank, so that would just be extra work. But if you're looking into adding pigment for your own background, I'm pretty sure you can buy some (liquid, powder ?) to add to the cement mix. Then you can brush it on in layers to get different effects

Updated pic of the tank: Obviously the brown algae and tannins have darkened the tank somewhat. Luckily this wont last too long because I'm already seeing some green algae development. Also luckily, the tannins haven't affected my photography in the tank, it's just a bit of an eye sore for me. The fish have been eating high quality flake food for a while now quite happily, and are doing the whole power struggle thing as cichlids will. I may post some new pics here tomorrow if they are all edited by then. That's all for now! Taylor

Thanks for the comments everyone! The rock background is definitely going to have quikrete on it. I saw a great video on youtube that gives you the perfect tutorial: Randy- your project is definitely the one I was thinking of. I want to use your method for the peat background, but I like the look of your sand/epoxy background that I might have to make a third background (it's nice to have options anyway). I'll just use the clear epoxy for mine too, for some reason I thought you'd used black for yours. For the last step did you cover up the sand with epoxy, or did you cover the epoxy with sand? I mean, is the top layer a layer of sand on epoxy, or epoxy on sand? Here's a pic of what I had yesterday: I've since siliconed another piece of styrofoam to the back of that one to strengthen it. Soon I'll dremel out some of the unnatural looking bumps and wrinkles, then it's off to Canadian tire to buy the quikrete and epoxy!! Thanks, Taylor

Thanks! That male (second pic) had phenomenal colours, my shots don't do him justice by any stretch. I hope I can catch some like him in the summer, underwater pics of a fish like that would really look great. The male had quite a few parasites on his digestive tract, but I'm pretty sure I got them all. I'm pretty sure after freezing and being baked with onions (anti parasitic properties) whatever is left will be neutralized.

:welcome: sounds like quite the setup you have.

I tried sticking sand to silicone on my DIY Tile Substrate project. The silicone didn't hold the sand very well and is too viscous to "paint" on to a surface, that's why I wanted to use a more runny epoxy paint in black or brown. I think a member here used this method with good results, I guess I'll search for his thread. Thanks for the suggestion though mumba, Taylor

Lovely bettas mumba, they look fat and happy too!

That's how I found the site too, it's quite a gem! :welcome:

:welcome: to AA!