Albertan

I'm finalizing a tank with Aquarium Illusions at the moment...11X4X30" or 11X5X30". I'd love to learn more about your plumbing and how you have your tanks drilled. Please fel free to respond here or contact me via e-mail. Thanks.

Ever get this tank up and running? I'd be curious to see pics.

If anyone is seriously interested in some dovii let me know. The pair in my 230g is about to spawn and the offspring are going to be outstanding. I raised a few up 18 months ago from this female and the male's little brother (the one in the pictures above), and they were very nice fish. Free of course. Cheers.

Just a quick update on these fish, as I contine to get some interest on them. All of the fish were flown out to a fellow in Winnipeg a few weeks ago. He posts on MFK quite a bit under the name "Crisper" so you can see them there is you like. Unfortunately the biggest freddie did not survive putting a few holes in his bag during the trip. The other fish are all doing well. Some people asked me why I was getting rid of them. I just wanted to free up some space to try some new fish. Also, I had several of the fish in 90-120g show tanks. I think they do better in larger tanks where they can intereact with each other, which is what the fellow in Winnipeg had to offer. I'm now left with only my dovii pair and my nicest male freddie. Cheers.

Thanks!

I just thought I'd post a few pictures of two of my male P. friedrichsthalii and two P. motaguense I took today. Why did I take these pictures? Because I am looking for a new home for them. Check out the Livestock Classifieds if you're interested. Cheers. 12" male P. friedrichsthalli - A little on the aggressive side with other similar sized fish, and quite capable of imposing his will in most tanks. 11.5" male P. friedrichsthalli - Very mellow fish. Just likes to eat and look at what's going on outside the tank. Very mellow for a foot long Parachromis. 10" male P. motaguense - Regular variety. Stone cold killer with anything he can dominate. ~6" male P. motaguense - Red Tiger variety. Another miserable S.O.B. with anything smaller than him. 10" male P. dovii - Holds his ground but isn't nearly the monster dovii are made out to be. Check out the post in the Classifieds if you're interested. Otherwise just enjoy the pictures.

This thread should answer most of your questions.

It's funny how appropriate the title of this thread is. Last year at Christmas time I picked up what turned out to be a beautiful male Red Devil from Petland. I've been thinking about finding a female for him for awhile now. On Christmas Eve I went into the other local petshop and low and behold there was a female Red Devil that someone had traded in. I ran to Home Depot and picked up some eggcrate and brought the female home the next day. She wasn't in the tank five minutes before she swam through the holes I made (that only she could fit through). I watched carefully and Captain Insaino seemed alright but I put her back on her side and placed more eggcrate over the holes. The next day I went out into the garage to find her back on his side and still alive so I decided to remove the eggcrate. All seems to be going well, and judging by the the size of her ovipositor I think I am going to have RD fry by the end of the month. Well I guess this is a picture thread. Captain Insaino is 11" now. :smokey:

My female dovii laid eggs a couple of times without a partner. I think sometimes they may do it when they are stressed. Or maybe she is just really fertile. lol. If you had your heart set on a female I might be interested in taking her off your hands. Captain Insaino needs company.

I'm going to cut a piece of MDF board to fit and set it in the window to block all light while the tanks are there. Otherwise yes I would be very concerned about algae growth. I'm also thinking about making one of the nitrate reducers described in the D.I.Y. on MFK, but we'll see....

I paid $3.50 per block at Totem in Grande Prairie. There are five used in each "leg". I bet you could get them cheaper in the city.

I ran all the tanks in the first pic off that circuit, but it's cutting it close. If I turned on the lift or the skate sharpener it tripped the breaker. I think I am going to ask the electrician about it the next time he is in. I never planned to have these tanks out in the garage. The plan was to put them in the shop. But since it never got built this Summer, I need a place to keep the fish now. The power bar was fairly cheap at Canadian Tire FYI.

When I moved into my new home in July, I quickly set up the tanks in a corner of the garage to maximize access. I knew it would be a temporary arrangement. Sure enough, I find they are taking too much space and wanted to get them all up against the walls. Easier said than done when the smallest tanks in the setup are 90 gallons. Here is a picture of how things started out... It quickly became apparent that unless I wanted twenty plus feet of tanks along my wall I was going to have to go up. Stacking larger tanks presents some weight concerns for sure. I'm fortunate to have all of this in my garage so I don't have to worry about the floor, just the shelving itself. I did a few Google searches and came across lots of information. Unfortunately, everything described setups for smaller tanks. One recurring cost-effective plan kept showing up...cinder blocks supporting wood shelves. Although not the best looking setups, these plans seemed to be far and away the most popular when cost was the primary concern. Faced with the alternative of purchasing industrial racks for several thousand dollars to accomodate my larger tanks, I quickly found cost to be my primary concern also. :smokey: So I decided to modify the plans I saw for a larger setup. After measuring things up in my garage, I decided I really didn't want the stand to be longer than 10'...I have other things going on in my garage and didn't want tanks everywhere. Besides, as I soon found out, a ten foot shelf is freaking long! Factoring in the cinder blocks for support, this left me 8' of length for the tanks. My two 90's and my 120 would work perfectly, but the 150 wouldn't fit so I sold it and bought another 90. The shelving itself is nothing fancy. It's composed of a 2X4 frame with three 4X4s in the middle as shown below. Honestly, I'm sure I could have gotten by with two 4X4s. But to me the peace of mind was worth the extra $20 to use three. I just nailed everything together using 3.5" nails and skinned it top and bottom with 3/4" ply. Lifting the shelves themselves is not for the faint of heart, but they go onto the blocks with a reassuring thud. Now comes the fun part...levelling. This took me easily the most time of the entire project. I used cedar builder's shims and spent probably an hour trying to level the first shelf without much luck. Then the lightbulb came on and I mocked up the tanks and filled them part way with water. The added weight made the 10' long shelf behave itself and it was much easier to level. After getting it level to my satisfaction I filled the tanks and let it sit overnight. I came back the next morning and drained the tanks to 1/4 full and made some minor adjustments. I had pre-painted the blocks, and decided to go back at this point to touch things up. I painted the shelves black and silver to match the Rubbermaid shelving I am going to be placing beside the tanks. I'll post the rest tomorrow. I need to go and enjoy the last hour of my weekend! Cheers.

Looks good. You picked a nice stain to bring out the grain of the Fir, and it matches the pine panelling on your walls nicely as well. I'll have to do something similar with my 230. Thanks for the idea!

Not a very good photo, but I happened to snap a pic today with my daughters digital camera while he was in a tank waiting for my D.I.Y. shelves to be completed. I measured him out of water and he's up to 9.5". Great fish. I feed him by hand as remarkable as that seems. I think I'll find a lady for him once the dust settles from the shelving. Cheers. PS. I updated the post above with all the previous pics in it.