LARGE AQUARIUM PAGE

My own private Zen-therapy. I could sit and dream here for hours on end...

I would like to share some information on this page about my new, slightly running out of hand hobby.
My father used to have a large aquarium, and I vividly remember how beautiful I thought it was, and how I could just sit watching the fishes for ours on end. A couple of years ago I bought a small aquarium myself, which had some guppies and a few other easy to keep species. The water turned green, it had numerous snails and the fishes seemed to like all of that very much, because they bred like rabbits. Because I hated having to empty and clean the lot every week, in the end we just gave the aquarium away, fishes and all.
But after a while I began to long for an underwater world again, and for about two years now we've been talking to experienced aquarians, and looking for information on the internet, shops and books. Everyone agrees: a large aquarium is easier to keep clear and clean than a small one. The PH and other balances remain under control, and when the filter is suited to the size you only need to change part of the water every few weeks.
So here entered the idea to put a large aquarium on our side board. We were not too sure about the strength of this piece of furniture, so we ripped off the four short legs, and attached wooden beams on the bottom and insides. Then the people who were going to have our aquarium built for us dropped by for their opinion and to measure the structure: 2,20 meters wide and 58 centimeters deep. Swallow!
While we were waiting for the aquarium itself, I started to make our own unique backdrop. I found some very good workshops on the internet, and want to put down my experiences here as well:

I started with the backdrop that was going between the back of the aquarium and the wall. It is made of a thin piece of hardboard, cut in the right size and covered with some wood primer first. Then I squeezed three small test tubes of paint on it, in three different colours: blue, turquoise, and shellwhite near the bottom of the board.

I moved the brush horizontally only. It is best not to use a very busy background, so that the attention stays focused on what is IN your aquarium.

For the inside I wanted to make my own backdrop, too. You can buy ready made backdrops via internet or in shops, but often you will have to cut and paste, and they are either very lovely and expensive, or you will have a backdrop with a returning pattern.
I started off with a piece of styrofoam (which I needed anyway to put between the aquarium and the furniture to prevent the glass from breaking due to the moving floor/furniture because of the weight of the aquarium. Completely filled it will weigh up to 800-900 kilos)

As you can see on the right above, I cut two pieces roughly and then started shaping them. I used the leftovers, too. These will put some depth in the background and make it look realistic. They were attached with Tec7.

Some things you will definitely need for this creative party:

When all the pieces stick properly, you can use a Bunsen burner to quickly pass over the lot (from a bit of a distance, the foam will melt very fast). This will make the outside look less crumbly and add some solidity.
This is best done outside or in a well ventilated room!

Then I put on a first coat of tile glue (grey). I didn't follow the mixing instructions on the bag, but made a more fluid mix I could easily brush on the board. You should be able to reach every nook and cranny.

The pieces are best put to dry in a warm space. At first I left them in the garage, but that was really slow going. Too close to a heat source will not do, either, because then it will dry too fast and start to crumble.

Then a second and third layer were added for strength and a realistic effect. You may have noticed I had to take a piece off the left hand side. I didn't take the filter into account. So it is best to measure the inside of your aquarium beforehand...

As soon as everything is dry, you can start painting the backdrops. I used some leftover water based wall paint.

After the paint has dried, you can put on a first coat of epoxy (two components). It is very important that you use some accurate kichen scales, because if the proportions are wrong, your epoxy will not dry and harden. I also treated a few nice shells with this stuff, as you cannot put shells in a freshwater aquarium. Their calcium will disolve in the water and disturb your PH values. It is also best to wear gloves, because you can get allergic to the epoxy components for the rest of your life if you get in touch with them.

A second coat, front and back, is necessary for strength. As soon as algea start to grow on your backdrop, some fish will remove those, and could easily remove algea, epoxy, paint and glue. Thus leaving some white pieces of foam peeking through. It is better to have some patience and put in a few days more work and have a solid result.

I then hosed the backdrops in the garden and dried them well before putting them in place. The aquarium had arrived in the meantime. We could pick from a large number of colours and textures for the finish around the aquarium, so that it will look more integrated. Later on a piece of this material will be added over the styrofoam that sits between the aquarium and the side board, but that will get thinner as the aquarium is filled with water.

A number of bags of sand go in, too. It is very important to seal the backdrops to the glass with special silicon. Styrofoam floats like hell, and it would pull loose immediately if not well attached as soon as the aquarium is filled with water.

I then added more sand (I first had to glue the backdrop to the bottom of the aquarium as well as to the back) and then I could ad the rest of the decoration materials: the shells, stones, wood, a piece of stone with holes in it, and a fake mangrove root. Two coconut shells were added. They have holes in them so smaller fish can hide in them.
I also left some space at the back and bottom of the backdrop so smaller fish can swim through there. I am planning on getting some neons and Angelfish. It seems the Angel fish when they are adult sized chase and eat the neons sometimes. The smaller fish will move in first, so they will have plenty of time to discover all the hiding places before the bigger fish are added.

Time to install the lamps: a set of T5 of 80 watts each, type "solar" with a natural hue. I bought plants, too. So the water has to go in today.
The first filter room has active coal and synthetic filter fibre, the second one has the same fibres with a layer of ceramic pipes on top. The third room has the heating and pump. I treated the water with Sera start and balance. Then filled up to 20 centimeters hight, put in the plants and added water until the surface could not be seen from the outside. The first few bucket fulls I poured out on a plastic plate, so that the water didn't make dents in the sand.
It was quite a job...but once done the result is stunning! The epoxy is not shiny anymore, and back drop and shells look very natural now:

Another week or two, and the first fishes can go in, but only after I've measured ph values.

One day after filling the aquarium, the water turned quite misty, but this cleared up in a matter of days.

When measuring Ph and other values, I noticed Ph and Kh stayed too high, so I added a Tetra Aqua profuct to the water once: Ph/Kh minus, and this made the values drop under the limits. So the first fish moved in: Two male turquoise guppies, five dalmatian Mollies and three algeae eaters, who are really tiny at the moment (not even one inch)
The plants produced a large number of air bubbles after I added the Tetra product.

Our cats are suddenly veeeery interested in the aquarium...

After making sure the first fishes are feeling fine, some new inhabitants moved in: three golden Angelfish, ten Cardinal Tetra's and five Black Mollies (Wag tails)

The bags with new fishes are put in the water first, so that the temperature in the bag can slowly take that of the aquarium. After about ten minutes I ran some water from the aquarium into the bags. Some ten minutes later the fish were allowed to swim into the aquarium. Some say it is bad to pour the water from the bags into your tank, because due to the stress of rehoming the fish will pee a lot. But pee they will do in your aquarium eventually anyway, and I found it a bit difficult to only take the fish out of the bags. I think this would cause some extra stress...

Two frogs, three Leopard Angelfish, five yellow Mickey Mouse Platy's (take a closer look at the black spots on their tails) and five Black Xipho's (swordtails) moved in. The fish that have been here a bit longer clearly intensify in colour. Below, left: the tetra's and a yellow female guppy. To the right: golden Angelfish.

Especially the Angelfish seem to like the worms.

We have had the fish in the tank for a couple of days, and have already been honoured with three baby fish, one pink baby and three black ones. The pink one looks to me like a guppie. Guppies, mollies and swordtails are live bearers. The guppies were seperated in the shop: males/females/colours. It takes about 4 weeks from conception until birth...a mystery. Unless they were mixes before they went to the shop of course...

The tank's water has been replaced for the first time now (10% which means six ten liter buckets) and I have had to reorganise some of the plants and even clip them shorter. The babies are growing, too ;)

Xipho's or swordtails above: a female on the left, a male on the right.

The male Black wagtail mollies are chasing the females. If you look closely, you can see the extra fin on the female's belly on the right hand picture above.

Because there was already too much algea growth, I cut down on the hours of light in the tank, and added three new, bigger algeae eaters. A Gourami also moved in.

The aleae growth was under control after only a couple of days. Also new: we can now watch Jaws1, 2 and 3 simultaneously; three mini-sharks have joined us. Their fins are placed like a real shark's, and their swimming moves resemble a shark very strongly.

The Angelfish have laid a heap of eggs, that stick to the (fake) magrove root. The eggs are guarded all day long, the other fish are chased away and when I moved closer to take pictures, one of the parents moved its body in front of the eggs.

In the morning, when the light of the aquarium itself has not turned on yet, and I have just flicked the light swich in the room, I notice some white eggs; those are the unfertilised ones. A few minutes later they are gone, the parents keep the nest clean and eat them.
In the afternoon there are all of a sudden no eggs anymore. But the parents are still hovering around in the neighboorhoud. They have moved the little ones to a leaf nearby. They have become mini fishes, with tiny wagging tails. I can see at least 50 of them wiggling away. They eat the leaf steadily, and the next day they have been moved again to another leaf. Whenever one of the babies falls down, the parents take them in their mouths and spit them back onto the leaf. They are still guarded against the other inhabitants 24/7.

On day 3 after the eggs have hatched into little fish I transferred part of the fry to a small box that I keep in the tank. The parents are left with a small part, so they can continue to care for their offspring. The fish cling to their leaf and each other in bundles. You can see the eyes on the following picture, they are tiny black spots. And near the bottom you can see the tails with the spines shining through.
Because we discovered snails all of a sudden, two botias moved in.

Finally the thick layer of styrofoam that sits between the tank and the cupboard, has been covered, making it complete. The Golden Angel Fish have laid eggs, but they didn't guard them as agressively as the other ones did. So sadly they have all been eaten. The pink baby that we thought was a guppy turns out to be a big fat orange Swordtail. A male, this is getting clearer by the day. Both parents are black and gold. Not pure bred ;)

The Yellow Cichlids have managed to breed a baby. They are mouthbrooders, which means that the female keeps the fertilised eggs in her mouth until the babies are big enough to try and survive in the water. This little one hides out in the tunnels of a stone, but comes out once in a while to explore the world outside. You can watch the baby here.