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Well, I think I’ve finally reached a point where I can start posting about my display tank build.
In the fall of 2008 my wife said she would like a fish tank for Christmas.
Seemed like a nice idea.
A friend and coworker suggested I check out cichlids. I’d never heard of them, so like anyone else in these times, I Googled them.
They looked cool! Cichlids, specifically mbuna, it was going to be.
The next step was a trip to my LFS.
The stock available was overwhelming - but not as overwhelming as all the hard-to-learn names.
I’ve since realized the value of Latin names; all the fancy made up trade names only serve to complicate and muddy things.
Since I was originally planning on getting a 10 gallon tank, buying a three foot 38 gallon tank seemed like a massive upgrade. I was worried that my wife might send me back!
The realization that a 38 gallon tank is way too small for mbuna is where my story begins.
In the spring of 2009 we renovated our first floor; this was my chance to fit in a big tank.
Our house was built in 1914 and there’s an apartment in the basement.
So the weight of a large tank couldn’t sit just anywhere.
Plan ‘A’ had a built-in 4x2x2 120 over a support column in the middle of the house.
A neat idea that wasn’t great for viewing – I was going to cut a window in my planned background to work around this:
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Then we changed our minds on the location of the kitchen, which created an opening on a 74â€Â
In the fall of 2008 my wife said she would like a fish tank for Christmas.
Seemed like a nice idea.
A friend and coworker suggested I check out cichlids. I’d never heard of them, so like anyone else in these times, I Googled them.
They looked cool! Cichlids, specifically mbuna, it was going to be.
The next step was a trip to my LFS.
The stock available was overwhelming - but not as overwhelming as all the hard-to-learn names.
I’ve since realized the value of Latin names; all the fancy made up trade names only serve to complicate and muddy things.
Since I was originally planning on getting a 10 gallon tank, buying a three foot 38 gallon tank seemed like a massive upgrade. I was worried that my wife might send me back!
The realization that a 38 gallon tank is way too small for mbuna is where my story begins.
In the spring of 2009 we renovated our first floor; this was my chance to fit in a big tank.
Our house was built in 1914 and there’s an apartment in the basement.
So the weight of a large tank couldn’t sit just anywhere.
Plan ‘A’ had a built-in 4x2x2 120 over a support column in the middle of the house.
A neat idea that wasn’t great for viewing – I was going to cut a window in my planned background to work around this:
Then we changed our minds on the location of the kitchen, which created an opening on a 74â€Â
opcorn:
