The tank has changed a little since this pic was taken. I have gotten rid of a couple real plants and added a couple more real plants. This is a 6ft long 125 gal tank I bought off Craigslist from one of our forum members. I plan on getting a larger filter for it but for now the xp-3 and powerheads I have are doing quite a nice job. I have a 4ft strip and 2 smaller ones for lighting. I have two heaters, sand, river rock, driftwood, and fake and real plants. I like to see lots of current in my tank as the fish really enjoy it and it helps aid in keeping nitrates lower. As some of you are aware, I had a 4ft 115 gal tank that suddenly developed a leak. I kept the tank and plan on resealing it but not before a specialist checks the wood frame for damage. I will turn that tank into a marine tank eventually. I took only 1 or 2 pics of each species. There is a list further down the thred of all the fish in my tank. All my fish get along quite well. I recently did have to remove a very loved peacock from the community tank due to sudden aggression. It had matured a long time ago but all the sudden just couldn't get along with anyone. I try to keep a mixture of females and males to keep some sort of harmony. My tank is not overstocked or understocked. It's perfect but do have room for more. There is no fin nipping or biting in the tank. The only aggression is from one defending it's territory or in species chasing. The obliquidens are known for going after eachother. I have worked hard to get the right combination of fish in my tank. And just because my combination works in my tank, doesn't mean it will work in your tank if you are looking for ideas on filling your tank. I have had to remove quite a few fish to get it to work. I have had to remove male auratus, male white socolofi, male redzebras, all but one. Basically I try to keep one male of every species and the rest females. As the obliquidens get older and the ice blue zebras, I will probably have to remove males and maybe even some females. Sometimes it's just one fish that can upset the entire tank.

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[Updated on: Sun, 09 March 2008 03:24]

[Updated on: Sat, 08 March 2008 22:52]

Pics of some of my fish. Some are very happy to get into the pic and some are death afraid of the red light from the digital camera. These pics are not of the greatest quality but you do get to see some nice coloring. Under the pics it will say what kind of fish they are.


acei juvie

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[Updated on: Sun, 09 March 2008 00:51]

left to right
m-red zebra, obiquiden, m-red empress, m-johanni, and an obliquiden.

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dominate male obliquiden (he is the only black one) There is a sub-dominate as well but he only darkens in his bars.

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[Updated on: Sun, 09 March 2008 00:49]

male electric blue ahli. Sorry for the cord of powerhead in the way. He is still a juvie only 3 inches long but he is so fast this was the only pic I could get of him. This pic really doesn't do him justice either as his "electric" part is so electrifying that I would need a top notch camera to show it off.

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Here is the female ahli. I have two of them and they are not very pretty if comparing to the electric blue ahli, but hopefully one day they will mate.

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[Updated on: Sun, 09 March 2008 00:37]

Here is my dominant male Kenya (Kenny). He is the only fish in my tank that is named. He is my oldest and most cherished. He is the dominant fish of the entire tank.

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[Updated on: Sun, 09 March 2008 00:52]

female auratus dressed as a male.

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female kribensis

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female melonochromis johanni

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male melonochromis johanni

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Female Snow white socolofi. She and my male kenya Kenny have mated and gave a brood of 25 kenya. They all looked like female kenya as juvies but who knows what they will look like as adults. I was not about to destroy a brood because they were mixed. A nice young man took the brood and he is really enjoying them.

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female kenya

She and my male kenyi do not mate. I don't know why. It is more like she can't as he has mated with another.

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female red empress

no were near as pretty as the male but she is beautiful in her own way. I may name her Lizzy after Queen Elizabeth for her lady like charms.

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This is my male red zebra mix. I know he is mix because he has the face of a hap but don't know which kind. He also appears to have a birth defect with his lateral line as he swims a lot with his head down and his face puckered. His breathing is fine and he is very active. I am not concerned. I have had him over a year and a half and he has always swam that way. He was just a tiny thing when I got him and he swam that way then. I never thought he would mate but just recently he must have because I found two juvie red zebras in the tank and being that my other red zebras are females, it had to be him. Surprise Surprise!! He is a very dark rich orange color. Much darker than most other red zebra males. The camera does not do him justice either on his color.

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This is my female red zebra. She has given me a brood of 26 with another red zebra male I had to get rid of because of my other male. The two were constantly fighting. She would have also had to have another brood not too long ago because of the two little babes I found in the tank. I do have another female red zebra but she wasn't old enough a month ago to have a brood.

Notice the differences in her and the male the picture before. Males are usually darker and richer in color but look at the difference in their facial shapes.

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[Updated on: Sun, 09 March 2008 01:17]

These are a juvie and an adult kribensis. I am hoping for a pair to match up. I do have 3 females and 1 male. Hope he isn't too picky For those who do not know, Kribs do not come from Malawi lake but rather surrounding streams. They also are egg layers and usually lay their eggs in the ceiling of caves and nooks. They do pair up as couples. They are dwarf cichlids usually only reaching 3 inches in length.

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This is my bumble bee. I have had him as long as my male kenyi with the exception of a few months that my daughter had him in her tank. He is considered the gentle giant of the tank but soon my red empress will be bigger than him. I have been wanting to name him for quite a long time but can't seem to find the right name. I just call him buddy for now. He loves me as he always comes to the glass for me and loves the camera. He will come to the surface for me to pet. He does have a caterack (spelling) or something like a speck in one of his eyes. It's right in the very center. It does not hinder him in eating or defending himself if he has too. I was thinking of the name "Andre" as in Andre the Giant, the wrestler that died. What do you think?

Also I recently got him a female bumble bee. He was so lonely and I hated seeing him all alone. So the new female bumble bee has a weird face. Everyone who sees her comments on it. Her face is shaped long and narrow with cheeks that hang down under her neck so to speak. It's most likely a birth defect that wasn't caught. I did not buy her from an assorted tank or a mixed tank. Anyhooch, she is different looking and that's ok. Just hope none of their offspring if they have any, have that face. It's truly a face only a mother could love

Unfortunatly I could not get a picture of her. She is never still or graceful enough for me to get a snap. But when I do, I will place it here.

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[Updated on: Sun, 09 March 2008 01:34]

This is a piece of lava. It's real lava from a real volcano. Much of the lava today is manufactured. Not this. One of the benefits to manufactured lava is that it is cut into shapes so fish don't get hurt on it as much as they would if they weren't shaped. But lava is lava, it's very course and if you rub your finger up against it, you will deffinetly notice there is nothing smooth about it. It's one of the rocks that really shouldn't be put in with fish but people have been doing it for so long that it's just more traditional now. When I see injuries on my fish, I always wonder if it came from that darn rock. There isn't much aggression in my tank outside of territorial spats but nothing like fish killing eachother for the sake of it just being there. The lava has very sharp rough rifts in it. I have broken some of it off to get rid of some of the more deadly points but still. It's a lovely piece and it has quite a few caves in it. It is very very heavy and I make sure it sits in the bottom of the tank across a support under the tank. The lava rock is Kenny's domain. That is really the only reason I haven't taken it out. It doesn't matter how many times I rearrange the tank, Kenny always claims the lava rock. So be it.

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male OB Peacock

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female OB Peacock

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Ice Blue Zebra

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This is one of three pieces of drift wood. I have been searching for a giant log that I will hallow out as drift wood for the tank. I like this pic because it really gives you an idea of the natural-ness I like to see in the tank.

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This is the only male electric yellow lab I have left. I just got rid of all of them with the exception of 7 babies I have in a nurser. Even though he doesn't have his dorsal fin up for you to see his thick black stripe and you can't see his other black fins, you will have to take my word for it that this is a male. I got rid of all the labs because they were just breeding like crazy. They're worse than hamsters. The male is the prettiest so I kept one and will get rid of these babes as they reach 2 inches.

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obliquiden. Obliquidens are from the Lake Victoria area. They are such beautiful fish and can't wait for them to mature. I have 6 of them and they are like their own little military. It's seems they all have ranks. The dominant one is all black with red on the end of his fins. The sub-dominant one is beautiful with his magnificant coloring but his bars are really dark. As the ranks get lower, so does the colors of their bars get lighter. These fish are good for fighting amongst themselves but it's just to keep the ranks square. There is really no fin nipping or brutal injuries that occur, so far. Like I said, they are not real big and probably are hitting the beginning of maturity now.

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[Updated on: Sun, 09 March 2008 10:20]

Here is my male red empress. He is almost full grown and such the beaut! I thought I had put his picture up towards the top but somehow missed it.

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