# A Tour of my current Fish Room



## Pasfur (Mar 29, 2008)

I thought I'd take a few minutes to re-introduce myself and my fish room. Many of you know me, having spent considerable time here, but I've been away for a while. 

Since the last time I was here I have moved, relocated from a condo to a house with a basement, and luckily have been able to carve out some space for a fish room. I had a fish room about 15 years ago with 44 aquariums. I was obsessed to say the least. My goal with my new fish room is to keep it simple. I'm sure the aquarium count will grow, as I'm already at 15 tanks... no wait, 16... but as it does grow I want it to be simple and fun. In some ways I want it to be old fashioned. Less equipment to fuss with. Easy to keep fish. "Pet" fish even. So, with that in mind, here goes. (hopefully I can figure out how to load these pics)

Here is a wide shot as you come down the stairs into the basement:


The first tank is a 125 gallon freshwater. I run it with 3 Penguin 330 biowheels. I love the biowheel filters, as you will see. Stocking list: 6 Tiger Barbs, 9 Rosey Barbs, 5 Black Skirt Tetras, 1 Red Tail Shark, 1 Royal Acara, 1 Geophagus Surinamensis. There is a lot of room to grow obviously. Some pics.

A few pics of the Royal Acara, one of my favorite fish, the center piece of this tank:



And a couple pictures of the Geophagus surinamensis, in my opinion the jewel of the Geophagus species:



continued....


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## Pasfur (Mar 29, 2008)

Ok, it looks like my pictures are loading ok, so moving on...

I created a wall of aquariums to divide the fish room from the living area. I will eventually close this off and create a built in look.


This section consists of a 55 gallon, 29 gallon, and 20 long facing into the living area. On the bottom of the 55 are 2x20 gallons which face into the fish room.

The 55 gallon tank is a species tank for one of my favorite pet fish, a Flowerhorn Cichlid. This tank is filtered by a Penguin 330. The Flowerhorn was in a good mood today posing for pictures, so here are several shots:







The 29 gallon tank is also a species tank for a Mayan Cichlid, aka a "False Red Terror Cichlid". I was ready to get rid of this fish and then it developed such a personality I had to keep it. Great great fish. And beautiful. This tank runs on a corner sponge filter with a hang on for mechanical filtration.



Below the 29 is a 20 long saltwater. I wouldn't recommend this for most people, but given the stocking choice in this tank I just use a Penguin 330 to filter it. The tank has 3 Damsels and a Hermit Crab that we accidentally brought home in a shell from Myrtle Beach. Fun & simple.



continued...


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## Pasfur (Mar 29, 2008)

Inside the sectioned off "fish room" are tanks with which I'm constantly tinkering. I have 2x20 gallon bare bottom tanks, both run with sponge filters. The first is a holding tank for fish I'm not "using" currently. It has some Serpae Tetra's, an Anglefish, Pink Skirt Tetra, and one Red Eye Tetra. Some of these fish I am just babysitting. LOL If anyone lives in Louisville and wants any of these, please please come get them. Seriously.



The second 20 gallon is a Convict Breeding tank:



Here is a pic of the far wall, which is currently wasted space. That 55 gallon isn't mine, taking up space that will eventually be a rack of 4x10's, 2x20's, and my own 55. For now, here it is:


The 38 gallon in the picture is a salt tank, again run by a Penguin 330, just a species tank for an Undulated Trigger. Obviously it will need to be relocated as it grows. I'll figure that out when the time comes. Again folks, please don't try this at home. I've been keeping marines for 25 years. I can get away with this stuff.


Below that 55 gallon is a Turtle Tank and a 2 gallon fry grow out tank. I'm not positive what is in that fry tank. The fry were relocated from a 10 gallon tank that I thought was empty. The might be Rosey Barbs? 



Again, the Turtle Tank is filtered by a simple sponge filter. The fry grow out by a biowheel. 

Continued...


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## Pasfur (Mar 29, 2008)

Moving along, on the back wall are 4x10's, 1x20, and 2x5's. There is also an industrial wash sink in the corner that you can't see in this pic. A sink in the fish room is a must.



The 20 gallon is filtered by a biowheel. Livestock is Platy's and Guppies. I like to have at least 1 live bearer tank for the constant supply of babies. Again, fun stuff. 



A 10 gallon live plant tank with Cherry Barbs. Again, a biowheel filter:


A 10 gallon grow out of African Cichlid fry; another biowheel filter:


A 10 gallon grow out for Convict fry, sponge filter:


Below is a 10 gallon tank which I didnt' tank a picture of, because the fish refused to come out and pose. Today is has a Honduran Red Point Cichlid, awaiting a permanent home in a larger tank. Great fish. There are also 2 x 5 gallon tanks for quarantine, which I leave empty. When I buy a fish I drain water from the 20 gallon to fill up the Q-tank, and transfer a sponge filter.

Finally, on the last wall is a 40 gallon breeder tank, currently with a pair of Firemouth Cichlids, which also refused to pose for a picture.


I will tell you what I've learned after 28 years of keeping fish and now having moved a fish room 2 times. More than anything, keep it simple and keep it fun. I am always tinkering, always making changes until I find the perfect combination for a tank. At the end of the day, it's not about what somebody else tells you to do. It's about what works for you.

My other hobby... actually my #1 hobby... is hiking & backpacking. We have a phrase "hike your own hike". It applies to fish keeping as well.

That is all.


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## LouisvilleMarc (Nov 11, 2015)

He understated the "tinkering" lol. And the fish he is baby sitting look awfully familiar to me, lol. It's a nice room and getting better every time I see it.


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## Warhawk (Feb 23, 2014)

Nice looking setup. I agree with a lot of your fish choices I like to keep things I like not what everyone else likes, don't plan on selling fish for a living so don't like to get stuff I don't like. 

The best thing I did for my fish room was adding a central drain system. I setup a PVC pipe drain so I can use a gravel vacuum and instead of dumping the water into a bucket it goes into the PVC pipe and dumps into my main drain. Best time saver ever, cut my water change time down by 75%.


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## jeaninel (Aug 24, 2007)

Nice setup Pasfur! I especially like the Royal Acara. Beautiful fish. ThAnks for sharing!


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