Amelia

Where do you get such fantastic driftwood? Can't find anything like that here.

A mentioned with the African tank, I won't be keeping 10 Kribensis, and I'm only getting Lionheads OR the Ctenopoma, not both. I don't think 10 Congos, 6 cats, a few pairs of kribs and a pantodon is too much for a 4-foot tank? :dunno: And re the loaches, I've kept them many times before and I don't tend to regard them as complete bottom-dwellers, since they are hugely active around the whole tank. My yoyos (currently in my 450l tank) occupy the entire tank -- which is why I'm swapping them for something that will STAY on the bottom (Hoplos). :slfg: I've not kept Tiger Barbs before but I was under the impression they were really active fish? :digH:

I'm not worried about having done the loaches before. I already have 6 Yoyo loaches in my 400l so I guess it kinda makes sense to go with that option. I AM really excited about the prospect of Upsidedown cats though!! :facepalm: I suck at decisions. West Africa is currently winning the voting war.

I actually meant to out 20x Tiger Barbs, not 10. Whoops. Yeah I'm probably leaning towards option 2 because then I can keep my kuhli loaches in there (my favourite fish), but option 1 would be more different and interesting. :dunno: I am so indecisive.

Thanks for the replies guys, however... Since I posted this I have decided to go a completely different route. Decided to try my hand at my first biotope (semi-biotope at least, because I'm not brave enough to delve into region-specific plants just yet). I am torn between 2 choices at the moment. 1. West African River Biotope 1x Pantodon buchholzi -- Pantodon Butterfly Fish 10x Pelvicachromis pulcher -- Kribensis (will thin out population as they age) 10x Phenacogrammus interruptus -- Congo Tetra 6x Synodontis nigriventris -- True Upsidedown Catfish and then either of... 2x Steatocranus casuarius -- African Blockhead/Lionhead Cichlid (if I can find a pair) 1x Ctenopoma acutirostre -- Leopard Bush Fish/Spotted Climbing Perch 2. South-East Asian River Biotope 10x Puntius tetrazona -- Tiger Barb 6x Botia almorhae -- Yoyo/Pakistani Loach 6x Botia kubotai -- Polka-Dot/Angelicus/Burmese Border Loach 6x Botia striata -- Zebra Loach Opinions?

Agreed about the black BG -- it draws the eye to the foreground rather than the background, kinda makes the tank look less boxy. P.S I see cories in that photo. :nfs:

Looking for something to stock in my 240l tank, currently home to 40 neon tetras, 16 harlequin rasbora, 10 kuhli loaches and a nannacara anomala pair. The only one's I'm dead-set on keeping are the kuhlis and N. anomala. I've considered angels, wild-type sword-tails and rainbowfish. Can't seem to come to a decision. I'd rather not add any more dwarf cichlids at this stage and just let my nannacara's be the king and queen of their domain. Opinions and suggestions? Here's the tank.

Sam -- that's a good idea. I'll have a look in spotlight. Duraseal isn't a bad idea but that would be pretty hard to do with the tank against the wall. :dunno: I've seen those black backgrounds in petshops but I can't really justify paying $20 per tank for a black bit of paper -- I was hoping I could get something cheaper. Plus I don't like how they are shiny. The idea of a black sheet just occurred to me. They sell black flat sheets for beds for like $10-$15 from the warehouse. I could cut one of those to fit and it would easily do both tanks. Still securing it to the tank would be the hard part...

I'm wanting to change my backgrounds to black, but moving the tanks away from the wall to do it really isn't an option. Anyone got a cheap way to black out the back of your tank? Someone suggested using black felt. I thought of black construction paper but wasn't sure if i'd be able to find big enough bits. My tanks are 4-foot and 5-foot long.

Haha thanks for the heads up, nice to see familiar faces!

Hi all! I'm based in Christchurch. I think I know I couple of people on here but will have to match usernames to faces. :happy2:

Hi there. My name is Amelia and I am new here. I have been keeping tropical fish for 2 years now. I currently have a 240l planted community and a 450l CA/SA Cichlid tank. Nice to meet you all!