picture of our 100 gallon tank with Geophagus braziliensis and other fish

~ The Big Tank ~

Size (US Gallons): 100
Material: all glass
Lighting: two 40-watt shop lights
Filtration: one Fluval 400 canister filter with ceramic cylinders, bioballs and floss, and one Aquaclear 300 power filter with 3 sponges
Substrate: large gauge tacky red, white and blue gravel (gag!)
Plants: none (does algae count? :-)
Fish: 5 Geophagus braziliensis (south american cichlids), 1 tri-color shark, 1 tiger barb
Maintenance: 40-60% water changes every month or two (should be more). Aquaclear sponges are squeezed out in a bucket of old filter water. Canister filter media is rinsed/cleaned in old tank water about 2-3 times per year.

Notes:

January 21, 2001

We got this tank and stand second-hand from a friend of the family. The footprint is 4 feet x 18 inches, and it's 2 feet tall, which we guestimate makes it about 100 gallons. It's touch to change the water because if the depth of the tank, but it does look pretty. The gravel is hideous, leftover stuff from my first ever goldfish tank. Tacky gravel never dies. Someday I'll replace it. The tank was bare for a long time (no substrate), but the geophagus like to dig in the substrate (hence the name "geophagus - earth eater), and it just seemed wrong not to give them something to rummage through.

We keep the tank at around 74-76 F with one submersible Ebo Jager heater. The tank has several pieces of rock on the bottom, and a large piece of driftwood. We lost several of our other fish in fall of 2000 due to a strange illness, including our awesome plecostomus. I hope to get another one soon.

We feed these fish Tetra Bits ("color bits"), tropical fish flakes, and large cichlid sticks. Occasionally, they get frozen green peas (shelled), frozen bloodworms, or zucchini (steamed or frozen).

Here are some photos of our fish. Click on any photo for a larger view. These pictures were taken in the fall of 2000:

Geophagus - look at those lips!	What a beautiful fish!
Two tiger barbs (now we're down to one)	Tri-color shark (it looks blind but it seems to find its food just fine)	Geophagus eating (see the one behind inhaling a tetra bit)

These photos were all taken with our Nikon Cookpix 990 digital camera (scaled down and compressed for the web). Feel free to write to me for more information or with any comments. Please do not copy or use these photos without contacting me for permission first. Thanks!