The ideal way to house your dwarf cichlids - The fish rack!!

[benetay]

My views will be as follows :

• Water piping for easy draining & water change
• Nice stainless steel framework or similar material
• customise tanks with drainage holes
• tank size to be long tall & wide ( 1.5ft height for longer dorsal extention)
• Gravel(ADA) for alteration of pH values
• Standard filtration, sponge filter, Eden internal or similar
• light fixture for viewing purposes
• coverage of lights(Panel inbetween bottom of top tank to top of the next tank, for ease of viewing
• Cover for tanks ( prevent jumping )
• bottom or top tier to be made for breeding or holding purposes
• Quarantine tanks
• list goes on

Only when time permits for water change if not it will be nice to have drainage. It's very time consuming and physically demanding if you're going to start changing 20-30 tanks of water.

Viewing are best done eye level , so put your nicest apisto in the middle or top tier. Bottom are really low for viewing unless it's customise to be higher off the ground.

Off the rack tanks might not be ideally cut to suit your purpose of standardization. A well organised setup looks professional compare to a badly plan setup. If viewing & breeding are your main goal, try to keep your tanks as empty as possible( A different view) The tank should only consist of gravel,filter, 2-3 breeding media of the same shape,size & colour for all your tanks.

The presentation will look great even for people who don't know much about fishes.

It will be my goal to have such a setup some day.

[Cacatuoides]

Benetay has list it all...a very well written with all aspects of an apisto rack explained
Sadly many of us do not have the luxury of having that many fish tanks, let alone our own fish rack

[benetay]

Eman, the only way is to have a dream. To make it happen can only be your passion that strive towards it. Maybe not now, can always be later.

[celticfish]

I concur with benetay on the points.
Though I don't have such a setup I immediately fell in love when I saw one.
With the numbers of tanks in the rack, water change should be automated!
Otherwise the labour of WC will kill your interest in the hobby.
And you just need a high performance air-pump to drive all the sponge filters.

A picture is worth a thousand words... so I'll stop ranting...
Here is a tank design all apito lovers will find interesting ---> here
The whole rack can be run with a single Eheim 2028 and an air-pump.
WC done from the larger volumn tank at the bottom.
Take the design further with a automatic drip from the top tier... so easy.
Neat enough to be in the living room?

@ Cacatuoides, how about starting with this "rack" first?

[benetay]

Thanks! The RVA setup is very good, really. The price is also another point to take note. Not going to be cheap but definitely worth the price.

[celticfish]

I just Love this tank!
And my back is worth the higher price!
Its like one tank WC for the whole rack.
And the number of compartments for you to move fish around with impunity (same tank water and temperature).
The caveat of course is infection in one tank will...

[benetay]

I'm not so worried about illness, if tank water are kept in check, the possibility of one of the apisto having illness is not going to be great.

Backache & time is the major problem. I will not change 20-30 tanks of water manually, it just doesn't make sense when technology nowadays are so advance.

Housing them for viewing purpose should set you back about 20 or so tanks. How about a more detailed view on the distribution.

One fine day i decided to buy a pair of apisto.

• Apistogramma 'A' ( Tank A )

Few days later either one died. So you have one tank with one Apisto.

I'm going to buy another pair of the same species.

• Apistogramma 'B' ( Tank B )

A few weeks later it decides to breed.
Fish out the male for the female to take care of the brood. ( Tank C )

Decides to get another pair of apisto

• Apistogramma 'C' ( Tank D )

Few months later the female of (Tank B) needs to be removed for the fries to grow. Decided that to place it at (Tank C) where her partner is.
Couldn't live well together, got chase and bitten by the male. Remove and place it in another tank ( Tank E )

Fries need a larger grow up tank, transfer it to a large 4 footer ( Tank F )
Apistogramma 'A' seems to be docile and so move the Tank E female to Tank A. ( Need to free some space, got solid shipment of apisto from Amazon)

Went shopping for apisto , saw 3 pairs of very nice apisto.
Bought them.

Placement :

• Tank E
• Tank G
• Tank H

2 out of 3 newly introduced apisto spawned & the fries are 1 Cm big. Removal of Tank E & G males to

• Tank I & J

Additional 2 x 2ft for grow up .
Tank K & L

The list goes on & on till Z and beginning from A again.


I cannot imagine myself with a day job or studying & got to change the tank water of so many. It's just not feasible. Your hobby has made a turn point from keeping fish to changing water.

So my thoughts on this issue will be minimise by:

1. Getting high quality apisto in 2 pairs (If budget allows)
2. Giving away single apisto or getting another pair
3. Keep less but better quality (why i keep saying this)
4. Fries of good strain high quality parentage will yield better price & ease of sales
5. etc

If all else fails, let us know. We will brainstorm a suitable solution.

[celticfish]

benetay, I think the iterations you just went through was experienced by every Apisto lover! ROTFL

[benetay]

Well, all i have to say is, apisto are addictive luckily i'm out of it, stand back and view on the craze i had previously. Still no regrets but even more determine the next time if i start.

Bottom line will be, less pair less tanks.

[illumnae]

My views will be as follows :

• Water piping for easy draining & water change
• Nice stainless steel framework or similar material
• customise tanks with drainage holes
• tank size to be long tall & wide ( 1.5ft height for longer dorsal extention)
• Gravel(ADA) for alteration of pH values
• Standard filtration, sponge filter, Eden internal or similar
• light fixture for viewing purposes
• coverage of lights(Panel inbetween bottom of top tank to top of the next tank, for ease of viewing
• Cover for tanks ( prevent jumping )
• bottom or top tier to be made for breeding or holding purposes
• Quarantine tanks
• list goes on

Hope i didn't scare you with such a great list. Only when time permits for water change if not it will be nice to have drainage. It's very time consuming and physically demanding if you're going to start changing 20-30 tanks of water.

Viewing are best done eye level , so put your nicest apisto in the middle or top tier. Bottom are really low for viewing unless it's customise to be higher off the ground.

Off the rack tanks might not be ideally cut to suit your purpose of standardization. A well organised setup looks professional compare to a badly plan setup. If viewing & breeding are your main goal, try to keep your tanks as empty as possible( A different view) The tank should only consist of gravel,filter, 2-3 breeding media of the same shape,size & colour for all your tanks.

The presentation will look great even for people who don't know much about fishes.

It will be my goal to have such a setup some day.

wow benetay, you just listed all the plans i had for my apisto rack that i intend to custom make later this year great minds think alike? haha

i intend for 3 tiers of 4x1.5x1.5 tanks, partitioned into 1x1.5x1.5 for the top and bottom tier, and 2 1x1.5x1.5 for the sides of the middle tier and a single 2x1.5x1.5 right in the middle for a pair of Wilhelm bred Ap. elizabethae.

[benetay]

Don't forget to have a tank warming day, invite us to see your dream.

Cheers!

[illumnae]

haha when my house warming, if you're interested you're welcome to come.

i'll be setting up my 4x2x2 planted first, then the rack

[benetay]

No worries, let me know once the rack is up and the fishes are in. Will drop by to take a look if time permits!

[pepe2403]

Goodness me. Initially i thought of only have a simple rack with 5 cube tanks. Now the poison starts pouring in. I think i will have to change the name of the plan from apisto rack to apisto room
Looks like i will just stick to my orginal plan for 5 cube tanks first. hopefully when i have more time off from work i will source around for what i need. But before that i think i will really need to sit down and plan all over again.

[Quixotic]

I think that since you are fairly new to Apistogramma spp. (considering you aren't sure too sure of the species you have), then that would be a wise decision.

I can't imagine you spending so much money, only to encounter problems when keeping too many of them, plus the more exotic ones (and there are plenty of them!!!) and giving up later.

Take your time to learn about the characteristics, their requirements and gain some experience first. Good luck in your starter project.

[Zenislev]

Errrm...that getting more and more tanks scenario sounds really familiar. Somehow i think i agree with benetay, else the electricity and water bills will make you faint.

[benetay]

Well i believe i'm just stating what most of the hobbyist here WILL eventually go through.

Cheers!

[benny]

pepe2403,

If you are ever planning a rack, let me know. I will show you my design.

Cheers,

[illumnae]

can i see your design too please benny? i'm definitely planning a rack!

[Titus]

pepe2403,

If you are ever planning a rack, let me know. I will show you my design.

Cheers,

Hi benny,

Am curious if you can share your design? Been contemplating a rack but just not too sure what would be good.

Cheers
Titus