Rockscaping advice

[CraigMac]

When you place rocks for your Africans, do you put them against the back wall of the tank or do you come out an inch or to and leave a "channel" behind?

Also, do you remove everything once a month to vacuum or just clean around the rocks?

 

[ronnieroach]

When you place rocks for your Africans, do you put them against the back wall of the tank or do you come out an inch or to and leave a "channel" behind?

Also, do you remove everything once a month to vacuum or just clean around the rocks?

i leave some room for them to sneak in between & behind my rocks .. that way they can have some 'me time' if they need it lol

& i usually remove all my stuff once or twice a month for vacuuming

 

[Convict2161]

i leave some room for them to sneak in between & behind my rocks .. that way they can have some 'me time' if they need it lol

& i usually remove all my stuff once or twice a month for vacuuming

x2 but my tank is so heavily scaped I haven't done a gravel vac yet.

 

[ronnieroach]

x2 but my tank is so heavily scaped I haven't done a gravel vac yet.

yes, its def a huge pain

 

[Ukdans1k]

Hi,
One thing to bear in mind, is that a lot of African cichlids like to dig and move the gravel. The best thing to do is place you rocks and decor directly on to glass bottom of your tank and then put your gravel/substrate in and around. If that makes sense?. It's a little tricky but well worth it. That way it means if your fish dig , it won't make the rocks move, especially if you stack them and either damage/ kill your fish or crack your tank. Also it means that vacuuming is not so essential underneath. Hope this helps

 

[mfdrookie516]

^ Agreed... but not just with africans, with any fish. There's much less of a chance of everything toppling over if the bottom rocks are against the glass.


I always kept my rocks stacked against the back of the tank. It made the formation a little more stable, and also forced the fish to swim out front more.