Recent content by SpyGuy

That won't accomplish anything. The bottom glass reflects light like a mirror regardless of what's on the outside surface.

I've considered that, but then you just see the egg crate, which is less aesthetically pleasing than the tank glass bottom. I've thought of lining the bottom with a piece of rigid plastic and gluing sand to the surface of it, then covering with loose sand.

I have a family. There's almost always someone home.

We usually have the lights on from mid/late morning, until bedtime. I know that's a long time, but who wants to look at dark tanks? But I've tried only turning the lights on at night, and I've also tried not turning the lights on at all. Neither seemed to make much difference in levels of algae...

I have a large male Midas Cichlid. I'm trying to figure out how to prevent him from excavating to the bottom of the tank, exposing the glass. One idea is to embed a number of large rocks in the sand so he can't make a large pit (small sand digging is fine). The rocks will also help decorate the...

I have a tank with a rainbow shark, an electric yellow cichlid, a couple of swordtail mollies, and a catfish. The cichlid and catfish are fairly recent additions (a few months ago), having acquired them when I bought a used tank. All the fish are healthy and get along fine. Issue #1: After I...

[Moderator Edit] The beauty in a pet, wet or dry, is their appearance and personality, not their ability to break things or hurt others.

By "wet pet" I assume you mean "wet solo pet." After all, aren't all aquarium fish wet pets? Anyway, I will not do fake plants. I just can't abide by them. I do want to build a rock pile in the back, both for visual appeal and to hide the filter piping. I can glue the rocks together so Gulp...

I found this about the Midas and thought it amusing: So let's say I want to create an immovable rocky structure in the back corner of the tank. Questions: 1. How do I prevent him from simply filling that area with sand? 2. How do I clean between the rocks and the glass?

I found this on a Midas Cichlid care page: How does one create a hiding place for a 9 - 10" fish in a 72 gallon tank while also keeping enough swimming room?

Thanks for the link. Based on that, it would appear that I have a Midas Cichlid (Amphilophus citrinellus). I really don't see any of the described traits of the Red Devil.

That's not a bad idea. The gloves and long sleeve shirt would also work, but it would be messy with water running off my shirt sleeve, especially every time I have to clear the tank's center brace. (Unless I get a heavy rubber glove with attached rubber sleeve up to my armpit!)

I have a gravel vac. But I can't vacuum every day. I was hoping that under-sand jets would sweep the debris off the bottom so it could be ingested by the filtration. The other problem is that the filter strainers are so fine that, when his poop does get drawn to them, it just gets stuck on the...

Btw, he's more aggressive now than ever. Before when working in the tank, if he started to approach with a hungry look in his eyes, I could shoo him off with a slight wave of my hand. Or making a fist and approaching him as the dominant "fish" would cause him to back away. Not any more: he no...

So I take it a Midevil is a hybrid between a Midas and a Red Devil. Correct? How can you experts tell the specific variation? When I Google Midas Cichlid or Red Devil Cichlid, or Midevil Cichlid, most of the images look the same (and most of them all look like "Gulp").