Something fishy going on!

[Jsto]

Ok, here are some pics. They are really bad quality, but I've never been able to master the fishtank picture technique. It's either too dark or the flash is visible, the fish are always moving, etc. etc.

Here are a couple shots of the babies...really hard to see. As soon as I put the camera up to get a decent picture, they would take off so it was almost impossible. I tried to enhance the pictures to make them more visible, but it didn't help much!

I also have to excuse the shape of my tank. I'm scared to clean it, as I had originally planned for the weekend, because of the little guys. The big fish are always messing with the live plants, causing them to float to the top, along with moving rocks and any statues I put in. I need to find some heavier live plants to put in there. I usually fix it when I clean, but I'm unable. I just know I'd end up sucking up a baby. Will probably still give it a go. The outside of the tank has doggie noseprints. When mom shows interest in the tank, pup thinks something exciting is going on.

And just for fun, this fish, I believe was involved somehow. Babies have her stripes!

Giraffe cichlid. He's gorgeous, although you can't really see the giraffe markings in the pictures, unfortunately.

His sized compared to the orange fish, who is actually one of the biggest in the tank aside from BP.

My newest addition! A clown pleco. Got him a few months ago and was terrified he'd get eaten, but everyone ignores him. He won't grow any bigger than what you see and is so hard to find in the tank, thus I named him Waldo!

 

[Chelly]

Wow those are very cool - your tank is amazing! (Hard work I bet!)

 

[Jsto]

I had a hard time with it at first this go round because I'd never used a bio filter, but since the tank has established itself it's not been bad at all. Getting rid of the undergravel filter (something I've always used) also helped a lot. The biggest work seems to be fixing the messes they make by moving rocks and statues around! The aqueduct has been moved over toward the center and back by at least 3 inches in the past two weeks!

At the end of the day, it's all worth it. Watching the fish totally de-stesses me. Cichlids are very active and entertaining. Mine all eat out of my fingers, giving me a few nibbles as well. Won't be able to do that much longer as the Giraffe fish is getting large and their teeth hurt!

They have the same effect on me as the chicks do. I can sit and just watch them interacting with each other and myself for hours, if left uninterrupted.

One day I'd love to have a salt water tank, but that is a lot of work and money!