Entry #37: 45L Biotope Aquascape
Andrew Frueh, Havertown PA USA | E-mail: af004i at mail.rochester.edu
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Awards and Judge Comments

This tank is clearly an appropriate home for its 3 inhabitants, with plenty of places for them to hide and feel secure. From a design standpoint, I would much prefer to see rocks of the same general type in a biotope type tank, rather than a mixture of rock from clearly different sources. Still, as a small tank in a dorm room, I'm sure this tank will bring its owner lots of enjoyment.

Karen Randall

Try to match stones with Background. No plants, even no algae on the rocks. Brichardi's do not graze on algae, but will need a finer substrate for digging. If water quality is not measured regularly you do'n't have controll over Total hardness and Carbonates. Better use a small portion of Calcite mix in the filter. At the end three brichardi's will reduce to two before they spawn in such a amall tank.

Pim Wilhelm

Aquascape Details

Tank Size 53 x 28 x 46 cm (21 x 11 x 18 in)
Volume 45L (12 gallons)
Background Hagen 3D Rock Background
Lighting Eclipse 4000k daylight bulb
Filtration Eclipse three stage filtration system (carbon, floss, and bio wheel)
Additional
Information		 This tank is an standard Marineland Eclipse 12 system. It is a much smaller tank then I am used to, but just the right size for a college dorm room. I chose to leave the filter assembly is place for these pictures because one of the big challenges in this setup was finding a way to accomidate the eclipse's fairly bulky filter into the rock wall. The brichardi's stay mostly in the lower levels. However, they never cease to amaze me, always finding new places to explore among the rocks. Two of them paired off from day one, so I am looking forward to seeing fry show up sooner or later.
Fish/Animals Three young brichardi cichlids.
Decorative
Materials		 Substrate is a African Cichlid Calcite mix used for buffering purposes. The rest of the tank is decorated entirely with rocks collected from various sources. The two green cave-like rocks were the only two that I bought.