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Hobbyist Gallery - Owen Hoffman OWEN HOFFMAN (Billings, Montana, USA), e-mail : My large aquarium (shown above) is 125 gallons. It houses a mixed community with the following residents: 7 Labidochromis caeruleus, 3 Cynotilapia mbamba, 4 Haplochromis taeniolatus, 1 Pseudotropheus zebra OB morph, 6 Melanochromis maingano (cyanerhabdos), 1 Synodontis eupterus, and 1 Plecostomus (not sure of species). I am planning on removing any extra male haplochromis taeniolatus once they mature. They are too small to sex yet. I just added six juvenile melanochromis maingano to this aquarium last friday. I don't plan on adding any more fish at this point and will remove any excess male maingano should they present a problem once I am able to sex them. I am hoping that once I weed out the extra male red empress that the number of fish and species I have settled on for this aquarium won't be to much. So far it seems to be working out fine but two of the groups of fish MCH Verdict 1. In my opinion there are no really irritating things, but also no real highlights. To get a perfect tank, Owen needs to hide his technical equipment. He can hide them and the reflecting background by using larger rocks or a better decoration in height instead of stacking these slate plates in different floors. He can also get rid of the flower pot and mix some sand into the bottom. His cichlid mixture is relatively good IMO... As it is a real aggressive Hap, the Protomelas will be able to defend himself against the Mbuna when it grows up. The plants should be removed in order to get some 'play beach' 2. Generally speaking they look like tanks which are well taken care of. A close up of the gravel shows that it is regularly cleaned. I would call it a “correct” tank, in the sense that Owen has clearly done his homework but I don’t find any specific items that will really attract my eye. In one of the submitted pictures there is a serious mistake – a marine shell. Although this could be acceptable in a raising tank, it can’t be accepted in a display tank. The flower pot (at least as placed) could be removed and add to the natural "look" of the tank. 3. A well thought of tank with only minor points to reconsider. Apart from the marine shell there is nothing wrong, species correctly selected, there is no mixing between different lakes, stocking level are absolutely correct. All in all, a “correct tank”. However, some items could be removed / hidden and this could improve its rating. Last but not least, I would prefer some other angles which could present this tank in a better way. Good work. Overall rating by MCH : 61/100 |
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