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Thousand
Gallon Cichlid Tanks by Fred
Hamilton
I own two 1,000 gallon fish tanks
located in my fishroom in Cincinnati. Pictured below is one of them:
a tank devoted to Tanganyikan cichlids. These tanks serve as a
source of endless interest to fish keepers; once word of these tanks
became public on the Internet, I started receiving hundreds of
questions, from as far away as Australia and Singapore. In the hope
that my experiences with these tanks would be at least interesting
to browsers of the GCAS website, here are some questions and
answers.
Question
No. 1: Why?
About 25 years ago, I agreed to care for my supervisor's
giant fish collection during his two-week trip abroad. The
centerpiece of the collection was a 500 gallon aquarium, completely
homemade, in which lived some interesting fish called
"cichlids." I survived the experience, but developed an
addiction which has stayed with me, and grown, over the ensuing
years. Within a week I had purchased my own aquarium... a 15 gallon
slate-bottomed beauty (now very rare). But over the years, I never
forgot the 500 gallon tank, and the very large fish (Tilapia
tanganyikae) who lived there.
After embarking on the hobby, I quickly
learned that cichlids happen to be large. While there are many many
exceptions, a majority of cichlids sold in the pet store at 1"
will eventually grow to at least 4 or 5 inches. Even a one inch
cichlid, I learned, will occupy a territory of 10 to twenty square
feet in the wild. I was eventually forced to conclude that the fish
deserved a home more in keeping with their natural habitat, with the
type of "floor space" and depth which would hopefully
allow me to see behavior which a smaller tank could not permit.
Added to that, I developed a taste for the even larger members of
the family: the Tilapia, cichlasoma, and others which reach the size
of small cats.
Question
No. 2: How?
These tanks measure 12 feet by 4 feet by 3 feet. They are
built of 6" thick concrete and 1/2" plate glass, bonded
together with a special type of silicone-based sealant typically
used to weatherpoof large buildings. At the end of this article are
the detailed plans for the construction of the
tank.
About 1984, I built my first
concrete tank: a 500 gallon tank which served as a real
"learning experience." It now sits empty in a home I sold
in 1988. Pictured above is a "construction" view of my
first 1000 gallon tank built in about 1989 which, I believe, is
still in operation, although I moved out some time ago.
The first step is creation of very durable
wooden forms to hold the wet concrete. For the technically oriented,
note that the fishroon is constructed with "greenboard"
drywall, which resists the inevistable high humidity in the fishroom,
and high-mounted "GFC" circuits which are designed to
prevent accidents from the occasional contact between water and
electricity. A floor drain is also a "must" for
maintenance.
The photo shows the tank after the
concrete forms are removed, and before a finishing coat of concrete
is applied, glass panes are installed, and the air and water lines
are put in position.
This is a lengthwise view of the finished
Malawian tank built in 1996. As pictured above, each tank, in
addition to having its own individual water supply via PVC plumbing,
is supplied a separate PVC air line which brings air from a blower
located in a distant part of the house. Each tank has three large
airstones connected to the air supply, and each tank has three
300-watt heaters, each with its own GFC oultet. The tanks are
connected, by means of a PVC "overflow" device, to a floor
drain. There is no other filtration in the big tanks. Each tank is
illuminated by floodlights which hang from electrical conduit
mounted on the ceiling for convenience, flexibility, and safety.
Question
No. 3: Who?
The tanks are designed for African river fish and lake fish
from Tanganyika and Malawi... and so, each is supplied with one ton
of "creek stone" from a local landscape supply house. Each
contains about 150-200 fish, not counting tiny fry.
The Malawian tank has quite a group of
fish. From the lake, it has Pseudotropheus macropthalmus, P. zebra
(red), P. crabro, P. acei, Dimidiachromis compressiceps, Cyrtocara
moori, Nimbochromis livingstoni, N. venustus, Copadichromis borleyi,
Aulonocara baenschi, Melanochromis auratus, Labidochromis coeruleus,
and Pseudotropehus aurora. From African and nearby rivers, I've
added Sarotherodon mossambicus, Tilapia buttikoferi, Oreochromis
alba, Paratilpia polleni, Synodontis eupterus, Synodontis angelicus,
and Distichodus sexfasciatus.
The Tanganyikan tank has Neolamprologus
brichardi (daffodil and "regular"), Tropheus Duboisi
("Maswa" and narrow white band), Tropheus moori "Kasabae,"
Cyprichromis sp., Boulengerochromis microlepis, Cyphotilapia
frontosa (six-stripe), Lamprologus tetracanthus, and Julidochromis
transciptus.
There are other tanks in the fishroom, in
which can be found Haplochromis obliquidens, a Red Devil (butterfly
pattern), hyrid Labidochromis, Labidochromis sp. "hongae,"
Pelvicachromis pulcher, one bluegill, one green sunfish, twelve
longeared sunfish, a pair of Boulengerochromis microlepis, and my
most recent addition, ten hybrid Cichlasoma.
This final view is the Malawian tank,
which has an added bonus of its own refrigerator visible on the left
(designed to hold live food, frozen food, and beer). The beer is
there for visitors, who are always welcome to view these
monstrosities!!
I've been well-satisfied with these tanks.
The current design appears to work well, and has allowed me to
observe and to breed many fish which simply would have been out of
the question in smaller tanks. However, a 1,000 gallon tank is the
ultimate white elephant -- and at about six tons each, a person
should obviously think long and heard about the details for your own
situation. Cichlid power!
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The original link with
the article about construction and a detailed explanation is
officially MIA, so Fred sent these drawings to us. We don't
have any more info here at GCAS. You may try to E-Mail
Fred and he can provide a few more details.
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