Turquoise Castle Aquarium

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This is my very 1st aquarium. I have always loved fish and admired every fish tank I walk past.

In January I decided to go ahead and plan a Non-aggresive Tropical Community Aquarium. It has been quite a learning process, but I am happy with my progress so far.

I have always loved castles. I loved one castle online and then saw it used for a great price and couldn't resist. It was only when I picked up the castle that I realized just how big it really was.

I then had to plan the aquarium around the castle. Not bad for me, because I really do love the castle and had a large space to put the aquarium.

[Knotyoureality]

That's a great piece. The only thing I'd recommend is moving it more off center to give better visual flow to tank. Think of all the best movie shots of castles; the ones that grab are where you have a long view *ending* with the castle. Open areas on both sides diminishes the impact.

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Next I put on a background. Now that is a lot of turquoise!

Oh and we added a ship for my son and a turtle for my daughter.

To make things a little easier we made a side for my son, a side for my daughter, and the middle for Mom. They each help with the decisions for their side of the tank.

[stevenjohn21]

Great castle ! I agree with the above poster .... You could make a "hill" at the back right corner and place it on top and have a carpet plant coming down the hill .

[Merth]

lol looks great I know the feeling my last tank is full of dinosaurs and volcanoes...maybe put the blue gravel under the ship to simulate ocean and a hill with carpet under the turtle. that will look nice.

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We then had stands built to hold the aquarium weight. A friend is a builder and had recently built a saltwater wall aquarium in his house. I figured that he was definitly the right person for the job. I am so happy with how the bases turned out. We had doors made, but haven't installed them yet.

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At this point I still really didn't know anything. I added plants and water. We let everything settle in and then had the water tested. It turned out that it took a lot less time to get the tank going, so we added fish fairly soon after.

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These poor little guys were so small in the big tank. They must have liked it, because they exhibited mating behaviour on Day 1. On Day 2 they spawned.

I had no idea what to do. I managed to hatch some eggs and they lived for a few days. Next time hopefully I have more knowledge to help them survive.

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We bought 1 male and 2 female Mollys. We ended up having a 1 cm baby female tag along as well.

It turned out that the one female is much older than the others. She has grown beautifully, but is a bit of a bully.

We have had a lot of fun raising the baby and she is now in the safely in the main tank.

This is about the same time I discovered that our plants had brought snails into the tank.

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I LOVE having an aquarium. I am enjoying the fish and the live plants. I am not finding the aquarium to be a bother at all. In fact, I find caring for the tank relaxing.

The problem is that now I have discovered this forum. Aquascaping is amazing and you are all very inspiring. The question is now what?

Yup, I am that person that just put the live plants in gravel.

I really like the idea of a hill on the right hand side. I also think plants growing on driftwood add so much to the overall look. Even if it's just a smaller driftwood piece. (Next tank will have a root for sure )

The castle is comes in two parts, so it's easier to move. It can be turned around, so the back faces outwards as well. I will try to add more current photos tonight.

[Unkillable Cat]

I love the perfect dream feel to it. The colours blend perfectly for the kind of thing you would expect to see in some kind of fantasy utopia.

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Our little 1cm baby has really grown. She is about 3cm now.

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I have a soft spot for this one. She was sick and I nursed her back to life. She tends to get constipated, so I feed her lots of veg. It is very amusing to see how excited she gets about peas. If I look at the glass she comes up and greats me.

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Such a show off. He swims REALLY fast and is impossible to photograph with my camera.

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Sorry I meant to add this.