The Dragon's Lair - New pics 10/24/10

[cah925]

** Note: The eel has escaped and unfortunately died. August 2010, this tank became a bichir tank.

I just don't see many eel tanks on these forums, so I thought I would share mine with everyone. I started this tank back on Sept 9 with installing the cave for the eels to hide in.




I added the wood and some plants on the next day, just a few crypts and blyxa.


09/17/09 - moss and anubias has been attached to the wood, several stems have been planted








10/16/09 - I changed a few of the stem choices








And of course, the 2 eels. These were purchased yesterday and have been a lot of fun to watch. I decided on Peacock eels since they don't get too large and are fairly docile. I was only planning on getting one, but the LFS had several so I bought two. This first photo is "Big Worm". I took the name from a character in the movie Friday. It just seems to fit as he/she is the plumper of the two eels.

[FrostyNYC]

I really love this tank. Very unique.

[demosthenes]

wow, very cool! what a great way to find something unique. are there any suitable tankmates that you could put in along with the eels? maybe something to swim around at the top?

[hydrophyte]

This is a neat tank. The really cool thing is the trough on top of the cave which holds plant substrate, and rooted plants. There are a lot of great plants in there too.

[cah925]

Originally Posted by FrostyNYC

I really love this tank. Very unique.

Thanks, it should look even better once the plants grow and fill in.

Originally Posted by demosthenes

wow, very cool! what a great way to find something unique. are there any suitable tankmates that you could put in along with the eels? maybe something to swim around at the top?

Only larger fish are compatible. I haven't completely made up my mind yet, but I was considering some mollies, that way there would be a constant supply of live food for the eels.

Originally Posted by hydrophyte

This is a neat tank. The really cool thing is the trough on top of the cave which holds plant substrate, and rooted plants. There are a lot of great plants in there too.

This was the basic idea for the cave. A space under for the eels, with a planter's box on top for the various crypts that I planted. I used lace rock to hide the plexiglass cave, and placed various anubias and ferns all around to help further hide it.

[yikesjason]

Very nice. Do you have more details about how the cave was made?

[cah925]

Here's a couple pics of the larger cave that I built. This was a case of eyes bigger than tank. I had it all mapped out in my head, drew up plans, cut and glued the plexiglass, painted it, then put it in the tank. Too big I forgot to take into account the amount of space for the rocks. This original box only left me with about 2" of foreground space, so back to the drawing board. The new box is only 6" instead of 12" deep, so even with the rocks I still have about 8" of foreground space.
Here are pics of the original box. The second box was built exactly the same, just smaller. I realized I should have taken pics along the way after I built the second box so there won't be any step by step pics to follow.
The space in the top is approx 3" tall for substrate. I plan on putting in a lot of Crypts so I wanted it to be deep enough for their roots.


This is the bottom. All the cutouts will provide the eel plenty of options for going in and out. I used PVC glue to attach the plexiglass dowels to the midsection and then glued the walls. I went ahead and covered it with a layer of silicone for extra support just in case. I used my son's Yu-Gi-Oh card tin to hold the midsection level and in place while I attached the walls, one at a time.


Just a close up of the dowels


I was a little concerned about the weight of all the sand on top putting pressure on the glue. My unique PVC plumbing goes under the sand and then I used a 90 degree elbow with about a 1" piece of pipe and a cap under the cave. The roof of the cave sits just barely above the 2 caps so if the glue does fail the roof will land on the pipe and not collapse.

[cah925]

Here's an earlier side view from before most of the plants went in.


and a pic from tonight

[FSM]

It looks great.

[RipariumGuy]

Really cool! Love your rockwork and the eels!

[monkeyruler90]

looks awesome dude!!

[speedie408]

Very nice job man! I like this tank a lot. Will be following your updates on this one.

[cah925]

Thanks for all the comments. The only issue I'm having is getting a foreground to grow. I've tried glosso twice and only have about a dozen pieces growing. Those pieces are growing tall instead of spreading. I just got some E tenellus 'micro' last week and planted that mostly in the left corner with a few pieces spread around. Hopefully one (or both if I'm lucky) will fill in the foreground.

[cah925]

Quick update-
FTS






I've been waiting for my anubias to flower. I've been watching the flower stalk grow for the past few days and this morning the flower was open.

[EdTheEdge]

Cool project! Great looking tank! Thanks for sharing!!!