Tank Layout Advice

[tenohfive]

As posted elsewhere, I'm looking to setup a 3ftx1ftx1ft tank for mixed dwarf cichlids - with an upside down catfish and eventually a small pleco lobbed in for good measure.

I'm looking for advice on how to layout the tank. The pic's below are of the tank, with a slate cave I've just made (with considerable falling over and constant swearing.) I'm looking to have a mix of the Lake Tanganyika design but with plants. I was looking to put the slate feature slightly off centre to the left, some java fern either side of it, with some more dense planting to the right. Then a small plant pot to the right.

I'm going to use play sand as substrate, leave a 4-5 inch strip down the front length of the tank as an open swimming area.


Basically I wondered if this sounds like a good compromise, given the different types of fish I'll likely be adding. I can build up the cave more if need be with more slate, once the existing lot has set. This is the cave and tank-and if anyone notices the overlap between tank and stand, I'm dealing with that with a plank of MDF.

Your thoughts?

 

[Mr. Convict]

I assume you have read about mixing african and south american cichlids

It would be good if you could give a sort of rough stocking list, then it would be much easier for us to come up with ideas.

So far in my mind had (excuse the bad drawing , and this is a plan btw)



Circles are shells, plants and plants, and the brown area is for caves

You could use maybe stone chips to border the shell area from the rest, and plant the rest in diff substrate if you wanted

I think I'm overestimating the size of you tank a little though

 

[tenohfive]

I've had a bit of a rethink. I'm basically going for a mostly apisto tank, with some fairy cichlids as well. I like the basic layout you've posted but am thinking about adding a couple more pots or creating a couple of small caves to create a load of small territories.

 

[ox5477]

Is that the stand you are planning on using for the tank? Cause if it is, then you need to find or build a better stand. The stand should support all edges of the tank with no edges over hanging. And for untempered glass, the whole of the bottom pane should be supported as well. Glass that has a torgue or shear force on it is unhappy and will eventually break...

Ox

 

[tenohfive]

Is that the stand you are planning on using for the tank? Cause if it is, then you need to find or build a better stand. The stand should support all edges of the tank with no edges over hanging. And for untempered glass, the whole of the bottom pane should be supported as well. Glass that has a torgue or shear force on it is unhappy and will eventually break...

Ox

I knew someone would bring that up. As stated in the OP - I'm going to modify it before adding water