New 6ft tank layout help

[syno-kev]

I am setting up a new tank 6ft x 2ft this weekend for some of my larger synodontis cats and just wondered if anyone can post some tank pics of rock scapes /bogwood or any other tank items cats like to hide in and under ,
to give me some new ideas on tank presentaion .
thanks kev

[Richard B]

My lake syno display isn't really what you're after.

I would suggest 4 large root pieces if you can get them ( or wood clusters made from a number of smaller pieces)- one at either end on the sides & the other 2 at equal spaces in the middle section giving 4 separate areas of seclusion. If you can have them 6" or so off the bottom so the fish can easily get underneath but can still be easily viewed. If neccessary you can additionally have some lengths of plastic pipe 12-15" long at 45 degrees to the back of the tank in the gaps between the roots - anchor them in place with rock either side. (you could disguise these if you wanted by encasing in mesh & growing java moos or java fern over them)

It might help to black out the back & sides of the tank to give greater feeling of security to the fish & perhaps duckweed or riccia on the surface to provide additional shade - i hope i'm explaining this as it appears in my head -i'll try & figure some way of gettting a drawing into a post or maybe see if i can pm something. All this is to try & provide the best conditions with maximum territories for a number of medium to large synos.

[syno-kev]

thanks richard ,
the set up i have at the moment in my 50 inch tank is bog wood cluster on the right side and a collection of rocks and slates making caves at the other with the odd broken plant pot at the back of the rocks out of sight aswell ,
but just fishing for ideas of something new for the 6ft tank !

cheers kev

[Richard B]

You could be as wild & creative as your imagination lets you if you had the inclination. Like splitting the tank vertically with a slate shelf with a half a dozen big holes in & creating caves on both the upper & lower deck so to speak.

Or having branches & plastic plants etc hanging down into the water from off the top (attached to the support braces) giving the effect of a underhanging riverbank

[andywoolloo]

My syno tank is a work in progress, I will try to get a pic but it isn't very professional.

I feel like I am getting better cause none of mine go under heater or between intake tubes tho.

I have a cluster of driftwood on the left, 3 pieces wedged together on top of each other securely with java ferns on them, Under that pile is a long pvc pipe, sort of under with the driftwood around and over. That gives many places and I often have three over there. Also on the left side I put a huge beautiful fake plant that anchors down on the side back bottom on the left and covers over the top left half of the surface providing shade.

On the right is the same exact on the right. lol. PVC pipe with driftwood all over it and around it and the same plant going up the right side and over the right top towards the middle and meeting the other plant. Also on the right I have slate over some pvc and leaning against some driftwood, achored into the sand. They love that.

Along the front of the tank but back a bit I have amazon swords and java ferns surrounded by groups of smooth pale green river rock. Kinda like a border for the plants. They hide in there as well.

In the middle I have an open area for swimming eating. I always feed there now.

Also on the top I have floating frog bit. A plant. Also in the back all in front of the heater, which i have sideways down just slightly below the half way mark/depth of the tank, I have anubias barteri all in front of that, prob 7 plants.

[Richard B]

andywoolloo - your tank sound good

[andywoolloo]

Ta!

I have been working and working at it. I even put some black ABS like was suggested on here! The more black abs i get the more I take out the white pvc.

[syno-kev]

i like the slate shelf idea that is something i have not used before and should look cool with double level caves for them to hide in
cheers
kev

[Richard B]

The slate shelf set-up can be very effective - i've seen it a couple of times done specifically for cats (predominately synos: not neccessarily lake synos) & was adapted from lake c*****d set-ups. One example was such that the shelf completely separated the top layer of the tank from the bottom layer except for the holes & powerheads were used at different levels to ensure water circulation. In essence it doubled the floor space & therefore territories whilst keeping the same surface area, likw a 2-tanks-in-1 kinda thing!

[andywoolloo]

that's a wicked idea! I was so trying to do that and make PVC ABS condos like stacked like a pyramid to make more floor space for them and go up like your saying but I couldn't get the aquarium silicon to hold it steady so I gave up. But the slate/pvc/slate/pvc up/and up like syno condos !! too cool!!

[piggy4]

Hi Kev, i keep a lot of Loaches [Botias] as well as a few Syno's , i like to decorate most of my tanks with Beech wood , i also put some flowering cherry in one tank , i was always under the impression that a lot of our trees were toxic ? no probs with the 2 mentioned , in my mind the beauty of these tree's is you can cut to measure your tank , for a Syno tank you could litterally have a maze of wood [branches]when i first used Beech i used to strip the bark off with a stanly knife , but now i just rince with boiling water , for a few weeks perhaps a month the wood used to expell a wallpaper like paste , but this didnt seem to be of any detriment ! with a few rocks and pebbles you can have a really nice effect , and your fish will love it

[DJRansome]

Here are my rocks built on a bench before putting them in the tank. Note the terra cotta saucers under the rock piles, the cats like those. I have 11 very happy cats, 6 Lucinpinnis and 5 Multipunctatus in with mbuna.
Here is a diagram of the layout (left half of the tank):

[SOBERKITTY]

Ya'll are just so creative. I hope once I get back on my feet and have a little extra money to spend I'll be able to improve my tank a bit more. As it is right now. I have just a bit of money for changing out some substrate, a few plants, and getting some pipe for my guy's to hide in and such. Who knows maybe it'll be good enough and I won't want to much more. It's not like I have a lot of room in a 29 Gal. This will at least be a lot better then all the generic aquarium stuff my ex put in the tank that he left me w/. Although I am quite fond of the skull. It's my inner goth girl coming out.

[Birger]

I am trying to get better overall tank shots but it just isn't happening with my present camera...but I will keep trying
This is a crappy shot but still an interesting example of what having different levels gives me in my angelicus tank...you can see two of the angelicus on the level above with a family of Hemichromis in the middle and a male ancistrus raised by myself tucked in below...some of the little hemi's (freeswimming one day)were actually up swimming around the caudal of the 6" angelicus above

Birger

[andywoolloo]

Cool DJ! Can we see a shot of ur tank?

And Birger, yeah up is the way to go, I m so going to try more up. Those red fish are cool!

[syno-kev]

thanks for the pics ,
i have my tank set up now with the rock levels on the right side and bog wood cluster on the left trying to post a pic which i have compressed but when i clip on the load file the screen just goes white and nothing happens ?