J.B.'s 30g Multi Tank

[fish head]

nice job!  show us some more update pics when the algae makes its way to the new shells and fry start to appear, if you can.

[Grale]

Nice tank! I would personally move or put in a back that big rock on the left (in a front) because it blocks the view in that part of tank. I love this variety of shells. 

[J.B.]

Nice tank! I would personally move or put in a back that big rock on the left (in a front) because it blocks the view in that part of tank.

I've given some thought to that, but I'm not convinced yet that I need to move it.  I'm going to look at it a couple more days before I decide.  I don't love it, but I can't say I dislike it either. 

Now where are the pics of the fish   

Ask, and ye shall receive!  These dudes are difficult to get good pics of, because they never stop frickin' moving.  That said, these are the best I can get for tonight...

[girlvirgo]

AWESOME LOOKING TANK!
VERY COOL PICS
 

[liamthecoder]

Yeh ano right, We want to see pics of the fish  !!

anyways nice setup, av never been brave enought to put plants into my tanks, (Last Time i done it got landed with snails )

[J.B.]

Well, I decided I agreed with Grale.  I moved the big rock that was in the front and admittedly, it does look much better.  It really opens up the tank.  I noticed this evening that the sub-dominant male has taken notice of the single female who took up residence in a shell that was on the left side of the big rock.  Unfortunately, the dominant male has now taken ownership of the rest of the tank, to include the two females the sub-male had spawned with in the 20-gal prior to me moving them into this tank.  Ugh...like sands through the hourglass, these are the days of their lives.   



I got some pretty decent pics of the fish as well...

[fish head]

looks great!  nice excavation going on there!

[Jasper]

Sensational looking tank, what  a great journal too.
Right on the money JB.

Awesome job

[Grale]

Much, much better! Congrats again for great work. I will show your tank to my friends, if you don't mind .

[baitfish2000]

Great looking tank - kudos.

[J.B.]

Thank you for the nice words, folks...I really appreciate it.  Especially coming from fellow addicts...errr...I mean hobbyist.   

I've somewhat of a strange update tonight.

If you remember, after I set up this 30-gal, I moved a few shells from the 20-gal up to get things started.  Well, with one of those shells came the one female which neither of the males had spawned with; all four of the others have fry in the 20-gal.  I didn't bother to move her back down to the 20-gal, knowing in the next week or so I'd be moving the others up with her.  I think she enjoyed the tank to herself, without the badgering of the other females when she swam by their shells and the periodic jousting/dancing of the males vying for her attention. 

Well, when I did move the others up, the sub-dominant male immediately took notice of her and began excavating the left side of the tank where she had taken up residence in her shell.  He has really put his work in over there, completely undoing everything I had done and mounding up sand at an unbelievable rate...and height.  (I'll get some pics tomorrow evening)  Little did he know, all the while he was wooing this little female, the Alpha male was setting up shop with the four other females, three in a single, large shell-bed in the center of the tank, and one off in the corner with her own shells. 

I noticed this weekend, all four of those females have fry again, however the single female that the sub-male shacked-up with still does not.  Well, tonight I've noticed the sub-male is now hovering over the middle of the tank and periodically jousts with the Alpha male and pretty much has him resigned to the corner with the one female. 

So...has the sub-male become the dominant Alpha male now?  Is the one little female, who still hasn't spawned sterile and unable to spawn?  Did her lack of...ummm...performance make the sub-male crazy enough to go confront the Alpha male and express his interest in reclaiming his women?

I'm sitting her watching them right now as i type this and the dynamics of the behaviors within the colony are simply amazing!  The sub-male is most definitely running things now, he is flaring and flashing at the other male (who BTW is still larger, but not by much) and not allowing him to proceed out of that corner.  Have any of you ever experienced a role-reversal like this within a colony?

I'll post some pics tomorrow night to show you all the difference their excavating has made in the overall appearance of the tank.  I love these fish!

[fish head]

nice account JB!

You really have a nice show going on there!  I'm eager to see the pics.  You are giving good reason to having one species of fish in a tank.  I'm sure if they were distracted w/ other fish, you'd miss out on a lot of the subtleties of the colony.

Thanks for sharing.

[tranced]

awesome tank... awesome build... just all round awesome! thanks for the nice read and great pics!

[J.B.]

As promised, here are some new pics, showing the the excavating that has been done in this tank.  A bulldozer has absolutely nothing on these fish!

Here's the FTS.  I'm definitely liking their arrangement of the furniture, better than my original placement


Here's a close-up of the left-hand side.  Go back and look at the pics I posted when I removed the big rock that was prominent on this side...notice any difference?


Here is the middle shell bed area.  You can see the sub-male guarding the area from the larger male over on the right-hand side.  He's relentless, but the sub-male is having none of it!


Here's the right-hand side.  You can see a couple little fry swimming right above the depression, just below the knot on the driftwood.


Last, but not least, here's the "new king" assuming his position.  He's absolutely fearless and has let the big male know he means business.  They have been kicking up dust all evening and the larger male always retreats to the right-hand corner, leaving the smaller male to hover over the main shell-bed in the middle of the tank.


Hope you enjoy!

[Grale]

Great, great tank!