extreme_tooth_decay

Not cheap, and 6" long, but I like the clear look: LINK

I've always built my own. I like my stand to be much taller (and sturdier) than off-the-shelf stands. Not to mention being able to customize the size for sump, color, etc. Here is the build thread from the last one I built: LINK Approximate cost: Doors were about $50, the sheet of plywood I had cut into all the pieces was about $40, $10 paint, $10 screws, $10 door pulls, $15 2x4s, $5 putty.

If only all 3 of those things were true more often than they are...I can unfortunately only agree with the last assertion as a blanket statement. One example: I get emails almost every day telling me mantis shrimps can attack with the force of a 22 caliber bullet...among MANY other falsehoods that people who claim to know something are just repeating that they heard from someone else who didn't do his homework or have the experience...this hobby is ripe with misinformation from regurgitators.

If you want the dragonets, go for it. Don't be put off by the common advice that you need a billion pods in a billion year old tank. In general in this hobby, I find most happiness when I am aware of the common advice, but do not let myself be a slave to it. In the long run, how mature your tank is and how many pods you have is fairly irrelevant to their success. Much more important is whether or not you can get them eating prepared foods. If you can get them eating prepared foods, you will be successful, otherwise, probably not no matter how big or established your tank is. They starve on pod-only diets even in big, established aquariums. I was able to get mine eating PE mysis. After a short "break-in" period using targeted feeding with a turkey baster, he would swim out and actively compete for it with my big fishes. There were basically no pods in the tank I could ever see for him to eat. He was always fat using the PE mysis. Here is a pic I took of him. I fed once a day or less (for several years) I've been thinking about setting up a 2.5G or 5G tank with a pair of mandarins.

Yeah, me too (watch video for a really cool demo of how tough they are). Any idea what caused it to break?

On my first stand, I just screwed some hinges onto a piece of scrap plywood and used it as a door. Worked fine. On my next stand, I bought some nice oak doors off the shelf at home depot. Here is my (overbuilt) build thread, you can see how I framed for and attached the doors LINK

That converter is only good for 90W, you heater has too much draw. You can get more powerful inverters that plug into your car that are good for more wattage. (HERE one that is good for 180W from the cigarette plug and 400W direct from the battery...just the first one that came up in a web search, there are probably better ones.) A computer UPS should work, as long as it is powerful enough, but it probably won't last long. I have used them many times.

I use the barb type exclusively. Never had a problem. Don't have a light in my stand.

At least one of my African cichlids pretty much always has eggs in her mouth...some of the fry survive to adult size with absolutely no help from me, it is fun to watch.

That sucks really bad, Dave. FWIW (which is probably nothing or less than nothing), in all my years I have never QT-ed a fish, and I shop almost exclusively (intentionally) at places that do not QT. I have never had a multi-death. I find myself wondering if it is possible your losses were caused by something unrelated to the new fish (although that does seem like a reasonable hypothesis, we should keep in mind it is not "certain"). Random stuff can happen, especially with kids (and medication as well in my opinion but not experience) Hope you get back on your feet ASAP. tim

Some people would make all the same arguments about getting married.

You just learned that now?!

For baffles, acrylic work great. Build up a bit of a bead of silicone on both sides of the baffle. You can buy 1/4" acrylic at Lowe's and they will cut it for you. I had them cut me 4 baffles from a single 2'x4' sheet.

Last time I saw a gem at Roozen's it was $2000, but that was a few years ago. Have they gone up that much?

I would suspect heaters first, especially if using stealth heaters.

Beer cans are like roach guts. No matter how much you clean, you can never get it all off. I'm sure there was some beer and stink left on/in the can.

Where's that guy who put a beer can in his tank...that is pretty much the same...

In that case I'd go with a sequence Wahoo.

I think a sequence Marlin would give you about 1000 GPH at that head height. Double check me though.

ignore

Agree, the glass at Lowe's/Home Depot is way too thin. Mine all broke over time and I replaced them with 1/4" acrylic from Lowe's.

Nasty. Looks like a giant roach! I like how the article says the largest specimen was regurgitated by a sea bird. Heh. Big meal!

It could probably snag a roach if there was one floating in the tank.