I Built The PERFECT Tank For Cichlids, Yellow Lab Aquascape

[@KGTropicals]

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[@SubliminallyMischievous]

Congrats to your son. I did my time in the Army and I got a lot from it. I also love your tank setup. And thank you for all the videos. I always think, what works KGTropicals do?

[@a526003b]

I love this look too. I would suggest universal rocks background and a few river rocks on sand for anyone attempting this look.

[@thefriendlyneighborhoodredneck]

Yes and concrete vault?

[@jeremymoore450]

@@thefriendlyneighborhoodredneck Most of the fish are farm bred and raised in big tanks like concrete and glass. they are not wild caught.

[@jer6162]

Do you wish you would have used an egg crate or more sand?? Like to try this method at sometime

[@dreamwench1981]

Just beautiful! The labs really seem to be using the entire span of the aquarium, where before, they seemed more concentrated near the rocks in the middle. They look so happy! You guys are great at what you do.

[@dckyle]

The fish swimming in and out of the rocks - stunning. Job very well done, and thanks for sharing and for all you do for the hobby!

[@tjautocross]

I can’t believe this tank started two years ago. Time flies. It looks amazing after the rescape. Thanks for sharing, John!!

[@CJBlack265]

Wow!! I didn't know yellow labs had dark edges on their find- the rock scape really shows the fish off - thank John 💕👍

[@liliromero4910]

It looks so good! And I agree that watching the fish go in and out of the rocks is the best.

[@Thunder.Aquatics]

The outcome was just perfect! This has turned into my favorite tank of yours! 👏🏼👏🏼

[@carmenmlopez2276]

You did an excellent job, John. I live in Chicago. After watching this video, I went to the Shedd Aquarium. I saw the tank you were referring to. You created the same, beautiful aquascape...just smaller. Regardless, it is astonishing!

[@dglesterhardunkichud4017]

I'm also from Chicago and started my mbuna tank after seeing one at the Shedd. I'm going to start my 75g up again soon. Labs/demasoni

[@CricketsMa]

Oh my, that is drop dead gorgeous! I love scaping with rocks, and you have just knocked it out of the park. I’ll never be able to duplicate your effort, but you have given my dreams wings.😍

[@GavinStatikGoddard]

God I love your labs, I've said it before and I'll say it again, you're the reason I have my own yellow lab colony. Your tank looks incredible

[@Connie4422]

Love it!! And you can tell that the fish love it too. Nice job!!

[@TheHairos]

That’s how a mbuna tank should look! Very nice 👌🏻

[@chrissyosborne3879]

I absolutely love how this turned out!! Beautiful!

[@NyssaMysteria]

Seeing them going in and out of the rocks makes it totally worth it, amazing work!

[@scrubjay93]

I love this style of tank. The fish are much more lively and confident because at any sign of danger they can disappear into the cover of the rocks.

[@GrnBltSniper]

nice quality and informational video while including an ad that we aren't really thinking about. I dig it. Quality of your videos have really improved over the years. happy to see you flourishing.

[@basheerparvez]

That looks great. This idea can also be applied to smaller tanks with smaller river rocks. Might attempt this in my 75 gallon tank

[@jasonkome9734]

Can't believe that the bottom glass supports all the weight 😳

[@juliaheinritz3264]

Nice vision and great job! It really turned out great. Hi kitty, and hi Lisa

[@marka9556]

Finally someone who gets it, build a Lake Malawi ie: an all rock environment. Mbuna means rock fish so give them rocks, a natural habitat. I did this long ago, currently working on another mbuna tank. But I am cheating, I am building a PVC support structure which will drastically reduce the number of rocks required and artificially create caves under the rocks. I am calling Mbuna Condo's, opening up in the spring.

[@lexkygirl1980]

That tank is beautiful! You did a fantastic job! Looking forward to seeing what happens next. 👍

[@lewashcliffe]

I really enjoyed watching this video, John. It certainly makes for a beautiful aquarium worth sitting and watching and very peaceful. Thanks, and congratulations!

[@rootsnwhiskers8351]

MY NEW FAVORITE TANK IN THE FISH HOUSE ❤ You did so good 🥰

[@cattheperson]

I keep 2 nano aquariums (20 gallons for some CPDs and 7 gallons for shrimp). This video has me wanting a giant 200 gallon cichlid aquarium. This scape is gorgeous and I can't wait to be able to build my own project like this someday, after some good research and prep of course! Love your videos, you guys have got me into this hobby and I'm so glad you did!

[@thebipolarfishkeeper]

John, the tank looks amazing! I have something similar but on a smaller scale in 1 of my mbuna tanks and I love watching them swim in and out of all the rocks, staking claim to areas, digging up sand, it's a fun thing to watch!

[@shanes-aquatic]

Absolutely stunning build! Although I think I pulled a muscle in my lower back just watching you place all those boulders! Yeikes! This makes me want to put up another African Cichlid tank. I just don't have the space for it right now.

[@Psalm13923]

Love it. I did my 55 this same way. Have 2-3 inches of gravel and crushed coral on the bottom and then rocks I picked up from the lake I live on. Super simple but beautiful. It has 15 swordtails and corydoras. They love it.

[@evertbrand]

I had the privilege of snorkling in Lake Malawi and I must admit, you nailed it!

[@evilone543]

Ever since you put this up I’ve been wanting to do my version of it. Last weekend I went to the beach and gathered several buckets of rock and filled my 75g. It looks really sweet and my lfs is supposed to have the yellow labs for me by late this afternoon.

[@robknight5709]

Looks absolutely perfect for the yellow labs. They must love it.

[@bryanjennings7410]

Tank looks great John. Your hard work and vision paid off.

[@msbranen6261]

What a workout! Totally paid off seeing all the happy fish! 1 thing I would add is a big recliner right in front of the tank! Enjoy brother!

[@evansmoak7182]

My favorite part of fish keeping is setting up the most realistic environment. Your tank looks great.

[@audrisampson]

That is going to look so good once the algea gets going and such. One of my favorite things to see on youtube are actual videos of the areas these fish come from. They inspire all my tanks.

[@MagicMike808]

Wow, this tank looks absolutely gorgeous!. I’m obsessed with the rock work that you did. Very impressive!. Keep up the good work 👍🏼

[@scottgordin9709]

It looks amazing, I will admit that I myself was cringing while all those boulders were being stacked in the tank, but it did turn out awesome looking. Now I’m contemplating doing the same for my Mbuna Lab tank👍👍👍

[@fishypetkeeping]

5:59 that's the cutest Catfish I have ever seen!! This is probably my favourite tank that you scaped! It looks like a piece of nature and the Yellow Labs seem to love it too 🤩🥰

[@aprilswan9259]

They really do look so happy😍 Love it!

[@trevorbaker7168]

That tank absolutely mesmerized me when I was at Shedd too, funny enough I was there around when you put this video up too. Super cool tank.

[@michaelmckeehan9248]

I appreciate your effort give your fish an aquascape that matches their instinctual want. I did very much the same in a 125 gallon with chunks of large rounded igneous rocks I found on the shores of Lake Erie. No problems with cracking as long as the rocks rested on the substrate.

[@timhiuser4198]

I agree that the cutest thing is seeing a face sticking out from the rocks. My Striped Raphael catfish and Tire-track eel do that all the time.

[@johnd5805]

Wow that's a lot of rocks and weight. And here I am looking at my empty 20 long getting ideas. Yea I'm content with that (maybe). Appreciate your son and his service.

[@BigShrimpin416]

Awesome looking tank. If you’re worried about rocks falling you could always super glue them in random areas

[@jeraldrice3583]

Congratulations on your son's graduation! Thank him for his dedication and service, the tank looks amazing......hopefully when I get my store up and running , my scapes will look this wonderful

[@adkgaladkgal1799]

I agree you did make your lab tank perfect. It is gorgeous, Thank You

[@wendymcdowell2341]

Thanks for sharing, John, your efforts certainly paid off, it’s stunning!

[@cobyabbygayle]

Thank you so much! Gave me a great idea as well. I love your channel. I had a large tank once upon a time. I married my current wife 8 years ago and moved, gave the tank away. About 3 months ago my wife and i decided to purchase a 40 gallon tall tank. It has community fish, angels, patties and red noses and a few others. Tank is clear as a bell now. I use a Fluval 207 external and love the results. I want to personally want to thank you and Lisa for your channel. I do a 10 gallon water change every Sunday and seems to work well for the type of fish I have. I'm telling you this because your channel has made fish keeping fun for me and the information you provide is fun and informative. Again, thank you and best wishes for a profitable New Year! PS, my wife want to buy another Beta. We have a 10 gallon tank for Charlie, He's a dark blue beta. Dan

[@lanejohnson9104]

Looks awesome! I have questions! What about the pressure points on the sides where rocks are resting against the glass? Thoughts on ABS plastic sheets? I have them in the bottoms of my 150 and 120. Gives me piece of mind! Could definitely silicone them on the back and part of the sides!

[@TheDiNicPerson]

Really shows how simplistic scapes are super cool. I really dig this! Very exited to see it mature, I bet it looks even better when there is algae all over it!

[@eues803]

I must agree with you, your tank now is perfectly build up for your fish, I can see that they are really very comfortable, swimming around very slowly with no stress between them, great job 👍👍👍. Would like to see a new video when the tank get's mature 😉

[@anthonybrown8158]

Have to say. The tank looks amazing now. I agree the workout was worthy of the out come. ❤

[@ScottyAquatty]

That’s great looking. I like your CatFish you have in it lol. Hi Lisa and good luck with all the Rocks in there.

[@chrisbraiske3162]

That Mbuna tank at the Shed is also my favorite. I find my self standing there for very long periods of time.

[@frankiefingerz8047]

Great aquascape!!! & congrats to ur son i graduated myself from there as well back in 97!!!! Hoo-rah!!!!!!!!

[@reginaphalanges7331]

It turned out perfectly!! I love it, too!💕 Your cichlids actually look happier ( if that's even possible) than their original scape!😁

[@alexwilson1122]

I just recently set up a 125g Central American tank and it's the first time that I've had a scape turn out essentially exactly as I envisioned it. It's a good feeling. I'm glad you're as happy with your setup.

[@drkilljoyz9524]

WOW! That Penns tank went from nice to amazing! Great work!

[@Chris-dh8mg]

Absolutely love it so natural. I’ve been trying to figure out a hard scape for a severum tank

[@daniellecastaneda2439]

Beautiful tank! All the cute yellow tic tacs look happy 🥰

[@pyleaquatics]

Looks great! Are you worried about a fish digging the sand out from under any of the rocks on the bottom and cause a rock slide?

[@robertstarner8083]

ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT JOHN!!!! You are right in stating it looks like a natural scape!! So often we see a tank full of fish with no natural structure mimicking their natural environment. I have a 200 gal full of Texas Holey Rock. This is stabilized with a 2ton substructure for support. I can tell you unequivocally that I fully support your effort!!! Why have a tank full of fish with no natural environment!!!!………BUT……and this a BIG BUT!!!! Good luck cleaning the nooks and crannies of debris and detritus WITHOUT removing the entire scape every so often!!!!!!!!!!

[@gianbarmanable]

Wonderful tank jhon...👍..congratulation .👏.nice job.and i few happy when the people get the goals down...its a good felling.👏👏👏👏regards from spain.👍

[@BardstaleGoldens]

It looks fabulous. Simple but stunning.

[@vampgaia]

The tank looks great!

[@georgeevans6547]

One of the nicest mbuna tanks I've ever seen. Awesome 👍

[@lexxwhite747]

What a spectacular payoff for the hard work. Well done mate!

[@markday5797]

Tank looks great John, fish swimming around the rocks. 😄

[@devil-vee9880]

Looks absolutely gorgeous ❤ really brings out the colour of the fish too! Great job John.

[@andrewmurrell4962]

I love that hardcase. Looks awesome with the yellow labs.

[@maureenmorley9555]

Even with the murky water I looked cool! The entire scape is beautiful! I am so glad you did this I looks fantastic! Look forward to your new aquarium.

[@Cbtrainnut]

Turned out really nice. I absolutely love yellow labs. When I had cichlids back in the day I had yellow labs and the Purple Acii with yellow fins. They were just perfect with the yellow labs and their blue fins. I really enjoy your channel! Keep up the great videos. Thanks!

[@SMDoktorPepper]

The St Louis Zoo used to have an aquarium on its grounds..everyone went nuts for their MASSIVE reef tank, but the African cichlid tank was my favorite....could never reproduce it with the tech of the 80s and 90s, but man it was cool.

[@hermanbryant3082]

Great video. Would love to see an update of this tank now that it has some age on it. Unless there’s already one that I haven’t found yet.

[@pK-wy7rb]

Awesome tank! I get it on moving the big rocks. I did a yellow lab and demasoni tank. Loved it.

[@MacPNW]

Great tank! I just visited Shedd aquarium last week while travel had me stuck in Chicago. It inspired me to finally set up an African Cichlid tank!

[@zsaquatics]

Hi John, I have to say I was really happy to see this new aquascape. I've really liked seeing your Yellow Lab tank since you got it (and hope to have a similar one one day), but was a bit disappointed with the initial scape of just a small pile of rocks. I understand your reasoning that a large amount of hardscape significantly reduces water volume, but I think for certain fish including these the increased surface area and the nooks and crannies your new setup provides are equally important, specially for eliciting natural behavior. It seems the Yellow Labs are already utilizing the full height of the tank when previously they mostly used to stay near the bottom. Just love this new aquascape! Happy new year to you and Lisa!

[@paulhitchen4090]

Visiting US and Chicago for the first time. Went to the Shedd Aquarium today and the whole Cichlid section is no longer accessible to the public!!! Was so looking forward to seeing that tank in real life.

[@jaymewhitcomb9521]

I love the simplicity of this tank! You did an awesome job. Great video as always 😄

[@eddiesfishden3577]

John I'm happy to see you did push it down closer to the window

[@NotSure876]

You kinda nailed the way I go about scaping my African tanks, I watch scuba vids and then try to recreate what I see. Looks really good BTW, great job!

[@PriceTagAquariums]

Love this set up. Very well done! Looking forward to seeing this tank in the future. Thanks for the upload.

[@christophergarza210]

That’s a nice tank set up! I’m a big rock lover as well. Although, I still would toss & turn every night waiting to hear glasses breaking due to a collapse of the rocks. Besides that this tank is definitely a winner. Your yellow labs will be happy! 😎💪🏾🐟🇺🇸

[@arlinelamprecht269]

WOW ! Want to come there and just sit and watch them. i'm also in love now. GOOD JOB!

[@jw8564]

😂 you was love struck sir !! At least you was up front with the Mrs...Nice video and trust me I know the feeling seeing these videos made me know I'm doing this wrong..with my cichlid tank

[@DocNo27]

Looks awesome! I did a 70 with shale like slabs about 2/3 the way up and like your fish, they loved all the nooks and crannies.

[@juanmartinezmartinez208]

Incredible, I'm setting up my 300-liter aquarium for mbunas and I've seen this video like 100 times already hahaha, super nice. a greeting from Spain.

[@francisrodriguez3648]

This was definitely a lot of work, even the back of your head got a bit dirty. The fish seemed to really love it and that makes all the work put into it worth it!

[@Organic_Body_Transformer]

I would love to see a second group of blue fish in there with the labs. Either a group of demasoni or a group of maingano.

[@cherylmartin9994]

It looks incredible! Great job John. The fish look so happy ☺️

[@Dave-Rough-Diamond-Dunn]

Here's a tip that's too late! I bought a heap of various sized terracotta plant pots, made doors in them and enlarged the drainage hole just by 'biting' off chunks with a pair of pliers, and arranged them all across the back of the tank. Then it was simply a matter of resting the rocks on top of them, and in front of them until you couldn't see any pots. You get so many more caves that way, not only in the pots, but between them too, it's very stable, and you aren't taking up so much water volume with solid rock! Maybe next time huh? 😁👍

[@RainbowRiderDC]

Great video thank you. Next video please could you include a minute or two about the filtration and maintenance. Thank you.

[@matthewblankenship7968]

I absolutely love the natural look of a little algae in a tank ..you know what I’m saying ..great tank and love the look of the rocks ..✌🏻all it’s missing is a little algae ..

[@johnbarnes4603]

having that many heavy rocks scares me. How much weight can the bottom glass pane hold?

[@MrLurchsThings]

Re: casters on the cabinet - couldn’t agree more. I’m about to set up a new tank. It’s not anywhere near as huge as this - it’s a 45cm cube, 80L. But it’s still got some serious weight. But it’s going into the lounge room, the opposite end of the house of any “wet” area. But it’s a straight shoot, flat run to the laundry door - so I thought casters would be a good idea. Good to know I wasn’t on the completely wrong page on this 😂

[@lilredneck921]

Beautiful tank man. Love this idea. Looks so natural!!

[@erinrobertson823]

Stunning!!! I've always loved your yellow lab tank but this is next level!!

[@printer1105]

My favorite fish in a very well done setup. Nice job .

[@mercidds]

That’s a beautiful setup. Amazing 👍

[@ironlion45]

Those are the happiest yellow labs I've seen, aside from an actual labrador!

[@JoshV74656]

Fantastic job, that was a ton of work...and rocks.