Johny

Bit of background, In my grow out tank I have 5 Juvie Geophagus tapajos approx 6-8cm in length, along with a couple other juvenile sized fish.
Been in there for about 3 weeks now all feeding well and no issues until this morning when I find one to have suddenly died. 

Checked all my water parameters and everything checked out good. Always keep the water extremely clean and perform a small 15-20 percent water change every 2-3 days. They've been eating blood worms and brine shimp and the occasional pellets.

Never kept Geos so dont quite know from experience so asking here but has anyone had something similar happen? Is there something I should look out for? Do they get aggressive towards each other or other fish when the lights are off?

Just dont want them dying on me or potentially worse I have another prized fish in that tank so dont want any aggression towards that.
Any experience or tips will be great!

Well for those who were around back then and may remember I kept quite the collection of tank busters for a pre-adolescent teenage kid haha some of them including Aros, bichirs, rtc, clown knives etc etc.

Unfortunately all good things came to an end after I lost some of my prized fish and so I decided to sell what was remaining and move on from the hobby for a little while.

I didn't think it would take so long but life had kept me at bay to get back into it sooner but finally after 8 or so years I bit the bullet and purchased a new tank.
A brand new 6x2x2 with a pine stand came up for sale and I managed to score it for $600. Freshly built by Morley Aquariums it hasn't even be filled yet! Has the back painted black and black silicone around all the edges. Couldn’t ask for more. 

The plan was always to have it in my room so the lack of cabinet / hood does not worry me.

I’ll start with a quick photo of the stand after I took delivery.

I was not too happy with the overall strengthening of the stand. There was excessive movement when pushed from each end.
Went past the local Bunnings and purchased 5 metres of pine timber and cut it down to size and braced the entire bottom of the stand.

As shown I went both horizontally and vertically between each main leg. Finished it off with a thin piece of ply board over the top where the tank will eventually sit on with foam as well.

Here is the end product.

Made a huge difference. Now there is no longer any movement either way and I am finally feeling confident with it.

Tonight I will sand it down and apply the first coat of varnish to it.

Will keep this post updated as I go along.

Hi Guys,

Looking for a nice piece of driftwood for a newly purchased tank.

6' tank so the bigger the piece the better.

Will pay good money for the right piece.

Pm me with what you got.

Thanks all.