Hillstream Goby Setup

[Mudminnow]

Hello all,

I got the bug to set up a new aquarium again....
The idea is to create a lightly planted hillstream style tank for freshwater gobies. I used a 40 gallon (151 liter) breeder tank.

I started by cutting out and stacking some of those drainage cells one can buy at the hardware store:


Next, I filled those cells with some used Aquasoil I had sitting around from an old build:

Then, I went outside and found a bunch of rocks. Once the rocks were in place, I planted various bucephalandras amongst the rocks:

There's a ReefWave 45 gyre pump in this tank as well as an Oase Biomaster Thermo 350 (both sitting around from old builds as well). So... there's PLENTY of flow.

What do you'll think?

 

[Fishadict512]

Hello all,

I got the bug to set up a new aquarium again....
The idea is to create a lightly planted hillstream style tank for freshwater gobies. I used a 40 gallon (151 liter) breeder tank.

I started by cutting out and stacking some of those drainage cells one can buy at the hardware store:
View attachment 923910

Next, I filled those cells with some used Aquasoil I had sitting around from an old build:
View attachment 923911
Then, I went outside and found a bunch of rocks. Once the rocks were in place, I planted various bucephalandras amongst the rocks:
View attachment 923912
There's a ReefWave 45 gyre pump in this tank as well as an Oase Biomaster Thermo 350 (both sitting around from old builds as well). So... there's PLENTY of flow.

What do you'll think?

That's a really intresting idea to use drainage cells for aquasoil.

Nice tank! How are you going to be cycling it?

 

[Mudminnow]

Nice tank! How are you going to be cycling it?

I squeezed some old filter sponges from other tanks into this one. It made the water super muddy for a day or so, but that's all it took. The tank's cycled.

I'll keep feeding the tank little bits just to make sure the bacteria are fed up until I get the fish.

 

[Jkaliszew]

I loveee Goby’s it’s my dream to one day build a hill-stream river tank, what a great idea using those drainage cells.

 

[Mudminnow]

The gobies have been in the tank for a couple of months now. They're awesome. They way they skip around all over the rocks is fun to watch.



I also ended up getting 3 hillstream loaches that share the tank with the gobies.

 

[Jkaliszew]

lol, it was fun trying to spot the Goby in the first picture. Do you find that they climb the walls? I keep lidless tanks so I haven’t dared getting any Goby’s. Your tank is super inspiring, thank you for the close ups.

 

[Mudminnow]

Do you find that they climb the walls? I keep lidless tanks so I haven’t dared getting any Goby’s.

This tank's open top too. (I kind of wanted the humidity for all my houseplants.) The gobies stick to the glass sometimes, but I haven't seen them do anything that made me think they were trying to climb out. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen them stick to the glass more than about 2/3 the way up. There's a ton of current across the top of the tank, so maybe they'd rather not brave the torrent. I'm not sure. Only time will tell...but I'm hopeful.