Treasure Chest
Aqua Home
Written by Wednesday, 10 October 2001 01:00
Fish Rooms are not very common in Europe, on the contrary, they are very rare. The average European hobbyist usually has one tank which is (almost always) the centerpiece in his living room. If you want to have many tanks then you have the problem of locating them in such a way which will be visually pleasing yet functioning. If you want to place some really big tanks, the problem is proportionally bigger. I live by the principle "one tank per room" which is strictly followed - unless the room is big enough. In this case I have the second rule "as many tanks as possible until I can't really move". Up to now the second rule has worked fine. I am now in the process of exploring how much (or little, as the case may be) space a person actually needs to move.
This is how the tanks are placed in the living room and my office. As you can see the tanks (1,2 and 3) are located according to rule Nr.1 (one tank per room). My new tank will probably be located in front of the mirror. The room is air conditioned (4) during the summer months to save the fish from the extremely high temperatures (42oC or more). The top diagram shows the living room and my office (where this article is written). The photo (shot with a fish eye) shows the living room (shot from the door of my office). You can see the bar in front of the mirror - my next target. See next page for more.
The ideal is to bring out the colorful interior of the tank in the living room. In order to achieve that you must give your tank the key position where it can be viewed while your visitors (or you) feel very comfortable. The furniture of the living room should have a color not destructing the vision and "lead" it to the tank. The tank furniture (especially for very large tanks) should be as neutral as possible, it is the interior which is important. Tanks can be located anywhere. Although the usual position is against a wall (or even in the wall) they can be used as "separators" in which case the inside of the tank should be visible from both sides. This approach "hides" the size of even the bigger tanks as they seem to occupy far less space than they actually do! Of course, your tanks are primarily for your own joy. So, in the end, they can be placed anywhere as long as you can enjoy them. The small tank in my office is my favourite. The male Haplochromis nyererei keeps me company till late at night (while digging and throwing small stones on the front glass - to make sure that even if I don't see it, I can still hear it).
The top diagram shows the living room and my office (where this article is written) from another angle. The creator of it placed me (!!) in the dining room close to the big tank. However, I spend most of my time in the office (bottom photo). Among books, laser printers and scanners you can see my small 100 liter tank, my late hour companion.
Aknowledgements: The diagram was prepared by This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , to whom special thanks are due.
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