# open aquarium - cichlids



## monk21 (Dec 5, 2012)

Hello,

I am thinking of buying a very nice open fish tank I have set my eye on, but it has no lid. I am thinking of putting african cichlids in there but I may change my mind. So I would like to ask you for advice. Should I do it or I will be losing my poor fish for no reason? Any tricks to make it safe? Any thoughts?

Thanks


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## TorontoBoy (Mar 14, 2013)

Put a lid on it. Not only will you prevent your fish from jumping one last time, but you will cut down on evaporation of water, saving you water and reducing the humidity in your house. If you have aircon your compressor will work less.

Anything will do. Lexan plastic, thin plywood, but nothing that will easily rot.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

Check out Greg's thread on the planted tanks, he made some neat screen tops using clear quarter inch mesh and aluminum track like that used for door and window screens, and it's very clean and neat looking. The mesh is almost totally invisible, the track is painted black so it's not noticeable either. Prevents fish jumping but allows the illusion of the open top. You can get precut kits to make them, or buy the pieces and do it all yourself

It is true that you will be doing a lot of topups with an open top, regardless of whether the fish jump or not, evaporation can get to be a big PITA. My tanks are open, and I've lost a few jumpers over the course of a year. Not cichlids, btw, mostly Danio species and a few shrimp also. The topups are the big pain. One day I may cover them, but I like the open top look better.. but I am going to make screen tops this summer for sure, because it's nuts to lose stock to suicide jumps.


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

having a cover sucks to, well one that slows evaporation, usually people use glass, this cuts down the light penetration a little but that doesn't matter for a cichlid tank. The biggest problem for me was trying to keep that glass cover clean. My tanks are almost all coverless, evaporation is a pain but I have a hose setup that makes it not so bad in my fish room at least


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