Andrew Hebert’s Fishroom
A Visit to
Andrew Hebert’s
Fishroom
May, 2007
    I had the opportunity to visit Andrew’s fish room and have dinner with he and his family during a trip to Atlanta, GA. Andrew is an active member of the Atlanta Area Aquarium Association and has been keeping fish for many years.
    All of Andrew’s aquariums are kept in his basement fish room. One of the first impressions I had ws one of being in a big space. The room is not incredibly large, however, but the higher than normal ceiling, overhead lighting and open floor plan create a feeling of being in a large fish room. Andrew’s collection of fish tanks have been accumulated over time from opportunities to obtain racks and tanks from a few different sources. This eclectic collection of aquaria of different sizes and shapes works well in Andrew’s open space. The room is essentially ringed with tanks along all the walls, and there is also a rack of tanks in the center of the room. Here are some pictures of Andrew’s set up.
 
 
    The use of the aquarium angle iron stands for medium-sized tanks that are stacked only two high is an excellent value, and one of the least space consuming rack options. The wire rack is also an inexpensive choice for smaller tanks, and has the added advantages of being light, easy to move and fast to assemble. The large blue metal stand is the unit Andrew purchased used from a store. These heavy duty commercial shelving systems are not very cost effective when purchased new, but can be a great value if found used and priced accordingly. There are also some larger aquariums in the room that Andrew purchased as tank and stand combos. I think that this is the best way to get large tanks that are not going to be stacked two or three high. A lot of stores will have super deals on tank and stand combos.
    Two of the rack systems in the room have central filtration. The smaller of the two is the wire-shelf rack of smaller tanks. The filtration is provided by a trickle filter Andrew built from a ten-gallon tank and some glass pieces. The titanium heater in the reservoir, rather than a glass heater, is a good safeguard against breakage caused by the reservoir going dry. Return flow to each tank is controlled by an adjustable valve, which is necessary on a multi-tank system so that the water level can be balanced for each tank individually.
    The used rack system that Andrew bought also has central filtration. The tanks are drilled from the back and have bulkheads that overflow to the trickle filter in this system.
 
    Andrew keeps a variety of different fish, with a noted preference for rift lake cichlids. He has some beautiful specimens. Here are a few of the Aulonacara species in his collection.
 
 
 
    Andrew also has some very nice groups of fish from Lake Tanganyika. Here is a close up of the C. frontosa (the group in the large tank pictured earlier) and one fish from his Tropheus duboisi colony.
 
    One of the most impressive groups of fish in the room is a colony of Hemichromis lifalili. There are not many fish that are truly this red.
    Most of the filtration in this fish room is provided by air driven sponge filters. The air is supplied by a linear piston air pump. A different system of air distribution is employed, however. Instead of a network of pvc around the room, Andrew uses a large valve manifold and runs long lines of air line to the tanks from it.
 
    As usual, I have not managed to show everything worth seeing in this fish room. Andrew has many other fish besides these few cichlids. I have a reason to go back and take more pictures, and I hope to have the opportunity to do so. Thank you Andrew!
