# Archer fish shooting gallery build



## zwanged (Nov 4, 2012)

I am building a shooting gallery for my 93 gallon cube, a brackish tank with an archerfish. 

I built the frame out of 3/4 pine and used 3mm acrylic for the sides and top (i just drilled holes in it and screwed it directly onto the wooden frame. It is actually quite light (despite being awkwardly bulky to move myself)

Here's what I have so far...

After starting to attach the acrylic...



Finished initial build -- perched on top of the rimless tank:




Tonight I will add the trim boards that will prevent the canopy from slipping off.

I carved two grooves in the front for sliding acrylic doors. I did this with a box cutter and it was a giant pain in the ***... Definitely didn't have the right tool for this but it was a one time thing so whatever 

Anyway, I need to tweak the sliding doors bit (sand down the acrylic slightly) and add handles, but seems to work OK. 

Finally, I need to find a way to put putting branches/etc or ropes in the canopy. I'm thinking about just attaching screw eyes to the top of the frame and using fishing line to hang the branches. 

Or -- better yet -- maybe just find a brackish plant that I can just allow to grow out of the tank and into the canopy??? Can anyone recommend any large brackish plants that would work well for that? The tank is 24" high and canopy is about another 24" high so would need to be a pretty darn tall plant... My SG is about 1.008.

I was thinking about doing red mangroves but am worried about them damaging my tank long-term...

Thanks,
-Zeke


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## Homer8 (Jul 29, 2014)

I wish i had a tank that big. One day I will. What kinds of insects do you plan on feeding your archers?


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## zwanged (Nov 4, 2012)

Whatever I can find...so far I've just tried ants and crickets.

Zeke



Homer8 said:


> I wish i had a tank that big. One
> day I will. What kinds of insects do you plan on feeding your archers?


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

NICE BUILD!
Although my sides were wood(it was thin luan) you could drill a hole in the acrylic and screw drit wood to sides also besides the eye screws(good idea).I might even be inclined to use a little glue or silicone if you attach to the acrylic.That's a sweet set up.To bad the water is brackish or you could add a couple anoles or some climbing lizard!I didn't mention about my old ripararium,but it was the best (cleanest) sloution to keeping a reptile I could have imagined(all waste went into water and was dealt with by filter).


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## zwanged (Nov 4, 2012)

Found a nice alternative to separately mounting branches in the tank. I had a huge piece of driftwood (47" tall and nearly 30" wide) I never thought I could use lying around...My aunt found it a long time ago and it was sitting in my grandpa's house for a long time. I had picked it up earlier this year but had no idea how I was going to use it.

Turns out it fits perfectly into this setup!

I'm thinking that I can attach some plants (maybe java fern, water sprite, any other suggestions???) near the waterline and grow them partially submersed into the canopy. 

Here are some pics. LOT of tannins!! Don't think the fish seem to mind...Also, datnoid seems to be showing stronger/more stable coloration now. Here are some pics...

Huge driftwood:



Front view:



Side view: 


datnoid










-Zeke


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

Nice! Love the new wood in there. I have some ludwigia hybrid growing out the top of my pond outside and I think they are beautiful. Something you may like to attempt. Just float em and they eventually start to pop out the top.


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## zwanged (Nov 4, 2012)

Do you think it can tolerate moderate brackish? (SG=1.007-1.008ish)



majerah1 said:


> Nice! Love the new wood in there. I have some ludwigia hybrid growing out the top of my pond outside and I think they are beautiful. Something you may like to attempt. Just float em and they eventually start to pop out the top.


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Love the look of the Datnoid!
a fish I never had that I find very appealing.
I can't say what plants will grow in brackish but any cheap one is worth trying.
Have you had any condensation issues in the upper area?I sure don't see any in the pics.


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## zwanged (Nov 4, 2012)

Sometimes fogs up. Hasn't been a big issue so far I think. I'm sure the emersed plants will do well with high humidity.

Main annoyance is the acrylic sliding doors bend a little...leaving a gap...thinking about switching out to glass...

Zeke


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

I really couldnt say since I no longer have a brackish setup. You could surely try it.


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## woody019 (Oct 4, 2012)

Nice build!!! I love how the drift wood comes out of the water!

You are going to end up wanting to put a couple fans blowing into the canopy across the surface of the water, unless you have a chiller. If not your going to have issues with water temperature when lights are on. You would be surprised how much heat gets trapped in a canopy. 

When you figure out how you want to get beams across the canopy to mount a hang fixture, Im a fan of the wire hang kits from RapidLED and personally have two of them hanging my lights. There are easily adjustable up and down, width wise of the fixture to make the light perfectly level with the water surface. Also if you ever have to/want to take the light out of the canopy because it's just a male/female threaded adaptor (no struggle with having to deal with screws).


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## zwanged (Nov 4, 2012)

Hi,

I have two Finnex lighting fixtures on that tank. One is sitting on the back of the tank, directly above the tank (inside the canopy), and the other is sitting on top of the canopy, in the back. I guess mounting both of them inside the top of the canopy would be ideal...Thanks for the link to the mounting hooks, woody019!

Heat hasn't been too much of an issue so far, but I'll keep an eye on the temp and add some computer fans to the canopy if necessary.

-Zeke


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## zwanged (Nov 4, 2012)

Temp hasn't been a problem but the condensation has. This weekend, I added some cabinet fans to the canopy. Condensation problem totally gone! Still need to remount the lighting, I'll get to that soon...





-Zeke


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Looking good!
When I had the old ripararium and my 135 was 1/2 water land I used a coffee can(they were metal{I feel old}) with an incadescent light and a computer fan.Every morning the whole tank was fog and 10 minutes after light and fan turned on clear as could be.It really seemed natural and my "ivy" went from being a 6" plant to going from end to end in my 6' 135g 6 times!I used some silly almost natural looking stuff to help plants climb on like "wicker chain"(maybe it was bamboo), but it was really natural and plants followed it where ever it was!Unfortunately I don't think I have a pic of the 135 set up like this(my still says it was her favorite beside full reef!).She didn't like the day the green "tree "snake(not an emerald boa,much smaller) got loose and was in one of our larger house plants!


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## zwanged (Nov 4, 2012)

I added some red mangrove propagules to the 93gal brackish tank. Initially I just rubber-banded them to the driftwood but it didn't hold very well so I decided to fix that this weekend.

So when I finally got time, I took apart my canopy and ran two wires (used clothesline wire) across the top of the tank (secured by screweyes), then zip-tied the mangrove propagules to it. I also did a similar thing for my 180 gallon FW sump except just zip-tied the propagules to the center brace. 

I have 8 mangrove propagules on m 93gal cube and about 7 on my 180gal sump. 

Not sure if the mangrove propagules are going to do well in fresh water. Only time will tell. I rigged a spare 36" Finnex LED fixture I had lying around to light my sump in the 180. It is on my standard light timer which runs 12 hours /day.

Initially I had all 15 mangrove propagules in the 93g. it definitely did seem to have an impact on nitrate reduction...my nitrates were only 5PPM in that tank after a week...usually they would be about 20ppm!

Here are some pics:

the sump for my 180gal tank (75 gal tank w/ red mangroves):



93gal tank w/ red mangroves:




Has anyone had any experience with mangroves? I read you need to keep an eye on the roots because they eventually can crack a tank if they get into the tank seals?

Anyway I figure they are such slow growers that I am not really concerned at the moment. Thoughts? Any tips are greatly appreciated.

-Zeke


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## zwanged (Nov 4, 2012)

Some updates:

I tried introducing some more aquatic plants to the tank by acclimating them in a separate tank to brackish water. Current SG is 1.005. Time will tell whether they survive or not...

I moved the datnoid to the 180gal (drip-acclimated him to fresh water), and added 3 columbian sharks. I am aware they will likely outgrow the tank...Initially i had gotten just one columbian but he seemed to be acting very neurotic when kept singly, so I got 2 more. I may rehome them to a larger tank later when they get bigger if it seems necessary. I also added 4 orange chromides. 

Here are some updated pics:














-Zeke


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

Looking fantastic!


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## zwanged (Nov 4, 2012)

Thanks! I'm waiting for these mangroves to grow...gonna take a long time  They seem to be veryyyyy slow growers. I have 2 leaves on a few of the plants now....

-Zeke


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## zwanged (Nov 4, 2012)

Also, here's a quick video of the tank.

VID_20141109_130611949_zpsizklfj3o.mp4 Video by zwanged | Photobucket


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Everything in the video looks great,including the plants!
Those columbian sharks can get huge!


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## zwanged (Nov 4, 2012)

Thanks! Yeah...so I've heard about them. Maybe I will eventually set up a SW tank for them when they get bigger....are they reef safe?

-Zeke




coralbandit said:


> Everything in the video looks great,including the plants!
> Those columbian sharks can get huge!


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

zwanged said:


> Thanks! Yeah...so I've heard about them. Maybe I will eventually set up a SW tank for them when they get bigger....are they reef safe?
> 
> -Zeke


They may be reef safe as in they will not eat corals,but they get so big that they probly don't make a good addition to reef,But could use the largest tank available.
Most of what i just found said 10-20 inches in size and 10+ year life span.
These guys are on the top 10 list of fish that should not be sold for aquariums due to their size and need for salt after being juvis.
They do enjoy company of their own though so having three makes senes.
definately keep us up on hoe fast they grow.


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## zwanged (Nov 4, 2012)

Will do. I am curious about their growth rate as well. Right now they're about 3-4 inch.

-Zeke



coralbandit said:


> They may be reef safe as in they will not eat corals,but they get so big that they probly don't make a good addition to reef,But could use the largest tank available.
> Most of what i just found said 10-20 inches in size and 10+ year life span.
> These guys are on the top 10 list of fish that should not be sold for aquariums due to their size and need for salt after being juvis.
> They do enjoy company of their own though so having three makes senes.
> definately keep us up on hoe fast they grow.


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