This is how I created my fish room. I decided to finish the basement level of my raised ranch. I dont have digital pics of the step by step process, but I do have pics of the finished product.

First, I didnt want to recreate a fish store. I didnt want fish store style racks of tanks. I wanted a room that was comfortable with a couch, loveseat, small fridge, TV, tank in the wall, and a pool table/ping pong table. I wanted to be a comfortable place to hang out.

I began by creating a floor plan of the room. Then I framed in the walls around the placement of the couch and loveseat. I framed in a bathroom (in case my wife banished me to the basement when she realizes out how much time and money I spend on my fish). I also installed a wash basin sink to do water changes and cleanings in.

I put in all the GFI electrical outlets, sheetrocked and painted the walls, put in the finished mouldings around the doors and windows, and installed a drop ceiling and lights, and put up all the window treatments. Since I anticipated spilling water, my wife and I tiled the fish room floor and bathroom.

Next, since I couldnt find any african cichlid themed decorations, I opted to find nautical themed decor for the room on EBay and at nautical shops.
To date, the room has authentic lobster traps, whaling harpoons, port hole mirrors, ships steering wheels, fish nets, bouys, floats, pelicans, light houses, model ships, glass globes, ships oars, seafood restaurant signs, anchors, marina signs, ships lanters, crabs, lobsters, sharks jaws and a ton of other nautical decor. Here is the ever changing final product:

The entry way to the fish room in Suffield, Connecticut:

Well Done for sure. thumbs up
Pete

Nice Les!! I really like the canopy on the Front tank.

A very cool place to hang out indeed! I am planning a similar experience in my basement this winter I will be doing all the work. It is going to be a family room though and my wife has already said she doesn't want it full of tanks so I have begun to reduce the number of tanks in favor of larger tanks (For Frontosas mr.green ) Anyway, here is a couple of shots of what it looks like now.



At night...


There is another 125 sitting on the stand to the left now, I thought I had a picture but I don't. You get the idea though.


This winter, I will have to move all the tanks to finish everything. It will be a lot of work but well worth it.

Dawg

Well it's about time you showed off your "toy" room!!!

Funny I only see half a pic of the wifes tank. cheesy

real relaxing place to visit thats for sure.

Dawg,,love the "night" shot...thats a cool pic.

Beware of doing it in the winter,,,I've helped Les countless times when he first started a "basement" fishroom..this looks better here,,,that looks better there,,,,this would look better there,,,,should I put this there,,,,,ENDLESS. but none the less,,,,,NEVER A DULL MOMENT!!!

A recommendation though,,,,,,,,NO CARPET!!!!!! uhhuh

Actually, I plan carpet in the room but the carpet we are getting will come from Lowes and is said to be mold and mildew resistant and will not hold water. It is sort of like a cross between your indoor/outdoor carpet and a comercial grade pile type. We used it in the bedroom I built in the basement and it works great. By the way, the tanks are moving out until the construction is finished. I can't wait till it's done and the onlything I have to do is relax and enjoy!

Dawg

Great looking fishroom Les.

Don't you worry about a pool ball smashing one the tanks if it jumps the table?

actually, the pool table has lots of room. The pictures make it seem awfully close to the tanks, but in reality there is enough room to not even hit the tanks with the pool cues while making your shot.
Thanks everyone!!

Nice pics Les. I love the pic of the front on your 90 gal. Did you paint that on?

Dawgboy thats how my basement looks right now too.

I realize I am pretty late here, but wanted to say Bravo on the fish room Les!!!! That is awesome!!!

You definately have some nice looking tanks. I like the way you have everything laid out. I think its cool what you did thumbs up

I'll grab a 12 pack, and maybe some hot wings, I'll swing by and we'll play some pool. How about it?? mr.green

Thanks! Stop by!
We could even have teams- girls against the guys

Aqua and Debbie can play first against AP and Mongo, You and I will play Cowchick and Mrs Crazy.... Pseudo and Skraeling against Mr Crazy and Mark!! cheers

Watch out for the team of RD and African Fever...RD cheats winkk

Has anyone heard from Dawg lately?? undecided

Excellent work!

Thanks AA, You want in on the tourney too? You play the winner! You win and you keep your F0'S, if the challenger wins, they get frist pick from your wild caught stock mr.green

Wow! holymoly In that case, let me in too!!!

Me fish will never be wagered mr.green

cant blame me for tryin thumbs up

hey "BB", i was showing Mrs. Mongo your fish room...for future reference of course. when she looked right at me and said "when is the law suit from "Red Lobster" being served?" ROFLMAO
i have to admit though i like it lots...you gotta love the "WHARF" theme. i myself have a harpoon from a seafood place that closed down years ago. its about eight feet long and has the rope and floats still attached. its in the storage shed right now as Mrs. Mongo says that its the tackiest thing shes ever laid eyes on.
mongo

Awesome fish rooms you two, Les I love the decor! thumbs up

hey Les Once again great lookin fishroom . I'm jealous.
One question. Who's the artist that did the frontosa on the top of the tank.?
Thats real cool.
I thinking about doing some more glass art of cichlids and such. I want to sell these . Shipping is a fear for me though. I just can't seem to put much trust in delivery people.
Glass breaks. Unfortunately.
Pete

That frontosa graphic on the canopy of the bow tank is actually something I sketched based on the logo used my "mentor" Mark's home site- Cyphos.com

I drew it on some white adhesive contact paper that I got from the arts and craft store. I then cut it out (like a stencil) and applied the white adhesive cut out pieces to the black backround of the canopy. Same principle as a "rub-on" decal.

Ok, it looks good right? Well, look closely....I kinda screwed up, its only a 5 stripe frontosa that I created. The inhabitants of the tank- my Burundi's have 6 stripes. OOPS embarassed

Anywa, if you go on Google, click images, then type in the species of fish you are looking for, right click the image you like to save it, then put that image through whatever photo software and make it a reverse image (like the old black and white negatives....then draw that on contact paper, cut it out with an Xacto knife and boom....instant (removable) custom tank graphic.

My next one will be for my acrylic tank- either a calvus or clown loach. Maybe even a salousi or venustus for one of my other tanks.

Mongo, your wife thinks the harpoon is tacky... undecided
Well she must think my whole fish room decore is lam. Oh well. funne
I set out to make a cozy, nautical themed room to display tanks in and spend time in. I was dead set against recreating the aisles of the lfs. True, nautical is not fresh water, but since there arent many african lake items to decorate, I went with the ocean theme. (I thought a mud hole, flies, and bamboo canoe might become an eyesore!) funne

Thanks for the arts and crafts tip Les! I knew it looked familiar. Nice work.

Fishroom envy! thumbs up uhhuh thumbs up

nah..."BB", she didnt think it was lame. she just saw the look in my eye when i showed it to her. and she really doesnt like the harpoon, i think its because its from a previous girlfriend from before i even knew she existed.
mongo

I did'nt think you had the creative side. Nice work Les. thumbs up thumbs up
Pete

I used to work in graphic arts way back years ago.
I try mr.green

Les thats really great. thumbs up
Thats something I should done with my life. Instead I took the hard road.
I made to many mistakes when I was younger. Now I'm stuck where I am with the car dealership.
I do have plans. I'm just hoping the outcome is good.
Artwork is a sideline for me.
Now I'm fishkeeping. Wonder where I'm gonna turn next mr.green
Pete

Hmmmmmmmm Les I just noticed one of your tanks has a very interesting choice of decor....looks to me like one of your tanks has a branch of a certain plant that some people roll up and smoke in it.............

Tisk tisk Les....I had no idea.......