Aquarium
First of all, it can be removed if you are not interested or if you are worried about the maintenance. Removing it would add about 4 sqm to the living room.
However, the aquarium requires very little maintenance and it is accessible from the kitchen storeroom :
-
clean the glass about once a month,
-
check the food dispensers,
-
replace the filtering material with a new one from time to time.
The water level is controlled automatically, but it is good to change part of the water once a year.
We are often away, globetrotting, often abroad, but the aquarium behaves very well on its own.
It is 3 meters long, 0.7 meters deep and 0.7 meters wide. It has therefore a capacity of about 1,500 litres : the wider an aquarium is, the easier it is to maintain.
It is fully integrated in a structure which is identical to the fireplace: ie: same stone, and same tubular back ground.
The fish are cichlids from Lake Malawi, which is a very special ecosystem. Cichlid fish are lively, robust, rich in color, and reproduce easily.
And still much more on