Paint it the same color as the wall it is against.

Turn off your filtration system before you paint.

Thanks. The tank houses two goldfish and some plants.

The room needs some fixing up. :)

It's a 8' tall midcentury living room with pale yellow walls, oak floors, red oriental style rug, bookcases, modern style light yellow couch and chair, some oddball vintage tables, and a tiny art deco mahogany piano. It's mostly open to a dining room with formal 50s Duncan Phyfeish mahogany stuff. Room trim and bookcases are natural cherry (orange).

I'm still shuffling things around, except for this one item that I can't very well shuffle.

Lovely examples, MDLN, but I don't think I can get those out of what I've got. :) I've considered just restarting with a custom cabinet and all but it's a pretty big job when you've already got creatures you want to keep alive. The last time I moved the tank I had a 4 foot livestock trough in my kitchen for a bit too long.

I guess I could set up the stock tank again...

Can you just build a nice base cabinet shell to fit around the bottom?

I really like the idea of painting the base the same color as the walls to blend it in better. Would you consider trying it and see how it looks?

Are those front access panels, and do they need to be accessed?

Thanks all. I do need to get into the front panels (there are 3 doors) but not very often. Maybe I'll paint it and put the couch in front of it. That can't be bad feng shui can it? Nobody minds 1000 lbs of water behind their head in earthquake country, right? :)

But the base cabinet shell, that would be good too, I think.

Those are some lucky goldfish. If it was me, I'd probably remove the fish to a bowl the size of a basketball and dump the tank. Since you seem to have more of an attachment to it than I would, maybe do analglypta (sp?) paper over the panelled part and then paint it all out the same colour. I like the idea of doing it the same as the wall or trim colour, but I might do it a shade or two darker or lighter.

Fori I’m thinking the u shaped shell or painting it. I think I would do just from the top of the bead board down and leave what I’m assuming is the plastic trim at the base of the tank. Ps I loooooove goldfish!

That giant tank is a home for two regular goldfish? Is there a reason why they need so much space? Or do you just really enjoy the tank and want to use it in your decor?

A tank-suitable goldfish will grow to be 10” or more and needs a tank 70” long or more. More fish means adding tank size. Goldfish also produce a lot of waste so they need a really good filtration system and lots of water for that reason as well. Goldfish are not well-suited to living in bowls, and the original goldfish bowls were just market display for baby goldfish (like putting fish in a plastic bag).

I really really love goldfish and would love to have a pond or tank someday but they seem to be a lot of work.

Thanks. Yeah, the fish take up a lot of space. They aren't much work once you have a suitably sized tank and filter. But ready-made aquarium furniture is the worst!

We can't do a pond because the local wildlife would have too much fun with it.

Two goldfish?

Why not put them in a goldfish bowl (I had 2 live to a very old age in a bowl). Then eliminate the aquarium????

Just asking, understanding the cost and upkeep of an aquarium. I've had them.

My daughter had two goldfish bought as tiny feeder goldfish, and they lived for years, both growing to about 12 inches long the male a little longer and fatter.

A fish pond outside for your goldfish will be a LOT less work than an indoor aquarium! I've had one now for about 30 years. I do it all "natural" - no filter, no pump. And it has thrived over the years as have the fish.

You have all that for...two goldfish? There has to be a story there.

Miley, I don't know if you read all the posts, but I noted just above that my DD's grew to a foot long and definitely needed a huge tank. She only had the two, but two big fish need room to be able to move.

They would have been kicked outdoors long before I spent the money on that level of tank for two goldfish!

Goldfish can be extremely beautiful, large, interesting and very long lived fish. Not to mention fancy! (Depending on the variety). Not as expensive as koi afaik.

I feel for you. We have a 30 gallon tank in our family room which houses a single fish.. He (we're guessing here) is a very special fish....an upside down catfish about 10 inches long and he's at least 23 years old. We've had him since 1996 (a friend had had him a year or two before that). When we had new carpet put down, we put him in a large bucket with tank water, filled several other buckets with the tank water, and then we were able to move the tank and stand. We figure we should include him in our wills.