Growout of my 90g wide tank

It’s finally time! I have been procrastinating for quite some time. The journal and story for my 90g tank. The dimensions are 48”x24”widex18”tall. I have always liked bichirs, and that was the plan for this tank originally. But the dimensions are *chefs kiss*. Bichirs need a wide tank, and with a tank that is 4, long and 2’ wide, it opens the door to much larger bichirs.

The stocking as of now is:
1 Delhezi Bichir (Polypterus Delhezi). Female, 10”.
1 Senegal Bichir (Polypterus Senegalus) Unsexed, 6-7”.
1 Wild caught Polypterus Palmas Palmas. Female, 13-14”.
1 Wild caught Polypterus Mokelembembe. Male, 8”.

Now for some backstories.

I originally had my P. Delhezi Sparky in a 55g, which is what got me into fishkeeping. I got him when he was a lil baby a little bit bigger than 3” long. Within a year, I decided the tank was too thin, and upgraded him about mid-October. I had been keeping my eye for tanks with good dimensions and size, but not too big for my upstairs room. I got this one with an Fx5, and sturdy wooden stand, not to mention the glass is very thick, if I remember correctly it’s 3/5 of an inch. All for $200!

I built 2 lids for the tank out of polycarbonate, which I cut too short…first time super glue worked for me!

The filter output was so fast that it was displacing about 2 square feet of sand. I built a contraption to spread the flow out. It’s just PVC and PVC glue. The filter is old, but not dead. It works great. I also have a sponge filter to attempt to displace water on the surface.

The stand is made out of 3x4s, and really sturdy…it needs to hold 1,200 pounds!!

So here are my fish!
Sparky. Beautiful colors!

Senegalus with a fat stomach!

Mokelembembe just sits in the corner hiding. When he comes out he has beautiful colors.

Palmas. He loves staying under the driftwood.

Beautiful shape and color on the Mokelembembe.

Full tank shot.

Plants! I need to update more. Sloppy job with Anubias and Java fern, but works.

The Senegal is a solid 8”. Sparky is exceeding 12”, and everyone else has stayed roughly the same.

Everything doing really well!

Wow looks great! Such a great journal too - really excited to see where it goes.

Really love your wood and rocks - is it black lava rock? I'm tempted by that for my next tank. Only thing thats a bit off putting at the moment is all the equipment on the back wall, have you thought about getting a 3D background or more hardscape to hide some of it?

Wills

Wills said:

Wow looks great! Such a great journal too - really excited to see where it goes.

Really love your wood and rocks - is it black lava rock? I'm tempted by that for my next tank. Only thing thats a bit off putting at the moment is all the equipment on the back wall, have you thought about getting a 3D background or more hardscape to hide some of it?

Wills

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That equipment is the outtake of my filter, which I made so that it wasn’t blasting water out. My hope is the Vallisneria will cover everything in the back, and the bacopa Carolinia will help as well. The rocks are black lava rock, used because they have many holes and crevices for Anubis and Java Fern can go in. I don’t like the 3D background. At the moment, the contraption in the back doesn’t bother me, and should quickly get covered by plants. The tank is going through a faze of algae. Diatoms are covering the driftwood, but that’s how SoCal water is. Hair algae was introduced accidentally from a lava rock transferred from outside tank. Hoping to get through that soon.

I Like Rare Fish said:

That equipment is the outtake of my filter, which I made so that it wasn’t blasting water out. My hope is the Vallisneria will cover everything in the back, and the bacopa Carolinia will help as well. The rocks are black lava rock, used because they have many holes and crevices for Anubis and Java Fern can go in. I don’t like the 3D background. At the moment, the contraption in the back doesn’t bother me, and should quickly get covered by plants. The tank is going through a faze of algae. Diatoms are covering the driftwood, but that’s how SoCal water is. Hair algae was introduced accidentally from a lava rock transferred from outside tank. Hoping to get through that soon.

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Ah thats interesting, I can see the inlet on the left so does the filtered water come in through the pipe work on the right? Have you seen you can get spray bars for the FX range now? Just came out in the last few weeks.

Are you growing the regular vallis or have you thought of the giant vallis?

Are the plans to keep purely Bichirs in here or are there any options for the upper levels?

Sorry for all the questions just a really interesting project

Wills

Ask as many questions as you want! I want to answer questions…free time for me is lonely…rather be doing things like educating people and be on fish forums.


The outtake is a contraption I built. Before, my FX5 spat out water at an outrageous speed. The thing was just a PVC pipe, and displaced 3” of sand in a 2’ radius. This thing spreads the water out between 4 pipes. Simple math says it needs to have atleast 55 holes. There are roughly 65 holes drilled in it spread between 4 8” pipes, and the spaces in between. I used water-safe PVC glue to connect every one.

I would like to get other plants than Val Spiralis such as Giant Val, but for now lack of money is holding me off.

I am in highschool, so currently 4 bichirs will do. I hope in the future to get some kind of Pike Characin on top water.

The Senegal is…experimenting…. Yes, that’s him eating a leaf.

I’ve posted it on here many times, but still really cool to watch.

can't see anything due to blue light

Colin_T said:

can't see anything due to blue light

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Full screen the video and watch all the way through. You can see the fish and the Bichir. The blue light does disrupt sight a LITTLE but not too much

I Like Rare Fish said:

I’ve posted it on here many times, but still really cool to watch.

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I'm sorry this is one part of fish keeping I hate. It is also videos like this that give organizations like PETA power. I'm sorry not cool.

itiwhetu said:

I'm sorry this is one part of fish keeping I hate. It is also videos like this that give organizations like PETA power. I'm sorry not cool.

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What do you hate about it?

I Like Rare Fish said:

What do you hate about it?

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I guess feeding baby fish to a bigger fish on purpose?

I mean if you can't sell the fish I don't see an issue with it... It also lets that bichir hunt...

"It doesn't want to be fed, it wants to hunt"- Alan Grant (Jurassic Park I)