Fish Stocking Ideas?

[Eddy the fish enthusiast]

Well, the GH is too high for many species like the pencilfish you mentioned. Yes, there are some tetras that can manage, but some of those in post #9 will not last long. And only a very few dwarf cichlids. Corydoras are not suited. This really does limit possibilities, unfortunately.

I would like to mention that the high hardness of the water will only be a problem for the beginning. The reason why I say this is that since I live in south Florida, and since we have tropical weather, Im planning on this being an outdoor aquarium. A heater would only be required for a few weeks at most to keep these fish at the temperatures they need. For reference it is currently 70-80 degrees in the middle of a December night. If I allow rain water into the tank, the water will soften pretty quickly since rain water is very soft at 5 ppm. With a good balance of both well water and rain water I should be able to get the required hardness to keep most of these fish. In theory that is.

 

[Eddy the fish enthusiast]

What a fun project! With that much space, you can indeed do a river basin with a main channel and 'pools' at various depths allowing different themes. I would pick species that are compatible with your local water. From there, rank order those species from most to least desirable. Also, consider cost per fish, grown size, compatibility and other criteria. Just curious, is this something you are going to build yourself or contract out?

I am planning on doing this almost 100% myself. The plan would be three concrete walls and one large viewing window. And thanks for the ideas, it’s greatly appreciated.

 

[Eddy the fish enthusiast]

as it'll probably have lots of flow...hillstream loaches gotta be in there...they love the flow and look like mini stingrays
I would love to build a big one like that if I had the space too
if you need help and live around Toronto let me know...
I always had this idea of a "green" powered tank where its lights are powered by a battery bank charged by the water flow 24/7
regardless of how you intend on doing it....we want pics!!
the rest is just blah blah blah xD

Given where I live and the current plan, hillstream loaches may not be the best idea, but I’ll keep it in mind. Also I will definitely be sending pictures lol.

 

[kiko]

fixing your water automatically at 2000+gals should be a must and it's quite easy as you have access to soft and hard water
just use the hard-water for the auto top-off so you can replenish minerals etc...
then a ph controller with the soft water which in turn will soften the water down to whatever ph you set it at
and these 2 together pretty much become your water changing system
usually the only people that keep such a system are fancy shrimp keepers with municipal+ro water as their sources of water
but it would work just the same in your case and make your life 10x easier

 

[Eddy the fish enthusiast]

fixing your water automatically at 2000+gals should be a must and it's quite easy as you have access to soft and hard water
just use the hard-water for the auto top-off so you can replenish minerals etc...
then a ph controller with the soft water which in turn will soften the water down to whatever ph you set it at
and these 2 together pretty much become your water changing system
usually the only people that keep such a system are fancy shrimp keepers with municipal+ro water as their sources of water
but it would work just the same in your case and make your life 10x easier

Thank you, this is probably going to be the approach I use.

 

[connorlindeman]

Looking forward to seeing this come together!

 

[ZoddyZod]

2000g?!?!?
What are the plans for filtration?

 

[Eddy the fish enthusiast]

2000g?!?!?
What are the plans for filtration?

Probably a DIY Barrel filter. Basically use a barrel as a massive canister filter.