I've Been Donated A Tank

[Orbit887]

I've just been told that someone's got a free tank + fish up for grabs, so I've said I'll take it! It's about 36" long I've been told, but I'll measure it all up properly when I pick it up in the next few days.

It's coming with some fish, not entirely sure what as yet, but heard kuli loaches, harequins (sp?) and silver sharks as some of the inhabitants, but there were many more, which makes me think that it'll probably be over stocked, but anyhow, I doubt I'll be keeping much if any of the stock, which I'll just sell to the lfs.

So the big question is what to do with the tank! I've already got one 29US gal tank in my room, home to neons & xray tetras, panda corys, a BN, some shrimp and a pair of dwarf gouramis, so was considering something different with this tank.

I quite like the idea of a species tank, for example puffers, but think that dwarf puffers may get a bit lost in that tank, South American puffers could do ok in there, 2 or 3 of them, but not massively keen on the idea of dentistry on them, and not really up for doing a brackish tank, which rules out lots of other species.

I'm open to all suggestions, personally I'm thinking along the lines of a smaller amount of bigger fish, as opposed to a bigger amount of smaller fish, as the bigger they are the more personality they often seem to have! So any ideas...

 

[J4MES]

How about a butterfly fish and corys?

J4MES

 

[fish-r-fancy]

how about a dwarf cichlid tank? Lots of peronality in those guys!

 

[DiscusAngel]

Well we really need to know what size tank it i.s... so thn you could work ur stocking

 

[Orbit887]

Well we really need to know what size tank it i.s... so thn you could work ur stocking

Well as far as I'm aware it's a 36"x 15" x 12", so can 'guesstimate' from there (sorry had to drop that word in, used to find it such a comical word when i was at school), but i'll be able to give much more precise measurements on tuesday night after I pick it up.

As far as butterfly fish and corys go, I quite like the look of the butterfly's, but I've already got corys in the tank in my room at present, and although they get the 'ahhh so cute' factor, I don't think they're amazing enough, or full of enough personality to go in this second tank.

Cichlid's are something which I've always kinda taken a back-seat about if you get me. They're nice to look at - with all their rich colours, but I've very limited knowledge about them. I've always seen them in tanks with no plants, with just rocks as tank decoration, which to me isn't so interesting, but i'll have a look into them

 

[fishfishfish]

u have to go brackish.i am doing that to my 33 gal once i set up my 55.my 15 gallon is currently brckish housing half my fish for my 33.once i set it all up(33 brac which is housing malawi) i will be getting 3-5 orange chromids, 2 more figure 8 puffers and maybe a ribbon eel if lucky or a spiney eel.mt 15 has 2 figure 8 puffers and a freshwater sole.they are all moving to my 33 once i do everything for my bigger tank.
so basically to finish my rant,do a brackish tank with figure 8 puffers.brackish is not at all harder than freshwater.u just need to add salt.

 

[Orbit887]

u have to go brackish.i am doing that to my 33 gal once i set up my 55.my 15 gallon is currently brckish housing half my fish for my 33.once i set it all up(33 brac which is housing malawi) i will be getting 3-5 orange chromids, 2 more figure 8 puffers and maybe a ribbon eel if lucky or a spiney eel.mt 15 has 2 figure 8 puffers and a freshwater sole.they are all moving to my 33 once i do everything for my bigger tank.
so basically to finish my rant,do a brackish tank with figure 8 puffers.brackish is not at all harder than freshwater.u just need to add salt.

the sound of puffers AND eels sounds amazing to me! Love puffers, the puppy dog eyes and personality, and i've thought about eels in the past, but had put that off till I moved in a years time, when i'll have the space for a much bigger tank

How much harder really is brackish? I know I'd need something to measure the salinity of the water (hydrometer I presume) and a protein skimmer (I don't really understnad really what these do), and what's the outset cost of all this stuff?Enough to just jack in FW and go marine for a little extra money, or is it reasonably minimal? Brackish fish & invertebrates always looked quite cool to me, some quite vibrant colours and quite different animals, but had always assumed it was quite a lot more 'hassle' than doing an easy FW set up.

 

[fishboy619]

dwarf puffer would look good, but a high number of then would be needed so you would see them often.i have 3 in my 15 gallon if that helps.
as for other sugestions, a hugh female betta tank, though i doubt you would donate the whole tank that big to just female bettas.
other suggestions are a big tetra tank, my tetra tank looks ace, its well planted and has several species of tetras including phantom, cardinal, black skirt, rummy nose, etc

 

[Orbit887]

dwarf puffer would look good, but a high number of then would be needed so you would see them often.i have 3 in my 15 gallon if that helps.
as for other sugestions, a hugh female betta tank, though i doubt you would donate the whole tank that big to just female bettas.
other suggestions are a big tetra tank, my tetra tank looks ace, its well planted and has several species of tetras including phantom, cardinal, black skirt, rummy nose, etc

Yeah i think that's the problem with the dwarf puffers, they'd look great in a small tank next to my bed, but as an impact in a lounge opposite an open fire, I just think they'll be too small to see well enough and can keep enough together in that size tank to make a real impact.

Funny you should mention about the teatra's. Was down the pub with the housemate early and he was banging on about how much he liked the neons and xrays in my present tank and how he thought they'd look so much nicer in bigger groups with loads more plants!

 

[fishfishfish]

u have to go brackish.i am doing that to my 33 gal once i set up my 55.my 15 gallon is currently brckish housing half my fish for my 33.once i set it all up(33 brac which is housing malawi) i will be getting 3-5 orange chromids, 2 more figure 8 puffers and maybe a ribbon eel if lucky or a spiney eel.mt 15 has 2 figure 8 puffers and a freshwater sole.they are all moving to my 33 once i do everything for my bigger tank.
so basically to finish my rant,do a brackish tank with figure 8 puffers.brackish is not at all harder than freshwater.u just need to add salt.

the sound of puffers AND eels sounds amazing to me! Love puffers, the puppy dog eyes and personality, and i've thought about eels in the past, but had put that off till I moved in a years time, when i'll have the space for a much bigger tank

How much harder really is brackish? I know I'd need something to measure the salinity of the water (hydrometer I presume) and a protein skimmer (I don't really understnad really what these do), and what's the outset cost of all this stuff?Enough to just jack in FW and go marine for a little extra money, or is it reasonably minimal? Brackish fish & invertebrates always looked quite cool to me, some quite vibrant colours and quite different animals, but had always assumed it was quite a lot more 'hassle' than doing an easy FW set up.

it really isnt much harder.all you need is pretty much a hydrometer and marine salt or un,un,un UN....iodised salt.u dont need a protein skimmer like saltwater so that saves a pretty penny.other than that its pretty easy.i have kept basic feeder(amano) shrimp in my puffer tank as the puffers picked em off one by one.

 

[vinylman]

I'd wait until you find out how many Silver Sharks are in it; you may need to do some rehoming.

 

[Orbit887]

I'd wait until you find out how many Silver Sharks are in it; you may need to do some rehoming.

All of the current stock in it is going to be re-homed.

 

[jkrekord]

Brackish would be cool, other things to consider which are simpler, although not neccesdarily by much would be; a female betta splenden sorority set up, dwarf puffers, a planted tank (you know, like an underwater jungle), or you could even use the idea of going brackish and doing a species set up for bumble bee gobies.

 

[fishboy619]

gouramies?