List Of Tankbusting Fish Which Grow To 12inches Or More?

[severum boy]

Probably the most fun thing that you could do is to set up the largest tank you can afford AND the best equipment you can. Add massive stones, pieces of bogwood and some huge growing plants, onion plants and water lillys (should be ok in tropical) would add depth.
As for fish, if the water is kept clean and with a fairly neutral (7-7.2) pH and a hardness of about 12, almost eveything that you could get for the tank will do fine in that water. Personally, I woudent draw up a full stocklist now, im sure we all know the feeling of doing this, going to the fish shop and seeing that fish that we have always wanted. Its always a tough desision to make. What I would do, is wait untill the tank is ready for fish, then go to a large oddball retailer and buy a few cool fish from there, then in a few weeks or months go to a different place and so on. This way you can have fun having all of your options open to buy pretty much what you want. Like some others have said, I would keep to fish no bigger than 2'. In a 12x5x5 tank, a number of large fish would look better than a couple of big ones, and along with one large midswimmer (Giant gourami perhaps?) it would look great. If you were keeping fish between 1-2' in length, this is what i would look out for:

One arrowana, either a silver, black or standard asian. (you may even be able to have a couple...)
One Giant gourami.
A pair of larger doradids (whatever sp. comes up)
Four Orange fin barbs
A gang of gars
One or two big bichirs

All of the fish could be substituted for a number of others, depending on what comes up in the shops.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

there are very few fish that should be kept in tanks that are more shallow than the fish is long. you can do it if you want, but be warned that you'd probably get flamed for it periodically. (and don't even think about keeping adult pacus and other deep-bodied fish in a tank that shallow).

as for side-viewing vs top-viewing, most aquarium fish are selected because they have interesting profiles. look at them from above and you don't see much at all. koi and goldfish are unique in that they were selectively bred to also have interesting top-sides. goldfish and koi also are typically more brightly colored than tankbusters, which in turn makes them easier to see.

however! there are plenty of fish which would probably present themselves nicely in a 2.5' deep tropical pond. clown loaches and plecos immediately spring to mind. african butterflies, of course. birchirs would have the right sort of body shape, but wouldn't be very colorful. most catfish have interesting tops, but are again fairly well camoflaged. a collection of snakeheads would be fascinating in a large pond like that, presuming they didn't wipe each other out.

you know, if you're building a large pond like that indoors, you might want to consider enlarging the dimensions a smidgen and including an island of some sort in the middle.

 

[geo7x]

Thats true, but I feel that you dont really get a feel for them, for any fish, unless you looking at it from the side, or down onto it a a large angle, so you can see the majority of the fish, it just wouldnt be my choice

Did you not think of stingrays?

Stingrays are a very pretty fish to see from the top, infact alot of people prefer it.

edit: infact i think it would be nice to see alot of fish from top view, just as an example, large catfish like TSNs would look very nice from the top looking down, and arowanas and bass...

 

[demonmagus]

can you even see arowanas from the top

 

[CFC]

The vast majority of fish have evolved to be invisible from above to avoid being snacks for terrestial predators, try removing the cover from your tank and taking pictures with your camera from above, 9 times out of 10 all you will get is a grey blur. Koi and goldfish were selectively bred to get over this problem so that ornamental fish could be enjoyed.

 

[geo7x]

The vast majority of fish have evolved to be invisible from above to avoid being snacks for terrestial predators, try removing the cover from your tank and taking pictures with your camera from above, 9 times out of 10 all you will get is a grey blur. Koi and goldfish were selectively bred to get over this problem so that ornamental fish could be enjoyed.

but stingrays must be an exception in a pond/top view aquarium?

Ive heard they are as good if not better from top view.

 

[fourthtimelucky]

If you went for the pond and wanted the best of both worlds, how about a submersible camera, or more realistically a glass panel on the side with a camera aimed through it? You could hook that up to your telly/computer... project it onto the wall of the fish house... see your fish from both angles at once!

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Thanks for the input everyone, i really appreciate it . On the subject of indoor ponds, you can get ones like this with panels of glass on the side instead of brick or something like this;

http/www.petsociety.org/gallery/d/47238-2/Indoor+pond.JPG

While just standard ones like this;

http/artisticponds.com/Pond'der3.jpg

http/www.paulinogardens.com/images/pond_...ts_600W_869.JPG


Which look quite nice. The main issue i can think of with a big fish tank is getting hold of larger enough and thicker enough glass panels for the tank, where would you buy them from ?

 

[severum boy]

The main issue i can think of with a big fish tank is getting hold of larger enough and thicker enough glass panels for the tank, where would you buy them from ?

A speciallist glass maker should be your best bet. Other than that, I am no help at all!

Another idea for fish could be a coldwater tank with carp and koi, stergeon and channel catfish.

 

[madmac82]

what about a gator gar??

 

[jasonskillz]

Giant Gouramis!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
my fav

 

[ArauraDiscus]

No please dont get a red tailed. They can grow to 6 feet or more. There is a 6 foot red tailed cat fish ant the national aquarium center in baltimore.

 

[demonmagus]

No please dont get a red tailed. They can grow to 6 feet or more. There is a 6 foot red tailed cat fish ant the national aquarium center in baltimore.

I think the whole point is that she will build a mahooosive tank

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Thanks for the input everyone, i really appreiciate it !

I'm still massively undecided though as whether to do an indoor pond or a glass aquarium.
I joined another forum not long ago called monster fish keepers .com to help me research what sort of things are involved when doing fish keeping on a big scale. Looking at some of the extreme fish keepers there though makes me feel a lot better about my crazy enthusiasm about fish keeping, i thought i was bad until i saw this guys 50,000 gallon aquarium;

http/www.####.com/forums/s...read.php?t=8952

...50,000 GALLONS....
Lol, i don't think i will be doing anything near this insane scale though, although i hope to do something huge in a couple of years time either way, probably more in the region of the 1000-4000gallon range though. Other monster fish tank/pond projects;

ttp/www.####.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=67

(I wouldn't usually post links to other fish forums, but this site has a great deal of info on doing large/giant aquarium projects which are very difficult to find on this forum or elsewhere on the internet, so...).



What will be for certain though is that the aquarium will be freshwater and most likely either tropical or sub-tropical. It would be a dream come true to keep a fish such as a red tailed catfish, i think they are the most beautiful catfish in the hobby and i've heard they are very intelligent too, people say red tailed catfish are like dogs personality and intelligence-wise. But my main issue is the moral implications involved in keeping such a fish. Should these even be attempted to be kept in the hobby at all...? Is it actually posible to provide an ideal habitat for a captive RTC? Hmm...The same goes for other large catfish too...Other than the RTC, i'm particularly interested in fish like giraffe catfish and plecos when it comes to catfish, and i'm a big fan of loaches too- the humble guppy and goldfish also holds a place in my heart too, i would say i have very varied tastes when it comes to keeping fish.

Regardless of what fish i go for in the end though, a big factor is how many i get and what sizes they grow too. The less fish, the easier it will be to keep an eye on their health and look after them. On the other hand though, shoals of fish can also look very spectacular too.
Hmm....

edit: Hm. The forum doesn't appear to let me link to other forums. Ah well.