My Little Dream Tank.

[SMAUG]

Hello all.
it's been a log time since i posted last, but i do browse around regularily.
I only have a few poor photos as my camera ran out of batteries.

Heres the story:
I have a 4 foot planted tank, that i have spent countless hours of love on.

while the inside looks neat as, being a second hand tank, the glass is very scratched.

the answer...



just tonight i picked up my dream tank; a 2 foot cube( 300 L), with a 150 L Sump. Halide lighting and all the junk that comes with. i plan to set up another heavily planted tank( pressuredized CO2, clay, black onyx sand, ferts etc) but am looking for something a little different in stocking.

the plan: slow eating , mildly aggressive, weird looking fish.
so does anyone see a problem with:

1 royal whiptail
2 Siamese algae eaters
1 Black Ghost knife
1 african butterfly
2 peacock spiney nosed eels
1 elephant nose
2 Discus
many glass shrimp as a snack
and potentially a birchir.

does anyone forsee a problem between the chosen fish? does anyone have suggestions?
I live in western australia, that has a small fish trade so some are hard to find and some are very dear.

and why are birchirs so expensive($300) in western australia?

Thanks for your help team
-Tom

 

[squeakytoy]

just saying, you might just want to check out the full grwon sizes on some of those fish... Some will get bigger than you tank will hold. As a matter of fact, at their grown sizes, I dont think all those fish would fit in the tank if you used it as a bucket! And thats before the water...

You might try checking out somewhere like pet solutions or fosters and smith's live fish sections for pictures of interesting fish, and then check size compatibility.

Also [URL="http/www.aquariumfish.net/home.htm"]http/www.aquariumfish.net/home.htm[/URL] have pretty pictures.

sweet job on the 4 footer too! great work, there's a lot of love in that tank....

 

[SMAUG]

thanks for your kind words squeakytoy. i don't know what i'm going to do with that tank now.


which fish do you think will be a problem?
i know the BGK can potentially grow large. i intend on using the one i have at the moment, after a years growing, he is still only 12cm long.
maybe exchange him for a brown knife fish?
the royal whiptail? whilst they get long they have a relativily small biomass and are fairly inactive?

Elephant noses are slow growers, and peacock spiney eels stay relatively small.

how about other fish? maybe borneo scooters?

bought substrate today. onyx sand, seachem flourish, laterite and baked clay balls. cost half as much as i paid for the tank!
might be time to start a jounal...

Just did conversions

tank is 80 US liquid gallons
sump is 40

total volume of water 120 gal

 

[Ace Of Spades]

thanks for your kind words squeakytoy. i don't know what i'm going to do with that tank now.


which fish do you think will be a problem?
i know the BGK can potentially grow large. i intend on using the one i have at the moment, after a years growing, he is still only 12cm long.
maybe exchange him for a brown knife fish?
the royal whiptail? whilst they get long they have a relativily small biomass and are fairly inactive?

Elephant noses are slow growers, and peacock spiney eels stay relatively small.

how about other fish? maybe borneo scooters?

bought substrate today. onyx sand, seachem flourish, laterite and baked clay balls. cost half as much as i paid for the tank!
might be time to start a jounal...

Just did conversions

tank is 80 US liquid gallons
sump is 40

total volume of water 120 gal

But then its having these fish in such a small floor space, a 5 Foot would be better then a 2x2

 

[squeakytoy]

"which fish do you think will be a problem?"

Well, Ace of spades kinda hit the nail on the head... And its a painful ingrown kinda nail. I know because I want a BGK and a bichir, and in doing my research, I uncovered a guidline for how big a tank should be for a given fish. I just wish I could find the thread to know where to give credit. I think it might have been Neale, but I am not sure. Anyway, the formula is 4x1.5x1.5 (IIRC...) of the fish's length for a standard fish. Active fish should up it to 5x2x2. This it to allow them sufficient space to turn and maneuver.

for example, 1 foot standard fish means 4 foot tank that is 18 inches high and wide.

cracked my dreams on that one, let me tell you...

 

[SMAUG]

haha, i hear you squeaky.

I'm planning to stock real slowly, and do my research in the mean time. started cycling sump tonight with used aquarium water and some added material from the old filter.
So i'd say i've got many weeks to figure this out.

in time i think i'll start with just the bichir and SAE's
I was wondering today, is a whiptail in dire peril with a bichir, being small bodied and slow?

Oh, and many thanks for your help guys.
i know there are a million wishful stocking threads out there, but i am doing my research and trying to produce a realistic list

 

[Loony Fish]

get 3 discus, not 2. it's so they don't fight.

 

[SMAUG]

Fair call
3 it will be.
sump is cycled. backing it with very mature eheim profesional for now.
current stocking:
lots of neon tetra, yellow bards, white clowds\
senegal bichir
royal whiptail
SAE

i think some discus will complete the tank nicely.
thankyou all

-T