The big tank project...

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Well some of you may have noticed i've done a fair amount of threads on this kind of thing in the last couple of months in planning for my new big tank to go in my new house.
I've finally decided on getting a 288gallon tank, 6ft long, 4ft wide and 2ft high :) . I am getting my new house in early august and i have to start going about ordering my tank as it is going to be custom made and will take about a month to arrive. I would like to discuss my final or near final discussion on stocking levels, some fish cannot be rehomed as i have had them for a fair while and stuff, this is what i currently have spread out between my 50gal, 30gal and 10gal and new 5gal tanks(yes i need to update my profile :p );

50gallon;

3 peppered corys
4 black khuli loachs
1 7-8inch common plec
1 6inch sailfin plec
2 small armoured shrimp
2 female mollys
7 platys(some half grown), 2male, 5female
15 neon tetras

30gallon;

6inch common plec
10 guppys, 1male 9female
4 albino corys

10gallon;

some very small platy and guppy fry
1 panda cory
3inch unknown L number plec(got it yesterday)

I would like the stocking in the 288gallon tank to be more like;

288gallon;

2 common plecs
1 sailfin
1 RTBS(soon to be adopted)
1 Unknown L number plec
40+ guppys, only 3males out of the bunch(lucky guys)
20 platys
5 mollys
6 panda corys
6 albino corys
6 peppered corys
8 black khuli loachs
6 armoured shrimp
30+ neon tetras
4 chocolate zebra plecs

...and probably some other small growing L number plecs, havn't yet decided, and maybe a differnet type of tetra shoal or posibly some clown loachs...

Is this tank going to be overstocked??

EDIT: oh yeah i have a 5gal tank with a betta in but will stay that way :)
 
I would say that if you go with effective filtration (something like a sump with it's extra oxygenation qualities) you should be alright.

Should look really nice.

Have you thought of a shoal of larger fish (like congo tetras)?
 
andywg said:
I would say that if you go with effective filtration (something like a sump with it's extra oxygenation qualities) you should be alright.

Should look really nice.

Have you thought of a shoal of larger fish (like congo tetras)?
Don't worry i am going to invest in some realy powerful filtration and most likely have more than one pump in the tank at a time :) .
How much space would you say it has left roughly with my current stocking ideas?
 
Wow :drool: Normally people stock big tanks with big fish, I've always wanted to stock a massive tank just with something small and colourful like guppies just for the heck of it :D With a hell load of plants it would look grr-eat :)
 
Yep i love my livebearers :D ! I want to go more seriously into fish breeding though when i get the tank and see if i can breed some rare plecs amoungst some good quality livebearers :nod:
 
WoW! :eek: :D

That will be one enormous tank! Could always go with Cardinals instead of neons and not sure about Congo Tetras in such a full tank. They grow to around 13cm (5" ish), are quite timid and easily frightened and put of their food. They're also quite sensitive to changes in the water chemistry. Might get a bit nervous with so many other fish - then again, might be completely fine if he has hiding places!

What about lemon tetras instead of neons? They're about 5cm (2" ish) and look excellent as a shoal - esp if you use a dark substrate. They're also hardy, will eat anything you feed them, friendly and easy to breed.

Can't wait to see pics of this tank!
:D
Ami
 
Ami said:
WoW! :eek: :D

That will be one enormous tank! Could always go with Cardinals instead of neons and not sure about Congo Tetras in such a full tank. They grow to around 13cm (5" ish), are quite timid and easily frightened and put of their food. They're also quite sensitive to changes in the water chemistry. Might get a bit nervous with so many other fish - then again, might be completely fine if he has hiding places!

What about lemon tetras instead of neons? They're about 5cm (2" ish) and look excellent as a shoal - esp if you use a dark substrate. They're also hardy, will eat anything you feed them, friendly and easy to breed.

Can't wait to see pics of this tank!
:D
Ami
I like the sound of congo tetras although i have never seen any in my lfs, but i went to watermart the other day which is a fair distance from where i live for the first time and they have an amazing array of fish so i will see if i can find some there- im guessing cos they are tetras they are going to need about 8 to shoal in this tank?
Lemon tetras though aern't realy my type of fish though im sorry -_- .
When i was at watermart they had a tetra called "red tailed glass tetra", they had a long sleek body and were kinda transparent and had a red tail although i can't seem to find any profiles for them anywhere, any know what they could be?
 
Sounds good!

Not a fan of live bearers myself, but I'm sure the tank will look fantastic.

You need a good home for the other tanks? :hey:
 
@ombomb said:
Sounds good!

Not a fan of live bearers myself, but I'm sure the tank will look fantastic.

You need a good home for the other tanks? :hey:
Im chucking away the 50gal because it has some chips around the top of the edges and is a pain in the bum to clean because of its shape, im going to use the 30gal hex tank as a fry tank and the 10gal is going to be converted into a quarentine tank, so no tanks to spare realy :unsure: :fun: !
 
Im chucking away the 50gal because it has some chips around the top of the edges and is a pain in the bum to clean

Well I'll bet you're not looking forward to gravel vaccing a tank with a 6" x 4" footprint! :p

Are you going to have it against a wall?

If not, how about a rock atol in the middle?

Would look cool and if you put the rock in before the gravel, may make it a bit easier to keep clean.
 
@ombomb said:
Im chucking away the 50gal because it has some chips around the top of the edges and is a pain in the bum to clean

Well I'll bet you're not looking forward to gravel vaccing a tank with a 6" x 4" footprint! :p

Are you going to have it against a wall?

If not, how about a rock atol in the middle?

Would look cool and if you put the rock in before the gravel, may make it a bit easier to keep clean.
Nah its going to be in the centre of the kitchen in my new house which is ironically the biggest room in the house- i don't want it against any walls cos it will just make maintanence harder and i like to see my tanks from all sides ;) .
The tank is going to have the same white fine sand i have in my other tanks and is going to be realy heavily planted but have clearly defined boundarys for the plecs; common and sailfin plecs are very peaceful as far as large growing plecs go, but if too find the same algae wafer at the same time they can squabble a bit so each is going to have its own space and cave with an extra cave to help avoid fighting over bedrooms. Im going to make 4large bogwood caves for the plecs to sleep in during the day surounded by heaps of plants.
Im thinking about having some fairly large flowering pond plants in the tank, so when summer comes i'll have flowers in my tanks "yay" :) !
 
Wow, that really sounds stunning!

You may not have any spare tanks...

...so how about a spare room? :rofl:
 
Lol :lol: yeah my fiance said to me the other day "your fish keeping hobby is turning into an obsession! Our friends are gonna think you are crazy when they see this tank!"
Lol yeah i think this hobby turned into an obsession 6months ago when one 2ft tank turned into 6tanks at the time(well i've been doing fish keeping 2yrs now, but i blame my MTS on my plecs)!
I've figured that its going to take 25bags of sandjust to cover the tank bottom, im going to buy another 8buckets to help out with water changes and a small garden rake to help out with cleaing the sand. I think im going to get a large pong pump for the tank on top of my largest current filters, im not sure what to do about lighting and a stand for the tanl yet i still have to discuss that with the people who are custom making my tank and see what they can do :) .
I've been saving up for this tank for a year now and have had the money for the tank a fair while so money isn't an issue.
I also want to do another project in the garden which is currently a muddy lawn with a garden shed which is falling to peices, i want to dig 2 medium sized koi ponds and connect them with 2 little streams with bridges going over them so the fish can swim between the ponds :D

EDIT: Oh, and im going to do a tank diary with loads of pics on me setting up the tank and the processes so you guys can see how i do :)
 
Oh! I just remembered that i was measuring the tank in UK gallons and not US ones but tank stocking like the one inch of fish per gal rule of thumb should be applied to US gallons- how many US gallons would a UK 288gal tank be :unsure: ?
 

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