what shall i do

[jarcher1390]

i have been in many forums asking about diffrent fish and i have not reaced my decision
me and my dad want something big and colour
the tank need to be cheap to set up

 

[Dangerousdan]

Fill it with water and chuck some fish in

 

[modernhamlet]

Stocking and maintaining a 180g tank is unlikely to be "cheap", jarcher. Your best bet might be to buy small juveniles of whatever species you decide. That way they will be much less expensive and you'll get to watch them growing up.

Let me ask you a few questions first. That might give some indication of how best to advise you.

What kind of filtration are you planning to use?
How much lighting is there?
What is your tapwater like? pH, hardness, alkalinity?
What kinds of fish do you already own?
What kinds of fish do you really like?

 

[GSD]

Fill it with water and chuck some fish in

[snapback]865520[/snapback]​

dont think thats great advice!

It all depends on what you like.There is alot of choice!

 

[jarcher1390]

Stocking and maintaining a 180g tank is unlikely to be "cheap", jarcher. Your best bet might be to buy small juveniles of whatever species you decide. That way they will be much less expensive and you'll get to watch them growing up.

Let me ask you a few questions first. That might give some indication of how best to advise you.

What kind of filtration are you planning to use?
How much lighting is there?
What is your tapwater like? pH, hardness, alkalinity?
What kinds of fish do you already own?
What kinds of fish do you really like?

[snapback]865580[/snapback]​

i using sump filter that i made my self
i using a blue moon and triton light
tap water ph 6.5 dont know hardness
small but wont bigger fish that wont harm them
like alsorts

 

[blitztidus]

I would get more small fish so u could watch them grow and it is neat to watch schools of fish

 

[Fishy411]

get rid of the small fish and get like 5 banded leporinus, 5 silver dollars, and 3 limas. and then you'll have room for something cool you find in your LFs. bcuz LFs's always seem to get really nice stuff in once in a while and then mislabel it.

 

[fish_r_great]

You could do a nice new world cichlid setup and an even nicer African Cichlid setup. You could get Frontosa.

 

[Angel Lady]

Cichlids are the most colorful fish that you can buy without going salt water in my opinion. I have a 180 gallon too. All I have in mine is 2 oscars at the moment. Which I plan on moving to my new 75 gallon tank soon. Then I will have to figure out what to put in my tank again..

 

[JackDemp528]

I would get an oscar, or two, only because I've always wanted some. And wish I had a huge tank like that.

 

[SHELL]

you know that tank is just crying out for a marine set up!!! check out www.ultimatereef.net (marine only forum before you shout!!)

 

[andywg]

You could always chuck a fahaka puffer in there...

Or go for a small schoolf of Bala sharks, a Black Ghost Knife and some Chalceus...But then you'd nearly have my tank.

On a more serious note, I would think about marine, it would cost more initially, but the rewards are massive. And with a tank that size you could keep a couple of schools of small reef fish. However the lighting would need big halides (like 3 250W or 2 400W).

What size sump are you running? Because that could help your options. You could even consider a small school of shovelnose catfish in there (but definately no small fish with them).

 

[jarcher1390]

my sump is home made
it is 2,1.5,1 and got a small pond pump in it but i works quite a bit

 

[andywg]

That's a fair size sump, though I personally would have gone a little larger (I went for two 24x14x12 sumps on my 6x2x2). You could still do a fair marine tank though.

Marine tanks don't have to be too expensive if you are prepared to do some DIY. For example: for that tank you would need either 3 250W or 2 400W Metal Halide lights to get it growing pretty much any coral you want.

Buying an arcadia proper marine hanging unit would be around £800. Buying the halide lights off of Ebay would be around £120 (I got two 150W for £70 delivered). Then all you need to do is build a hood to house them in and Robert's your father's brother.

The main expense with marine is liverock, though again you can save money. rather than fill a tank that size with around 100 kg of liverock at £8 to £15 per kilo; get a small amount of liverock and make the rest out of homemade base rock (mix up concrete with pasta shells or something else that will dissolve leaving the rock porous).

I'm not saying a marine would be cheap, but it doesn't have to have the huge price tag (and if you do a fair amount of DIY you will always feel proud).

Andy

 

[willtang3000]

marine fish would cost way to much for someone who wants a nice cheap setup I would suggest that you get a group of small discus(not the cheapest of fish) and you may get a pair in the future but excellent water quality is essential