What would be good tank dimensions

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Well i am going to adopt a freinds sailfin plec soon hopefully that has been living in a 25gal for almost a year despite being almost 13inchs long and still growing fast. Although i am getting a 345gal tank soon i don't want to put it with my other plecs as i don't want it bully them over food as it is larger than my 3 big plecs.
I want to build a small indoor pond upstairs in my new home(although my fiance is still wary of it, its going in my spare room of the house and i am still convincing him its gonna look good ), i know that surface area is more important than gallons when it comes to large plecs as they are bottom dwelling fish- i don't want the tank to weigh too many gallons as i am concerned about what weight the floor boards can take.
I think this sailfin plec is going to get to 2ft long with the way he is growing and he is barely a year old, what would be a good size indoor pond for him?
I am more than happy to have him as the only fish in the pond, i was thinking of a triangle shaped corner pond 1ft high, 4-5ft wide at the front and 4ft wide at the sides- would this be ok? How many gallons would this pond be roughly?

 

[Bloo]

I want to build a small indoor pond upstairs in my new home(although my fiance is still wary of it, its going in my spare room of the house and i am still convincing him its gonna look good

[snapback]924509[/snapback]​

I'm really not sure, but am I reading this right ?
You want to build a "pond" in your spare upstairs bedroom ?

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I want to build a small indoor pond upstairs in my new home(although my fiance is still wary of it, its going in my spare room of the house and i am still convincing him its gonna look good

[snapback]924509[/snapback]​

I'm really not sure, but am I reading this right ?
You want to build a "pond" in your spare upstairs bedroom ?

[snapback]924515[/snapback]​

Yeah like this one;

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=106769

Nothing insane about it .

 

[Bloo]

interesting..... though obviously no cats, dogs or kids in the house

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

interesting..... though obviously no cats, dogs or kids in the house

[snapback]924523[/snapback]​

Nope, no kids, dogs, cats or anything- just me, my fish and my hamsters . Although i will still probably put some netting over the tank so the plec doesn't jump out or anything.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Can anyone help me see if this will be satisfactory tank dimensions for a sailfin plec?

 

[smooth_bourbon]

I'm no expert but I think you should make it deeper. Tho they are bottom dwellers mine still does a lot of swimming and seems to love hanging out head down tail up when eating. I would say a 1.5 foot would be just enough to make a huge difference.

I think an indoor pond is a great idea! Especially for a pleco.

Sorry It is 2am where I am and my brain is not up for the maths of figuring the gallons right now. I will check tomorrow and if you havent gotten a response I will gladly work it out for you.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Thanks for the advice, one of my lfs's has just got some small rectangular solid plastic ponds in stock, about 5ft long and 4ft wide and 1 and a half foot tall so i think i will get one of those if the floorboards can take the weight- do you think the floorboards will be able to take this sort of weight?

 

[andywg]

I make a 5x4x1.5 out to be 186.8 UK Gallons.

That puts the weight at 850 kilos. More than I'd be extremely happy with upstairs. That's a fair amount more than a 6x2x2 tank. I'm not sure I'd want that sort of weight upstairs.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Hmm....i may make the pond 4ft wide, 4ft long and 1ft high? I think that will only weigh around half as much(sorry i am realy bad with maths)?

 

[kimbowee]

Thats why we have calculators Tokis. It will hold 119.77 gals. Freshwater weight would be 994 pounds. That is not including any sand or gravel.

Here is the calculator I used with the Aquarium Analyzer. http/www.danios.0catch.com/danio/Tankmaster.html

 

[@ombomb]

indoor pond upstairs

Roughly translated as recipe for disaster!

Is there no where downstairs you could build and build it up out of the actual foundation?

Navarre on the Marine forum built his 200G+ up from the concrete foundation and it seems like a much better idea than risking it on the floorboards, let alone upstairs.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Hmm....There realy is very limited space downstairs in my new house, a small main entrance for taking your shoes off and stuff, small sitting room and kitchen and thats it- i have a 345gal tank going in the kitchen so all the room there is taken up and theres barely any space in the sitting room, although i suppose i could go and see if i could move things around a bit to scrape some space up. I suppose i could hide it in a cuboard downstairs !
But i do not want to see this fish go to any of the lfs's in my area, they are all bad with practically no redeeming qualitys and i would say theres a 90% chance that the plec ends up in another 25gal tank if it gets sold at a lfs.
Hmmm......... . Need a bigger house already.
Oh! I Know- i could put a sheet of glass on the tub and call it a table ! or does that sound realy fish mad?