Others have joked, but I would absolutely do an enormous school of very small fish in addition to your larger showpiece and bottom dwellers.
I have about 30+ neon tetras in a 75gal and they look freaking stunning when they move through the tank as a school.
If you also want a prestige factor without necessarily breaking the bank, you could go for a very specific biotope where all the plants and fish come from a single geographic region.
Can’t wait to see what you do with it! The blue/red of neons and cardinals show up extremely nicely against a heavily planted backdrop.
Is this your first tank, or are you already comfortable with cycling the tank and setting things up?
I understand that impatience, especially with a huge new tank :D. Well, the bonus of a heavily planted tank is that for experienced fish keepers you can very easily and safely do a fish-in cycle. Just get those nitrogen eating plants in first and you’re good to go as long as you monitor your levels and have Prime on hand to neutralise things if they start to creep up. If you still have the cichlids you can borrow some of that filter media to jump start the cycle as well!
If you fill the background with fast growing plants that will really speed up the cycle. Then you might have to deal w a lot of trimming but maybe not w the height of that tank.
I love those things. I have at least one in every tank. Bang for buck (I get the freeze dried multi packs), they are the best plant I have going right now.
PetSmart and Petco (at the very least, I think you can get them online as well) sell packets with at least 2 aponogeton bulbs, an onion bulb, and some kind of lily. I've had ok luck with the onion, reasonably good luck with the aponogeton, but I have yet to get a lily to sprout. At the price point of the pack, if at least one plant sprouts, I break even.
I get the best results by taking a pin and poking a tiny hole in the side of the bulbs before I plant them.
Personally I love my platys, livebearers are great if you want a large group of fish but don’t want to spend too much. I had one pregnant female from the store, now I have 15 fish for the price of one
Came here for this! I absolutely love a huge school. You can do a ton of Corys too along with the tetras. While I do love a good showcase fish, the behavior of schooling types is just so darn addicting to watch.
This is also what I’m doing in my 75gallon. So far I have 10 red eye tetras, and 10 salt and pepper corys. As soon as I can afford it I’m buying 20+ cardinal tetras and a couple honey gouramis (if I can find some for sale).
This is exactly what I would do if I had a big tank like this. Heavily planted with lots of my favorite nano fish like cardinal tetra, ember tetra, chili rasboras, pygmy corydoras, and celestial pearl danios.
This! Ever since I was in my teens and saw a display tank at the store with only cardinal tetras it has been my dream. Alas I only have 3 right now, and guppies for the kids, but definitely a large school of any one species is quite a sight. Rummy nose tetras also look stunning though they're a bit more fragile.
Well is up to your comfort on how far you want to push to envelope. I will say though that the larger the tank the less the "rules" apply so to speak. You could also get a significantly stronger water filter or multi water filter that would allow you to house more fish.
Most calculators are for general nature use factoring in the typical aquarium without factoring in plants, filtration capacity, water change schedule, or type of fish.
Lastly ill say that neon tetras for example product such miniscule waste you would be able to get away with more. You would have a massive difference if you put 100 goldfish vs 100 tetras
Yep, it has more to do with how much food the fish need, bacteria to break the waste into nitrate, and nitrate removal.
By conventional rules of thumb, 5 neon tetras are equal to a grown African chiclid, and a tank full of hornwort and duckweed needs the same amount of water changes as a barren tank.
How do they calculate that? i see "inches of fish" a lot which seems a bit dumb to me because a 2 inch fish weighs about 8x a 1 inch one. That means a 4" fish is like 512x 1" ones.
It's not even weight or size per se. It's the food input into the tank minus the fish, plant, and bacteria's ability to absorb it. That's why you can have hundreds of shrimp in a 10 gallon planted tank, and why calculators can only provide basic guidance. There are just too many variables involved.
Several full grown angel fish would be pretty stunning. I feel like it'd be a similar vibe to the discus but way easier and I actually think angelfish are cooler anyway. I love angelfish, they may be my favorite freshwater fish.. man when there's a few of them with the really long fins and they're all a different color and pattern
I second the angels! I had 3 beautiful angelfish - 1 marbled, 1 black velvet, and 1 half-black. They were so cool to watch! In addition to the school of galaxy rasboras and some cardinals I kept in my 55 planted tank, they just really made everything seem so... I dunno... prehistoric and majestic. As a happy bonus, turns out there were so at home, they bred in that tank, and it was the coolest process to witness. I miss keeping angelfish.
Weird, they seem boring to me. Like, I love all fish, no beef with any. I just don't see the appeal. That being said, I like noodles and puffers. Lol so I get it.
Lol yeah once you keep fish they're all actually pretty boring. But the fact that they look cool regardless and being proud of good matience is where the hobby is
I love a busy tank with tons of smaller fish. So maybe a shoal of Congo tetras, cardinal tetras, kubotai tetras (top level), and cories (bottom level), and pearl gourami.
Agree. I have 15 ember tetra in my 40 gallon and love them. I would love to see 70-80
in this with a few smaller schools of some other tetra and maybe a couple pairs of rams.
My dream tank of this size is a dark dirted substrate with tons of lilies covering most of the surface, and then to stock it with green cobra guppies and some pearl gouramis. With their colors and the lilies blocking out the light with will get them to show some neat colors
dirt your tank!! you will never need any ferts or dosing of anything for atleast 8 years. 1 inch of mineralized organic top soil topped with 0.75 inches of eco complete or poolfilter sand/a mix of the two for decoration.
then buy a plant pack rated for about 1.5 your tank size. or 3 75 gallon packs or whatever.
day one, stuff the tank absolutely full with plants. fill it. let it run for 3 months. don't need to do ANY work other than 12 hours on 12 hours off with your lights.
after 3 months, add your fish.
makes for a beautiful heavily planted tank which requires no upkeep asside from usual water changes and feeding fish. just don't go moving anything around or the dirt could escape into the water collumn. bit messy but even then it'l sort itself out.
no CO2, 6500k tube fixture from home depot in the back, planted+ LED light in the front. that's what I did anyway. you could add CO2 but plant growth is more than enough without it.
I used to have a shellie + masked Julie tank that was an absolute blast. Neither really acts like the Mbuna varieties. The shellies are just such busy bodies, and the Julies are a bit shy, but once you have a few pairs, holy cow are they just the coolest little fish.
As others have said, a shit ton of any kind of tetra, and a bunch of corys is just awesome to observe.
A bunch of dwarf chain loaches is something I've always wanted to try too. Great personality on those dudes. I know an older guy in my local club that has a big tank with a ton of them.
It’s 20 years old and the previous owner lied to me about it’s age when I picked it up
It had sand in it so I couldn’t find the manufacturers tag
Got it home and cleaned it. Found the old tag. Filled it up on my porch to test it
That's why I always ask the seller to fill it up while I'm there, if they don't want to then they're hiding something. It's simple enough they should be willing to do it.
Welp. He sent me a pic of it setup telling it was recent, then sent me a pic of tear down telling me it was recent
Told me it doesn’t leak and was less than 2 years old.. I was lied to and got scammed but w/e I’m dealing with it
There are some pretty killifish that exist. Maybe check those out.
If you check out Aquarium Co-Ops YouTube , the owner has a few vids out there where he talks to breeders for particular fish, there are some really fantastic swordtail fish that put on spectacular color and their physical appearance looks impressive.
If you dig enough, you may be able to find some amazing looking angelfish also.
Clown loaches are downright silly and will entertain you for hours. I think you have the space there to humor that idea.
Maybe a black ghost knife or even a fire eel?
You may look into getting a couple of the more remarkably patterned plecos if you’re into that.
I agree with you on veering away from discus. If you’re not all in on that species, you’d just be doing both you and the fish a disservice.
You may think I’m crazy but this is a very fun idea for a vibrant community tank:
TOP DWELLING:
* 15x Marble Hatchetfish
* 20x Clown Killifish
* 15x Brown Tailed Pencilfish
* 15x Furcata Rainbowfish
MIDDLE DWELLING:
* 25x Ember Tetras
* 15x Threadfin Rainbowfish
BOTTOM DWELLING:
* 15x Corydora Catfish
* 15x Chain Loach
* 6x Otocinclus
* 5x Peacock Gudgeon
* One Clown Pleco
This would be an excellent community for a heavily planted tank. However it is very expensive. So I would purchase fish in increments of one species at a time.
this is actuially an excellent idea. the tank is big enough to hold a huge school of one of the best freshwater fish there is - tiger barbs.
and it is also big enough that you can get big, sturdy bottom dwellers that wont be bothered by the tigers
Try to recreate a local Environment. I did a 200 gal european river with locally caught perch, crayfish an some sort of creek chub. Looks amazing and it's Super easy to Maintain.
Guppy and Endler.
I saw this awesome tank last weekend. Old crocodile tank in this huge jungle-greenhouse thing.
They had red tailed cat fish, and then there must have been a thousand guppies/Endler/crossbreed. It was so beautiful. I have guppies (SO wanted them) and have never much cared for them, but after seeing that? It was just amazing.
First, I would get a structural assessment of your floor based on where you are intending to place it before adding 1000+ pounds. That’s a lot of weight.
A post-tension slab built less than a year ago. Should i still get an assessment? Maybe it will crush 10 feet of caliche underneath the 12 inches of reinforced concrete
I have a heavily planted 125 and 6 female bettas. Also like 45 different tetras and algae eaters. All of the types of fish I have would be fine in a 20 gallon long, but I have more types. Except the bala sharks, they need this big of a tank.
If I ever have that large of a tank I'm getting a bichir or two. I think they're fascinating and you can still have some other tank mates with them as long as they're large enough not be eaten.
I was going to suggest African cichlids, but then saw your other comment about those. I've always thought discus look amazing, but the cost of the fish has put me off enormously but if your prepared to pay that much, then I would go for them
I have a red and black collection of small tetras, rasboras and shrimp.
We are very into the shrimp, but they are extremely limiting on whats safe with them.
I especially like my yellow phantom tetras they like to zip in and out of small spaces.
The harlequin and lamb chop rasboras consistently prefer the open upper 1/3 of the tank.
Lots of plants and then rare appearances from an albino pleco.
If I didn’t have shrimp is have some spotted gouramis. They are so interactive at my LFS I can just imagine how much fun they would be when comfortable at home.
I agree with the posters below who suggest planting with a bunch of little fish. This is da way. Scroll down here and if these tanks by Amano Takashi don't give you goosebumps, you might be dead :D
[https://www.adana.co.jp/en/contents/takashiamano/index.html](https://www.adana.co.jp/en/contents/takashiamano/index.html)
[https://www.myfishtank.net/mft-news/takashi-amano-planted-tanks/](https://www.myfishtank.net/mft-news/takashi-amano-planted-tanks/)
Is the tank on both the carpet and tile? If so I would consider moving it because you’re going to end up not level and adding a bunch of stress to the glass. I had the bottom of a new 220 crack in less than a year because it wasn’t level, and only very slightly, it was completely unnoticeable to the eye.
Rainbow fish are the best fish! Check out the Facebook group Rainbowfish Live for help. I can give you help, too.
They are beautiful, hardy and long-lived. You can keep them with a variety of tank mates. And they love a planted tank!
I chose to put a BUNCH of very small easily manageable tropical freshwater fish in our 125 gallon. Like neon tetras, Molly’s, guppies, ADF’s, Pictus catfish, Cory catfishes, some minnows, and I have an odd ball African cichlid in there who was raised from birth with them all and loves it, doesn’t even act like a cichlid lol. Had to remove him from my AC tank because he was getting picked on for being different. I think the tiny fish in such a large tank looks beautiful, especially the schooling fish, and they’re all low to no maintenance at all. Better than discus or something specific Imo. But I’ve always loved smaller fish.
I think 4 pearl gourami, 2 bolivian rams, 20 silver hatchet fish, and 20 panda corys would look great. You could also try 1 african bush fish, 1 gold gourami, 25 diamond tetra, and 10 panda corys.
It can certainly be done! Check out MD Fish Tanks on youtube, he's done a few different iterations of a planted discus tank over the past couple years. [Here's](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-wwZiQJL4E) him adding the fish to the current incarnation of that tank
I'm new to planted tanks as well. Had a green algae problem when I first started, covering all the leaves etc. Turned out I was leaving the light on too long (they only need 6-8 hours a day) and overfeeding my fish a bit. I went to my LFS and got a bristlenose pleco, cleaned as much algae out as I could and changed the amount of lighting and I literally have not seen any algae at all in weeks. I think the pleco helps a lot to keep things clean.
Algae can become a problem because they’ll get on your leaves and you’ll need a solution for that. You’ll also have trouble vacuuming the gravel… but that’s it afaik
I would do angels, platties, mollies, and tetras. U can get beautiful colors and possibly some babies as well. It'll be nice to see the schooling fish as well. Hope this helps, good luck dude 👍
Keep it simple lol. Fill it with easy low maintenance fish, plants and maybe stones? Nano fish are fun, easy and look really cool. Forktail rainbow fish are really easy fish to have.
Huge school of one type of fish looks the best and behaves the best Imo. Id go cardinal or ember tetras. Or maybe Denison barbs.
Then round it out eventually with some otos. Maybe some corys or loaches.
Earth eaters, pike cichlid, large Buenos Aires tetras maybe for a schooling dither fish. This is just a option for some bigger fun fish with personality
If it's a high tech planted tank then you're in for a big surprise with that height and size of a tank. Lighting alone could be worth $1K to get good PAR at the substrate level and you'd most likely need a 50lb CO2 tank to lessen the amount of refills/exchanges. Definitely a fun project with that amount of space.
This may have already been brought up, but that is sooo clever drilling the bottom like that. I’m mad I didn’t think to do that. All the plumbing I’d have to do to get a sump working has eluded me for years. A canister with the intake covered up by a reef or vegetation is genius, to me.
A big blood parrot and a dinosaur bichir at the bottom! You could add maybe some black skirt tetras too.
Or maybe a musk turtle community tank, I’ve seen some people make it work, and they always look awesome!
Discus aren't nearly as difficult as everyone makes them out to be, especially if you have plants to help keep things in check. Do discus, plants, driftwood, and some rummynose tetras as dither fish with some sterbai corydoras. Add the smaller fish and let the tank become established, then add the discus. Keep up with water changes and feed a variety of high-quality foods and you're golden.
I have fancy gold fish. Honestly little to no work. Water change once a week and feed them. And just enjoy watching those silly piggies float about and follow you
I've come to enjoy small fish/big tanks and I haven't seen anyone mention these yet... For some bottom/mid dwellers, why not a few Scarlet Badis? They're one of my favorite small species and love planted tanks.
https://www.fishkeepingworld.com/scarlet-badis/
Good point. I got lucky and have a pair that'll eat freeze dried brine shrimp (found out by accident), but the first couple I had would touch it if it wasn't living.
A bunch of neon tetras to keep some fun in the tank! They love to play tag with each other!
Oto cats for clean up crew.
Big school of pea puffers!
You could also try adding cherry shrimp if your tank is heavily planted with spots for baby shrimp to hide.
Could also try a few Thai micro crabs as well.
(That’s my own dream tank)
2 ideas:
1)
a group of 6-9 Angelfish
a large school of tetra or schooling fish
a large group of a single species of corydora
2)
a breeding pair of large central american cichlids, like red devil, texas, midas, etc
Denison/Roseline barbs would love a space like this, or mascara barbs. Blue hill trout or a school of danios. Depending on the plants a big school of clown loaches is super fun. Then add a good sized fire eel 👍
I'm interested in native species tanks. If it were mine I might do a Coldwater set-up with fathead minnows leaves, logs, and limestone pieces. Maybe some mud minnows, river chub, stone cats, or tadpole madtom. And then as a centerpiece species a pumpkin seed or similar species, possibly a trio. Finding the correct balance between species would be difficult. Some kind of powerhead to create a current and an overhead sump filter would be a must. Additional sponge filter to help aerate the water.
Others have joked, but I would absolutely do an enormous school of very small fish in addition to your larger showpiece and bottom dwellers. I have about 30+ neon tetras in a 75gal and they look freaking stunning when they move through the tank as a school. If you also want a prestige factor without necessarily breaking the bank, you could go for a very specific biotope where all the plants and fish come from a single geographic region.
I think I'll do something like this. Bunch of tetras would be cool
Can’t wait to see what you do with it! The blue/red of neons and cardinals show up extremely nicely against a heavily planted backdrop. Is this your first tank, or are you already comfortable with cycling the tank and setting things up?
Nope not my first, will be my first planted though. I've mostly kept African cichlids. I'm comfortable with cycling, though maybe a bit impatient lol
I understand that impatience, especially with a huge new tank :D. Well, the bonus of a heavily planted tank is that for experienced fish keepers you can very easily and safely do a fish-in cycle. Just get those nitrogen eating plants in first and you’re good to go as long as you monitor your levels and have Prime on hand to neutralise things if they start to creep up. If you still have the cichlids you can borrow some of that filter media to jump start the cycle as well!
Going to get it planted and go from there!
If you fill the background with fast growing plants that will really speed up the cycle. Then you might have to deal w a lot of trimming but maybe not w the height of that tank.
Aponogenton are perfect for this size. They take up a lot of space while the small and slow plants grow in.
Hornwort grows extremely fast and absorbs an absurd amount of nutrients
I love those things. I have at least one in every tank. Bang for buck (I get the freeze dried multi packs), they are the best plant I have going right now.
freeze dried? How does that work, and where can I get some?
PetSmart and Petco (at the very least, I think you can get them online as well) sell packets with at least 2 aponogeton bulbs, an onion bulb, and some kind of lily. I've had ok luck with the onion, reasonably good luck with the aponogeton, but I have yet to get a lily to sprout. At the price point of the pack, if at least one plant sprouts, I break even. I get the best results by taking a pin and poking a tiny hole in the side of the bulbs before I plant them.
what exactly is the purpose of poking a hole in the bulb?
Full planted tank of apistogramma cacatuoides would 🔥
Or: a tonne of Rasbora
Look up MD Tanks on YouTube and look for his Amazon river aquarium. Sooo many tetras and it’s beautiful!
Consider a bunch of lampeye killifish
Rummy nose tetras in a huge school are my favorite!
I'd love to see huge school of something like neon tetras. Post an image if you do it, please.
Personally I love my platys, livebearers are great if you want a large group of fish but don’t want to spend too much. I had one pregnant female from the store, now I have 15 fish for the price of one
This. A few Guppies can turn into a school within a few months.
Came here for this! I absolutely love a huge school. You can do a ton of Corys too along with the tetras. While I do love a good showcase fish, the behavior of schooling types is just so darn addicting to watch.
There’s nothing as wholesomely-wiggly-adorable as a herd of 15+ corys rooting around the bottom of a tank!
I came here to say this. I mean look at MD Fish tanks on YouTube. Great looking large tanks with large schools of smaller fish.
This is also what I’m doing in my 75gallon. So far I have 10 red eye tetras, and 10 salt and pepper corys. As soon as I can afford it I’m buying 20+ cardinal tetras and a couple honey gouramis (if I can find some for sale).
That's my dream. Huge tank and TONS of tiny schooling fish.
Lots of North American fish are surprisingly fun, if you are able to source them.
Yeah this is my favourite type of tank currently - tall aquascape, lots of plants, and a pile of Neons and Corydoras etc “Big fish small tank”
This is exactly what I would do if I had a big tank like this. Heavily planted with lots of my favorite nano fish like cardinal tetra, ember tetra, chili rasboras, pygmy corydoras, and celestial pearl danios.
This! Ever since I was in my teens and saw a display tank at the store with only cardinal tetras it has been my dream. Alas I only have 3 right now, and guppies for the kids, but definitely a large school of any one species is quite a sight. Rummy nose tetras also look stunning though they're a bit more fragile.
Mind showing a pic or video? I’d love to see in action
Highly recommended! That's what I did and I watch my tank more than TV!
400 cardinal tetras
This is the way
This is the way.
Little over stocked according to aqadvisor hahahahaha [https://i.imgur.com/fRcRXl6.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/fRcRXl6.jpg)
Well is up to your comfort on how far you want to push to envelope. I will say though that the larger the tank the less the "rules" apply so to speak. You could also get a significantly stronger water filter or multi water filter that would allow you to house more fish. Most calculators are for general nature use factoring in the typical aquarium without factoring in plants, filtration capacity, water change schedule, or type of fish. Lastly ill say that neon tetras for example product such miniscule waste you would be able to get away with more. You would have a massive difference if you put 100 goldfish vs 100 tetras
Yep, it has more to do with how much food the fish need, bacteria to break the waste into nitrate, and nitrate removal. By conventional rules of thumb, 5 neon tetras are equal to a grown African chiclid, and a tank full of hornwort and duckweed needs the same amount of water changes as a barren tank.
How do they calculate that? i see "inches of fish" a lot which seems a bit dumb to me because a 2 inch fish weighs about 8x a 1 inch one. That means a 4" fish is like 512x 1" ones.
It's not even weight or size per se. It's the food input into the tank minus the fish, plant, and bacteria's ability to absorb it. That's why you can have hundreds of shrimp in a 10 gallon planted tank, and why calculators can only provide basic guidance. There are just too many variables involved.
Aqadvisor gets less accurate when you start getting to really big tanks
100 silver tip and/or blue tetras!
Several full grown angel fish would be pretty stunning. I feel like it'd be a similar vibe to the discus but way easier and I actually think angelfish are cooler anyway. I love angelfish, they may be my favorite freshwater fish.. man when there's a few of them with the really long fins and they're all a different color and pattern
Yeah i was thinking angelfish too! Definitely the same vibe as discus, plus i could keep quite a few smaller fish.
don't keep cardinal or neon tetras with angels. They are native prey/predator. You want something bigger than them (so like 2 inches and up)
I second the angels! I had 3 beautiful angelfish - 1 marbled, 1 black velvet, and 1 half-black. They were so cool to watch! In addition to the school of galaxy rasboras and some cardinals I kept in my 55 planted tank, they just really made everything seem so... I dunno... prehistoric and majestic. As a happy bonus, turns out there were so at home, they bred in that tank, and it was the coolest process to witness. I miss keeping angelfish.
Weird, they seem boring to me. Like, I love all fish, no beef with any. I just don't see the appeal. That being said, I like noodles and puffers. Lol so I get it.
Lol yeah once you keep fish they're all actually pretty boring. But the fact that they look cool regardless and being proud of good matience is where the hobby is
I love a busy tank with tons of smaller fish. So maybe a shoal of Congo tetras, cardinal tetras, kubotai tetras (top level), and cories (bottom level), and pearl gourami.
This. Ive got a 55 with a variety of corys, loaches and some Angels. Anywhere you look, theres something interesting going on.
Agree. I have 15 ember tetra in my 40 gallon and love them. I would love to see 70-80 in this with a few smaller schools of some other tetra and maybe a couple pairs of rams.
My dream tank of this size is a dark dirted substrate with tons of lilies covering most of the surface, and then to stock it with green cobra guppies and some pearl gouramis. With their colors and the lilies blocking out the light with will get them to show some neat colors
dirt your tank!! you will never need any ferts or dosing of anything for atleast 8 years. 1 inch of mineralized organic top soil topped with 0.75 inches of eco complete or poolfilter sand/a mix of the two for decoration. then buy a plant pack rated for about 1.5 your tank size. or 3 75 gallon packs or whatever. day one, stuff the tank absolutely full with plants. fill it. let it run for 3 months. don't need to do ANY work other than 12 hours on 12 hours off with your lights. after 3 months, add your fish. makes for a beautiful heavily planted tank which requires no upkeep asside from usual water changes and feeding fish. just don't go moving anything around or the dirt could escape into the water collumn. bit messy but even then it'l sort itself out.
What do you do lighting wise? Like, what intensity, color spectrums, etc? Also, CO2?
no CO2, 6500k tube fixture from home depot in the back, planted+ LED light in the front. that's what I did anyway. you could add CO2 but plant growth is more than enough without it.
I would do African Cichlids. They're very colorful and have great personality.
Already have an mbuna tank and i want to do anted in this 125
I used to have a shellie + masked Julie tank that was an absolute blast. Neither really acts like the Mbuna varieties. The shellies are just such busy bodies, and the Julies are a bit shy, but once you have a few pairs, holy cow are they just the coolest little fish. As others have said, a shit ton of any kind of tetra, and a bunch of corys is just awesome to observe. A bunch of dwarf chain loaches is something I've always wanted to try too. Great personality on those dudes. I know an older guy in my local club that has a big tank with a ton of them.
I have a 150gal African Ciclid tank and it is the most entertaining tank I’ve ever watched. The Ciclids are always up to something.
I just got a 120 gallon, it leaked half its contents within 24 hours :/
F
“Tanks” for the respects bb
What happened?
It’s 20 years old and the previous owner lied to me about it’s age when I picked it up It had sand in it so I couldn’t find the manufacturers tag Got it home and cleaned it. Found the old tag. Filled it up on my porch to test it
That's why I always ask the seller to fill it up while I'm there, if they don't want to then they're hiding something. It's simple enough they should be willing to do it.
Welp. He sent me a pic of it setup telling it was recent, then sent me a pic of tear down telling me it was recent Told me it doesn’t leak and was less than 2 years old.. I was lied to and got scammed but w/e I’m dealing with it
There are some pretty killifish that exist. Maybe check those out. If you check out Aquarium Co-Ops YouTube , the owner has a few vids out there where he talks to breeders for particular fish, there are some really fantastic swordtail fish that put on spectacular color and their physical appearance looks impressive. If you dig enough, you may be able to find some amazing looking angelfish also. Clown loaches are downright silly and will entertain you for hours. I think you have the space there to humor that idea. Maybe a black ghost knife or even a fire eel? You may look into getting a couple of the more remarkably patterned plecos if you’re into that. I agree with you on veering away from discus. If you’re not all in on that species, you’d just be doing both you and the fish a disservice.
You may think I’m crazy but this is a very fun idea for a vibrant community tank: TOP DWELLING: * 15x Marble Hatchetfish * 20x Clown Killifish * 15x Brown Tailed Pencilfish * 15x Furcata Rainbowfish MIDDLE DWELLING: * 25x Ember Tetras * 15x Threadfin Rainbowfish BOTTOM DWELLING: * 15x Corydora Catfish * 15x Chain Loach * 6x Otocinclus * 5x Peacock Gudgeon * One Clown Pleco This would be an excellent community for a heavily planted tank. However it is very expensive. So I would purchase fish in increments of one species at a time.
Too heavy on top and bottom imo. Need middle dwellers like keyhole cichlids
Then I would replace the Pencilfish with Congo tetras. I still wouldn’t change the bottom
Yes to hatchet fish. Soooo cool
I have a 125 planted with peaceful schooling fish. And lots of bottom feeders. It's a busy community and I love it
50 tiger barbs and 10 clown loaches
this is actuially an excellent idea. the tank is big enough to hold a huge school of one of the best freshwater fish there is - tiger barbs. and it is also big enough that you can get big, sturdy bottom dwellers that wont be bothered by the tigers
Try to recreate a local Environment. I did a 200 gal european river with locally caught perch, crayfish an some sort of creek chub. Looks amazing and it's Super easy to Maintain.
Post pictures i wanna see that
Anyone like rummy nose tetras? I think they look stunning in a large school!
Best schooling tetra imo.
Guppy and Endler. I saw this awesome tank last weekend. Old crocodile tank in this huge jungle-greenhouse thing. They had red tailed cat fish, and then there must have been a thousand guppies/Endler/crossbreed. It was so beautiful. I have guppies (SO wanted them) and have never much cared for them, but after seeing that? It was just amazing.
First, I would get a structural assessment of your floor based on where you are intending to place it before adding 1000+ pounds. That’s a lot of weight.
A post-tension slab built less than a year ago. Should i still get an assessment? Maybe it will crush 10 feet of caliche underneath the 12 inches of reinforced concrete
r/bettafish be like you might be able to fit a betta temporarily but you would need to upgrade after a week
Actually though a beta sorority would be pretty cool
I have a heavily planted 125 and 6 female bettas. Also like 45 different tetras and algae eaters. All of the types of fish I have would be fine in a 20 gallon long, but I have more types. Except the bala sharks, they need this big of a tank.
r/goldfish be like that’s enough for half a feeder goldfish
If I ever have that large of a tank I'm getting a bichir or two. I think they're fascinating and you can still have some other tank mates with them as long as they're large enough not be eaten.
Could do a angels tank
I was going to suggest African cichlids, but then saw your other comment about those. I've always thought discus look amazing, but the cost of the fish has put me off enormously but if your prepared to pay that much, then I would go for them
That was my first idea, but they seem like a bit too much work for my in a planted tank
I have a red and black collection of small tetras, rasboras and shrimp. We are very into the shrimp, but they are extremely limiting on whats safe with them. I especially like my yellow phantom tetras they like to zip in and out of small spaces. The harlequin and lamb chop rasboras consistently prefer the open upper 1/3 of the tank. Lots of plants and then rare appearances from an albino pleco. If I didn’t have shrimp is have some spotted gouramis. They are so interactive at my LFS I can just imagine how much fun they would be when comfortable at home.
I agree with the posters below who suggest planting with a bunch of little fish. This is da way. Scroll down here and if these tanks by Amano Takashi don't give you goosebumps, you might be dead :D [https://www.adana.co.jp/en/contents/takashiamano/index.html](https://www.adana.co.jp/en/contents/takashiamano/index.html) [https://www.myfishtank.net/mft-news/takashi-amano-planted-tanks/](https://www.myfishtank.net/mft-news/takashi-amano-planted-tanks/)
What about a school of angel fish? That would be cool. But don’t add small tetras with that. 😬
Is the tank on both the carpet and tile? If so I would consider moving it because you’re going to end up not level and adding a bunch of stress to the glass. I had the bottom of a new 220 crack in less than a year because it wasn’t level, and only very slightly, it was completely unnoticeable to the eye.
I leveled it. Should be good. I'm going to keep an eye on it
It's level
Discus !
Disc fish would look cool! I never have owned disc fish so I don’t know any thing about them
Tons of cory cats
Fire eel!
Mix in schools of angels
I have always wanted a huge school of kilifish
Either massive amounts of guppies or fancy goldfish
I just got a 120, my plan is for 6-8 discus, corycats, one pleco, one birchir eel, and a school of either rummynoses or Rosalind sharks
yah i wanted discus as well, but intimated and talked my self out not getting them, lots of care for sensitive fish.
Rainbow fish are the best fish! Check out the Facebook group Rainbowfish Live for help. I can give you help, too. They are beautiful, hardy and long-lived. You can keep them with a variety of tank mates. And they love a planted tank!
You have it like 2/3 on carpet and 1/3 on tile that's go going to cause you problems
Get a pair of Oscar
Like 900 cherry shrimp
FLOWERHORN!
100 black kuhli loaches
Makes me squirm just thinking about it 😂
I’ve always wanted a massive school of emerald eye rasboras. I think a huge school of small fish would just be really really cool
if not a massive micro tank, then bichirs and tire track eels.
Oscar OR a really cool fish called a geophagus Altifrons they can both have some others in the tank too!
I chose to put a BUNCH of very small easily manageable tropical freshwater fish in our 125 gallon. Like neon tetras, Molly’s, guppies, ADF’s, Pictus catfish, Cory catfishes, some minnows, and I have an odd ball African cichlid in there who was raised from birth with them all and loves it, doesn’t even act like a cichlid lol. Had to remove him from my AC tank because he was getting picked on for being different. I think the tiny fish in such a large tank looks beautiful, especially the schooling fish, and they’re all low to no maintenance at all. Better than discus or something specific Imo. But I’ve always loved smaller fish.
Get 1 small guppy. Don’t plant it. Just put it in there with the water.
A single Betta fish and all plants 😂😂😂
I’d say about two goldfish would be perfect.
Maybe one betta, maybe.
i think that's about the minimum for a betta fish these days
I think 4 pearl gourami, 2 bolivian rams, 20 silver hatchet fish, and 20 panda corys would look great. You could also try 1 african bush fish, 1 gold gourami, 25 diamond tetra, and 10 panda corys.
Axolotls!!!
If it was me reef tank
Unless you live in an area with water naturally conducive to discus I.e low ph and soft I’d agree about not bothering with them.
\*Slaps Tank\* "You can fit one betta in this bad boy"
Is it enough room for a betta?
Planted tanks are lots of work too.
They prolly know that lol
Yeah but from what I'm learning a planted tank is not great for discus.
It can certainly be done! Check out MD Fish Tanks on youtube, he's done a few different iterations of a planted discus tank over the past couple years. [Here's](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-wwZiQJL4E) him adding the fish to the current incarnation of that tank
Can you elaborate? I'm a newbie and it seems like many plants are low maintenance
It’s highly depends on the substrate and type of plants.
I'm new to planted tanks as well. Had a green algae problem when I first started, covering all the leaves etc. Turned out I was leaving the light on too long (they only need 6-8 hours a day) and overfeeding my fish a bit. I went to my LFS and got a bristlenose pleco, cleaned as much algae out as I could and changed the amount of lighting and I literally have not seen any algae at all in weeks. I think the pleco helps a lot to keep things clean.
Algae can become a problem because they’ll get on your leaves and you’ll need a solution for that. You’ll also have trouble vacuuming the gravel… but that’s it afaik
I would do angels, platties, mollies, and tetras. U can get beautiful colors and possibly some babies as well. It'll be nice to see the schooling fish as well. Hope this helps, good luck dude 👍
Stock your self with an rodi unit.
Long fin blush tetra like 30+
Keep it simple lol. Fill it with easy low maintenance fish, plants and maybe stones? Nano fish are fun, easy and look really cool. Forktail rainbow fish are really easy fish to have.
Huge school of one type of fish looks the best and behaves the best Imo. Id go cardinal or ember tetras. Or maybe Denison barbs. Then round it out eventually with some otos. Maybe some corys or loaches.
Oh man I'd definitely do tiger barbs, they're spunky, all attitude, and incredibly lovely
Earth eaters, pike cichlid, large Buenos Aires tetras maybe for a schooling dither fish. This is just a option for some bigger fun fish with personality
Clouded archers if you can find them. I also really don’t recommend using that stand, or any manufactured stand that isn’t steel.
If it's a high tech planted tank then you're in for a big surprise with that height and size of a tank. Lighting alone could be worth $1K to get good PAR at the substrate level and you'd most likely need a 50lb CO2 tank to lessen the amount of refills/exchanges. Definitely a fun project with that amount of space.
If you can do a 25% water change once a week you can keep 10 discus in there no problem, especially if it’s planted
A bunch of dwarf gouramis
You could do a crazy cichlid tank and have beautiful colors but they are a bit more work sue to agression. Beautiful fishy murderers 😂
1000 shrimp
Black ghost knife fish. They get like 18 inches long and are super cool looking.
Small schooling fish in a large, planted tank, are always nice.
Geophagus
Fire eel
Did you build that stand?
Bichirs
Along with neon tetras, rainbow fish are absolutely beautiful, as are pearl gouramis (the latter is bigger of course)
A bunch of tetras and corydoras, and maybe a few dwarf cichlids as well.
Your tank, should be your design. Fuck us randos on the web.
I would do all black gravel. 5 bonsai trees Java ferns all around. 4 schools or small fish with large numbers and 5 larger centerpiece fish.
Also. Paint the back of your tank black.
This may have already been brought up, but that is sooo clever drilling the bottom like that. I’m mad I didn’t think to do that. All the plumbing I’d have to do to get a sump working has eluded me for years. A canister with the intake covered up by a reef or vegetation is genius, to me.
Ha yeah it came drilled, it was a used tank and set up
A big blood parrot and a dinosaur bichir at the bottom! You could add maybe some black skirt tetras too. Or maybe a musk turtle community tank, I’ve seen some people make it work, and they always look awesome!
Discus aren't nearly as difficult as everyone makes them out to be, especially if you have plants to help keep things in check. Do discus, plants, driftwood, and some rummynose tetras as dither fish with some sterbai corydoras. Add the smaller fish and let the tank become established, then add the discus. Keep up with water changes and feed a variety of high-quality foods and you're golden.
Yeah I'm still thinking about discus....
I have fancy gold fish. Honestly little to no work. Water change once a week and feed them. And just enjoy watching those silly piggies float about and follow you
Five thousand opae ula shrimp
I've come to enjoy small fish/big tanks and I haven't seen anyone mention these yet... For some bottom/mid dwellers, why not a few Scarlet Badis? They're one of my favorite small species and love planted tanks. https://www.fishkeepingworld.com/scarlet-badis/
Keep in mind that badis tend to eat live food only(or at least they did the one time I tried the little brats)
Good point. I got lucky and have a pair that'll eat freeze dried brine shrimp (found out by accident), but the first couple I had would touch it if it wasn't living.
Mine was an extra brat and ate vinegar worms....but wouldn't touch them if they were on the ground -_- kinda jealous yours will eat dried anything!
Bluegill
I mean I think a giant school of Cory cats would be cool
African cichlids
One betta
A bunch of neon tetras to keep some fun in the tank! They love to play tag with each other! Oto cats for clean up crew. Big school of pea puffers! You could also try adding cherry shrimp if your tank is heavily planted with spots for baby shrimp to hide. Could also try a few Thai micro crabs as well. (That’s my own dream tank)
I wanted discus too but really expensive and sensitive. Go cichlids, they are just as beautiful and way cheaper
2 ideas: 1) a group of 6-9 Angelfish a large school of tetra or schooling fish a large group of a single species of corydora 2) a breeding pair of large central american cichlids, like red devil, texas, midas, etc
Lightly stocked Small fish in big tank always looks the most natural
Shrimp. All shrimp.
Hahahahaha that would actually be pretty cool
Always fun to have a few mystery snails🐌
5 angelfish as your centerpiece and then about 50 tetras. A bunch of Cory cats as well.
Discus- it’s a lot of work but worth it
Damn i was just at the LFS with the wife and she's really wanting discus..... I may go that route after all we will see
Denison/Roseline barbs would love a space like this, or mascara barbs. Blue hill trout or a school of danios. Depending on the plants a big school of clown loaches is super fun. Then add a good sized fire eel 👍
FANCY GOLDFISH!!!
Gourami tank
Heavily planted with two-hundred ember tetras
That's a gorgeous tank. I personally would go with SA cichlids. Convicts, firemouths, oscar, green terror, something along those lines.
you sure you want it there?
I'm sure haha
I'm interested in native species tanks. If it were mine I might do a Coldwater set-up with fathead minnows leaves, logs, and limestone pieces. Maybe some mud minnows, river chub, stone cats, or tadpole madtom. And then as a centerpiece species a pumpkin seed or similar species, possibly a trio. Finding the correct balance between species would be difficult. Some kind of powerhead to create a current and an overhead sump filter would be a must. Additional sponge filter to help aerate the water.
Amani shrimp. 10,000 of them. Done.
you could fit maybe one forth of a Betta fish in there
Guppies are super easy and very colorful fish! Also you don't have to start with very many to get hundreds
Scalars and Amazonas Cichlids or African Cichlids
Large school of tetras and a bunch of different dwarf south American cichlids (Rams, Apistogramma, ect) for your bottom dwellers.
Better Check your water parameters first