The 150g tank! it's here! yaaay! $250 w/ delivery! stand, lights, hood type thing and filter!

stocking suggestions always welcome!





Just thought I would share my enthusiasm!

Awesome!! It looks great. Congrats on the new tank. Your options for stocking are wide open. You may want to narrow it down a bit as to what types of fish and/or tank you are thinking of. Cichlids, schooling fish, goldfish, planted tank, rockscape, etc...

If it was up to me...I'd probably go with some larger cichlids. Or I might think about doing a planted tank with schooling fish and possibly some discus. Keep an open mind as you have plenty of options.

well my community stock from my 30g is going in which is
1 peacock eel 5 cherry barbs 1 ADF 1 bamboo shrimp common pleco (this rescue is the reason I got a big tank! so hes my new fav fish ) ghost shrimp and sumo loach.

so basically I want a community tank. and it WILL be planted! may even invest in some CO2 (hey I brew beer too so I could put it to two uses!)

would it be big enough for a smaller sting ray? the internet says the minimum is 125g, just wondering if any one here keeps 'em.
and which kind should I get?

I plan on having very small black pebbles or black sand as substrate so if that helps at all.

I don't know if I would recommend a ray. What is the footprint of that tank? It doesn't look deep enough to me.

With the cherry barbs in there you won't want fish that would like the barbs for a snack either. That will rule out most larger cichlids. Maybe some angels or discus? I think the barbs will be big enough not to be targeted by either of those two fish. You could get some more cherry barbs for a larger school of them.

I would definately do some Angels...but I love cichlids!

Great tank, and gotta say your enthusiasm is catching. Ya got a good deal on it, too.

DD is right, a ray is out of the question. A standard 150 gallon is 72" x 18" x 18". The smallest FW rays are in the 12" to 14" range for disc width, plus that again for the tail. At adulthood it wouldn't be able to turn around. A 125 gallon is OK in terms of volume for the smaller rays. The problem is that standard tanks do not have the appropriate length by width (footprint) to accomodate the shape of the ray. A ray raised in a narrow tank will not have room to turn and will develop curling on the ends of its "wings". I wouldn't reccomend anything less than a 6' x 3' footprint for the smallest rays. I wouldn't suggest any fish that is going to exceed 15-18" in total length. Arowanas, large catfish, dovii and umbee cichlids, etc. All will end up eventually having problems due to the tank being too narrow, usually deformations in the neck and spine.

I'd leave the ADF's and the bamboo shrimp in the 30 with the betta. The 150 may be too deep for the ADFs to surface for air.

If your putting your 30 gallon stock in there, here's an idea for stocking:

6 angelfish
4 Bolivian rams OR 4 keyhole cichlids OR 6 dwarf flag acaras (Laetacara curviceps) OR 6 dwarf redbreast acaras (Laetacara dorsiger)
20 cherry barbs
20 black phantom tetras
12 corydoras of any species
your peacock eel
your sumo loach
your pleco

I'd also keep some of your glass shrimp in your 30. Angels, the cichlids, the loach and the eel will all probably make an occasional snack of one here and there when full grown.

WYite

Now that I look at the tank I think your right dirtydawg10 the footprint is not big enough.

of course you would say angels mostlycichlid!

thanks WYite for the stocking list, and I didn't even think about my poor ADF!
I do like the idea of angel fish, never had them before but I think they are neat.
Rams are great too! my LFS gets the German blue rams in quite often!

well I have sometime before I can set it up since it's going in my house I'm building so I get to ponder the stock for a while.

I have never had a tank of this magnitude so I kinda need guidance as to filtration and heating. the filter that came with it is rated for 70g and I don't want to have 3 different filters hanging off the back but I have no idea as to an alternative.
as for the heater big al's online has some ones for a good price that are 300watts. would one of those be enough?

what does everyone use for their big tanks?

For heating, I figure 3-5 watts per gallon. If ya keep the room temperature in the low 70's, less wattage, more wattage if ya keep room temperature lower.

Figure a filtration rate of a minimum of five times the volume of the tank per hour. So your filtration should be a minimum of 750 gallons per hour. Personally, I don't have a favorite type or brand of HOB or canister filter. They are all more or less equal, IMO.

I prefer multiple filters on my large tanks. It allows me to return flow to several areas of the tank and minimize low flow pockets. It is also an insurance policy against mechanical failure. If one filter fails, I still have 1 or 2 other filters maintaining filtration and circulation.

WYite

awesome deal

Personally I would keep the filter it came with. I like the Rena canister filters. I would go with a xp4 on that tank along with the HOB you have. If you don't go the canister route I would invest in two Emperor 400's....I love the biowheels. A lot of people will recommend the Aquaclears but I think the Emperors are easier to clean and more efficient. I would go with two heaters each 250w. I like the Marineland stealths they are very affordable plastic outer so you don't have to worry about em breaking and very accurate. They are also black so they are easy to hide. The reason for two heaters is if one quits working for any reason you will at least have one and reduce your chance of loosing fish due to mechanical error.

In whole larger tanks are much easier to maintain and less maintnance IMO. They are more stable and more enjoyable. Enjoy your new tank and nice pick up...I hope you will keep us updated with the progress and fell free to start new threads if you have any more questions or need any more help.

Or you could use this one:
1 silver aro
2. Peacock eel
3. severums, geos, uaru
4. Bala Sharks, redhooks

You already have good info on the filter and heating questions.

One other thing you will need to think about if you plan on CO2 and plants is the type of lighting that will be required. You are probably looking at needing something in the range of 2 to 3 watts per gallon depending upon your plant types. I would guess that the lighting that came with the tank may not be adequate.

DISCUS! That tank would make a great planted discus tank!

Congrats on the new tank! Sounds like a great deal you got there. Ed

thanks everyone! alright well now I have a plan of action! I'll be posting pics of the progress/setting up the tank when I get close to it!

Mike D wrote:

DISCUS! That tank would make a great planted discus tank!

You could also add angelfish!

I just wanted to say WOOO-WOOOO....YAY, YOU!!!!!

lol thanks lady G!

C'mon. On Sunday you had a 150g in the garage, surely something's happened since then. Looking forward to watching the progress...

Bichir , Ctenopoma acutirostre, African Butterfly tank with Congo Tetras!

Very nice tank, and what a deal! Looking forward to seeing it stocked.