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150 Gallon

Hannibal

Hannibal

Members
Assuming it is not sold before next weekend I should be picking up my first big tank as a birthday present to myself.


I just need to figure out what I want to stock it with. Was thinking about putting my Taiwan Reef breeding group in there with another two or three breeding groups of haps. But lately I have become enamored with setting up a planted tank with some new worlds, leaning towards earth eaters. I will dive more into what I am going to stock it with once I actually have the tank but just wanted to share and possibly get some stocking ideas from the group.
 
jonclark96

jonclark96

Past CCA President
Tank looks nice and clean. Being a New World guy, of course I'd recommend going that way, but be wary of geos in a planted tank. They are called eartheaters for a reason...
 
Tony

Tony

Alligator Snapping Turtle/Past Pres
Very very cool, Chris. Congrats!

In my den, I have 3 big tanks set up now - one Central American with wood and rock only, one semi-planted SA and one rocked Malawi hap tank. I can honestly say that I love all three of them.

For the South American setup, my cichlids are Acarichthys heckelii, Geo. parnibae, Krobia guianensis. I also have groups of cories/Brochis, plecos and tetras in there. Jon is right, eartheaters gonna eat earth, lol. So my plants consist of anubias tied to giant pieces of wood. There is pool filter sand on the bottom - which is constantly being moved around. The only plant I have in the substrate is a sword that is surrounded by rocks to prevent being uprooted.

It's also a 150 - which is a stupid tall tank. Nothing wrong with that; just be prepared to get your armpits wet when reaching the back corners. You'll need some serious lighting to grow anything on the bottom - I'd recommend T5 HO as any LEDs that would be effective in growing plants on a 150 would likely cost a fortune. Halides are an option, but are sort of a PITA. My tank is green not because of my lighting (which is quite modest), but because of my slow-growing, non-demanding plants. My sword planted in the corner on the bottom barely grows.

So yeah, I'd do it like that. T5HO with plants tied to massive driftwood.

Malawi is comparatively easy. Sand, big rock formations, a bit more intensive filtration, no worries on crazy lighting.

Either way, I'm sure you'll be happy.

Good luck and happy birthday. :)
 
Tony

Tony

Alligator Snapping Turtle/Past Pres
Of course - option 3 would be to go with a real planted tank with smaller non-digging cicihlds.
 
verbal

verbal

CCA Members
Definitely go for your first big tank :)

I think Haps or EarthEaters would be great for that tank. You can use whatever tank you free up for a planted tank. If you really want to go crazy, you could probably stock Brasiliensis and Haps in the same tank.

With fish generally a bigger tank is easier. However with planted tanks it tends to be more challenging/expensive. Not trying to talk you out of the planted tank, just I think it is something that is better off to start small and scale up.
 
DiscusnAfricans

DiscusnAfricans

Past President
Good luck with the new tank and let me know if you need any help. Happy Early Birthday too! A group of Taiwan Reef, Moorii dolphins and Sapphire Phenocilus would be an awesome tank...
 
Hannibal

Hannibal

Members
And the tank sold...Shot the guy a message to see if I could come take a look at it tonight, before picking it up this weekend and it was gone.

If anyone sees a 6ft tank for sale that is clean please let me know...
 
jonclark96

jonclark96

Past CCA President
Bummer on not getting the tank, but there seems to have been quite a few available already this summer.
 
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