150 gallon with sump. - stocking rainbows

FishForums.net Pet of the Month
šŸ¶ POTM Poll is Open! šŸ¦Ž Click here to Vote! šŸ°

Carpi150

New Member
Joined
Jan 17, 2019
Messages
7
Reaction score
0
Hi all,

I have been monitoring this forum for a while but never registered until today.

Bit of a background. I have had several smaller tanks, 64l, 100l and my latest Roma 240. Iā€™ve learnt a lot already from these, Iā€™ve had the beginner fish like mollies, then moved onto chain Loach, bn Plecos, and now rainbows and angelfish currently in my 240. They are only around 3 months old but there colour is great already. Iā€™ve recently bought 6 clown Loach with the expectation of losing a few as I know how sensitive they are. Thankfully 5/6 made it through and are doing very well.

The reason I bought these is because Iā€™m planning on buying a 150 gallon tank with sump from NDAQUATICS. 72 x 24 x 18 unless you guys suggest any other site but their site seems easy to use.

Iā€™m undecided where to place the weir, corner or central. I plan on using my fx6 also from my Roma 240. Iā€™ll be using the 240 as a quarantine tank.

The new tank will have African cichlid substrate from CaribSea with a soil underneath. Will possibly use Ada aqua soil from Roma under the sand. Tank will be heavily planted with lots of wood, caves and stones.

Iā€™ve already purchased the sand as the intention was to have a Malawi cichlid tank but I just canā€™t let my rainbows go. So after doing lots of research and I mean hours and hours Iā€™ve come up with a compromise with rainbows, clown Loach, angel fish and some hopefully peaceful cichlids.

I canā€™t give you water parameters as I donā€™t have tank yet, but I can give you a guide. PH will be around 7.8-8.2, I have hard water. It will be similar to my current tank but with very slightly higher PH, expecting the sand to increase this.

My rainbows, angelfish and clown Loach are all perfectly healthy and thriving. I have read conflicting views that these fish either like soft or hard water but please, it is working for me and I have no concerns regarding this.

Because of the harder water and higher PH, this is where my compromise comes in and hoping for some advice from you guys experienced in this field.

My planned stock:
6 Boesemani
5 Reds
5 Blues
Few banded
5 Angelfish
5 Clown Loach
1 Denison barb - May have to remove as Iā€™ve read he needs to be in 3s
1 SAE
2 BN Pleco - has these a while and constantly breeding. May remove them or leave them in Roma 240.

To add in with new tank:

1 x Blue Acara
1 x Rainbow Cichlid
1 x Orange Chromide
1 x Kribensis
1 x Bolivian Ram
1/2 Keyhole Cichlid


Keep adding and removing from list:

Pearl Cichlid - because of digging

According to another website, this stocking is well under the amount (60%) but this is what I plan to have.

Sorry for long post, filtration will be well over the top with K1 moving bed, lots of Biohome.

Thanks guys and gals
 
Last edited:
Hi and welcome to the forum :)

Drain holes in tanks should always be in the corners where there is more strength and less chance of the glass cracking.

Rather than going for a 6ft x 2ft x 18inch tank, why not just get a 6 x 2 x 2ft tank? It will take up the same space but hold more water. Obviously you have to make sure the floor can hold the extra weight but both tanks will be made from 10mm thick glass so they are both going to be heavy.

--------------------------
I wouldn't use the Carib Sea sand or put soil underneath it. Mixing different types of substrate never works. The stuff on top always mixes with the stuff underneath it and eventually it looks like crap. If you have bottom dwelling fishes like loaches this will happen pretty quickly.

I would use a plain brown gravel with smooth edges so the bottom dwellers don't get scratched by it. And I wouldn't have any soil because it does nothing useful.

The Carib Sea sand is not suitable for loaches or any fish that comes from acid water. And angelfish won't be happy in a pH of 8+.

--------------------------
Putting all those cichlids in the same tank is asking for trouble. They will argue and the blue acara and rainbow cichlid will win. The kribensis will breed prolifically and there will be more territorial fights when they try to protect their babies. The orange chromides should be kept in a single species tank or with small peaceful fish.

All barbs need to be kept in groups of at least 6 and preferably 10 or more. I wouldn't bother keeping barbs if you have rainbows because they both do the same thing, zip around the tank. :)

I have no idea what 5 reds and 5 blues are in your list.

If you keep rainbowfish, try to keep even numbers of males and try to keep them similar sized. If you have 3 males the 2 biggest ones will bully the smaller male. Try to have 2 males or 4 males or 6 males, etc. Have females in the tank too so the males show off to them. Most bigger rainbowfish don't get full colour until they are 2 years old, but they will have most of their colour after 12 months.

There is more info on rainbowfish at the following link.
http://rainbowfish.angfaqld.org.au/Melano.htm
 
Hi and welcome to the forum :)

Hi Colin, thank you for your advice

Drain holes in tanks should always be in the corners where there is more strength and less chance of the glass cracking.

This makes sense, I shall put it in the corner!

Rather than going for a 6ft x 2ft x 18inch tank, why not just get a 6 x 2 x 2ft tank? It will take up the same space but hold more water. Obviously you have to make sure the floor can hold the extra weight but both tanks will be made from 10mm thick glass so they are both going to be heavy.

I canā€™t have it two feet as it will stick out from the wall too much. 24 being height, 18 being width/depth? Hopefully that makes sense. Otherwise I would go bigger.
--------------------------
I wouldn't use the Carib Sea sand or put soil underneath it. Mixing different types of substrate never works. The stuff on top always mixes with the stuff underneath it and eventually it looks like crap. If you have bottom dwelling fishes like loaches this will happen pretty quickly.

I would use a plain brown gravel with smooth edges so the bottom dwellers don't get scratched by it. And I wouldn't have any soil because it does nothing useful.

The Carib Sea sand is not suitable for loaches or any fish that comes from acid water. And angelfish won't be happy in a pH of 8+.

My current tank is around 7.8 and the Angels are doing very well. If I can try and match that in my new tank, would this sand be okay? Iā€™ve purchased 4 bags of this at a cost of over Ā£100 so donā€™t really want to waste it. Iā€™ve never used it nor have I opened the bag yet, this sand would not hurt the loaches would it? Is it just the PH you are concerned about? Iā€™ve always had soil/gravel and want to move to sand. Iā€™ve heard this sand is great for rainbows. Iā€™ve also seen people layer a small amount of soil under sand to cap it? Iā€™ll look at that again.

--------------------------
Putting all those cichlids in the same tank is asking for trouble. They will argue and the blue acara and rainbow cichlid will win. The kribensis will breed prolifically and there will be more territorial fights when they try to protect their babies. The orange chromides should be kept in a single species tank or with small peaceful fish.

I only plan on having one of each so no breeding will occur. Iā€™ve read all those cichlids are peaceful unless when breeding? What if any cichlids would you put in? I love the look of Rainbow Cichlid and blue Acara. Iā€™ve seen a few tanks with these mixed.

All barbs need to be kept in groups of at least 6 and preferably 10 or more. I wouldn't bother keeping barbs if you have rainbows because they both do the same thing, zip around the tank. :)

I like the different colours on them, and feel they would add variety. Iā€™ll definitely consider this advice though.

I have no idea what 5 reds and 5 blues are in your list.

Rainbows :)

If you keep rainbowfish, try to keep even numbers of males and try to keep them similar sized. If you have 3 males the 2 biggest ones will bully the smaller male. Try to have 2 males or 4 males or 6 males, etc. Have females in the tank too so the males show off to them. Most bigger rainbowfish don't get full colour until they are 2 years old, but they will have most of their colour after 12 months.

I didnā€™t know about the even numbers thank you. I do have a few small rainbows added recently and none appear to be bullying but they arenā€™t all fully grown yet.

There is more info on rainbowfish at the following link.
http://rainbowfish.angfaqld.org.au/Melano.htm

Thank you again Colin, Iā€™ve replied within the quote to some points for clarity.
 
Sorry to clarify the substrate:

CaribSea African cichlid substrate
Grain size: 0.5-1.5
 
The Carib Sea/ African cichlid substrate will make the pH go above 8.4, which is just too high for angels and loaches. If you can keep the pH at 7.8 it's not as much of an issue but when you get a pH of 8.0 or above, it starts to make a difference to fish that naturally occur in acid water.

If you post pictures of the red and blue rainbows I will try to ID them for you. Red rainbows are normally Glossolepis incisus and blue rainbows can be Melanotaenia praecox or lacustris. You can check them in the rainbowfish link I posted above.

If you're only going for 1 of each cichlid you could try the ones listed but not the orange chromide. But watch them when they mature because there could be problems.
 

Most reactions

trending

Back
Top