1 Fish, 7 Tanks.....

[Savage_Dias]

I recently helped a couple friends move & since their new house is smaller than their old house they no longer had room for their 48 gallon bowfront tank & stand. It was destined for the landfill so I offered to make some room for it. Right now it is in our dining room along with a 55 gallon tank that has one African Cichlid. Six or so years ago my wife & I moved to this house with 7 cichlids that were happy at our apartment but slowly died off after the move except for the one that constantly hides in a log decoration. He is a healthy fish but we feel like the 55 is being wasted on a fish that uses less space than he would in a 10 gallon tank.

So here's what we're thinking.... The 48 gallon will be a community tank with platys, fancy guppies, tetras, & maybe something else that catches our eyes. The 55 gallon will be repurposed & will be home to one, maybe 2 Oscars. Since I'm a collector & have had MTS since we bought our first 10 gallon tank I have a 20 gallon that will be the new home for the Cichlid.

Since I'm throwing it all out there I'll go ahead & mention that there is also another 20 gallon in our garage plus a 10 gallon as well as a 10 gallon that I had to take as part of the bowfront deal. I'm pretty sure there is another 10 gallon well hidden somewhere in the basement & if that weren't enough we also have three roughly 1 gallon tanks that will probably never be set up unless they are needed for nurseries or hospital tanks. Two of them came with the 48 & the third was given to us but it didn't see much use.

So...

(1) 55 gallon
(1) 48 gallon bowfront
(2) 20 gallon
(3) 10 gallon
(3) 1 gallon

....and only one fish that is too large to consider adding more of the same type since they aren't available in our area.

What would you do (freshwater only please) with these tanks?

 

[Murrayjane]

Wow, that is a lot of different tanks without any fish in them.

My first question: How many tanks do you want to set up?

I would think that running any more than 5 tanks would become very tedious (and expensive) to properly take care of.

If you are moving your cichlid to the 20 (what kind of African cichlid is it?)

I think turning the 48 gallon into a community tank is a great idea. The combination of platy's, guppy's and tetras will add a lot of both life and color.

There are a lot of things you could put in the 55 gallon.
You could try a semi-aggressive Central/South American tank (Angel Fish, Jack Dempsey's, Green Terror's, Blue Acara's, Firemouths, Danios, or Oscars)... Obviously you would not put all of these together, but I would definitely consider using the 55 as an American Cichlid tank.

As for the other 20 Gallon, a pair of Bolivian Rams (with a schoal of some compatible fish like tetras)

I would probably leave the 10 Gallons out of the mix (unless you really want to use them) as they are probably the hardest to maintain good water conditions and keep clean.

The 1 gallons could be Betta Fish.

By MTS do you mean Malaysian Trumpet Snails?

 

[PrairieSunflower]

If it was me personally... I'd run the two biggest and keep a 10 gallon for a hospital tank.

Running all those tanks sounds like a full time job.

 

[Murrayjane]

I agree with Prairiesunflower, I personally have 3 tanks: 55, 29, and 2.5 gallon and combined they are a handful. I have an empty 10 gallon just in case sickness. Not sure if you will want both 20 gallons running along with the 48 and 55.

 

[bmonki]

personally i'd have the 48 as a community tank full of as may shoals of colourful little fish as possible. the 55 a species tank maybe for larger fish a group of large Angels maybe? then i'd prob keep a 10 as a hospital tank and use a 1 gallon for a betta just cause ive always wanted one and not had the chance

 

[Davo86]

Given you have the odd african cichlid, I would personally give him some friends by setting up the 48 Gallon as an african setup (presuming its a malawi cichlid of some sort?) with a mix of cichlids, and maybe a couple of bristlenose and smaller synodontis cats

Then I'd have the 55G as a New World setup, Isn't really big enough for 2 oscars, (and IMO not even for 1) but you could have something like a pair of Salvini with Dithers, or just a mix of smaller to medium sized cichlids or even a SA Biotope.

Then Lastly i would set up the 20G as a pretty community setup,

Tanks under 20G aren't fish tanks IMO and unless your keeping a single betta, or a sick or injured fish then I feel they have no place in the hobby.

 

[DrRob]

To me, that looks like a great opportunity to have tanks with sumps, all you need is the overflow box and you're away. That way you make good use of the glassware without having crazy maintenance to do. You could also go for a very low stocking level ecosystem tank with emmersed growth without upping the maintenance level too much as an extra.

 

[Questions?]

dont use the one glon, just because bettas are found in puddles, doesnt mean they have to be in small tanks. You could house about 10 pygmy cories in the 10 gallon. The twenty could go with Bolivian Ram, as mentioned above, or GBRs(they are harder to keep). The 48 could be a community, or an african cichlid tank, and you could get your cichlid some new tank buddies. The 55, could be for amazon theme, looks really cool, or something else. But i wouldnt but anything, but maybe some fry? in the 1 gallon tank. Imagine the tank as your home where you could never leave, would you want to to be spacouis or crowded and cramped, think about it like that.

 

[Savage_Dias]

Thanks for the input everyone! I can't imagine starting another cichlid tank. The one that I have is full grown & would make life difficult for any of the cichlids available in my area. All of the cichlids I have found have been just a little larger than feeders. After talking it over with my wife the 48 will be a community tank. Both of us like the idea of a well decorated & busy tank. Most of the fish mentioned are not available in our area & I don't like the idea of ordering fish since I have seen two major shipping companies toss boxes that were labeled fragile. My dad has a friend that recently inherited a tank with what he thinks are Jack Dempseys so a couple of those might be a good option for the 55. Our cichlid will go in a 20 since it will be in a low traffic area that I'm hoping will encourage him to come out of hiding occasionally.

 

[Davo86]

what cichlid is it anyway?

 

[Questions?]

in the 48 gallon you could still get a dwarf ram cichlid because they are peaceful, but if they breed, they become agressive