500 Gallon Monster Tank

MyraAlam · May 13, 2009

Hello everyone!

When I needed help planning my 180 gallon, I got all sorts of lovely suggestions and pieces of advice from this forum. Now, I (or rather, someone I know) needs your help again! My friend wants to plan out a 500 gallon monster tank. He loves monstrous-sized fish, the bigger the better. However, he wants to keep a good mix of a few species. Can anyone help him out in terms of compatibility and how many of each would be suitable for this tank? His list of favorites are:

Oscars (any and all kinds)
Datnoids (same as above, although the Siamese Tiger is preferred)
Clown Knife
Motoro Stingray
Silver Arowana

Not all of these have to be included, and we're open to new suggestions! Thanks in advance for all your help!

LauraFrog · May 13, 2009

What are the dimensions of the tank? That will be more important than its capacity as most of those fish need room to swim, so it would need to be quite long.

forby3 · May 13, 2009

lol mystus wykii all by it self lol

Davo86 · May 13, 2009

LauraFrog said:
What are the dimensions of the tank? That will be more important than its capacity as most of those fish need room to swim, so it would need to be quite long.

Agree on the dimensions, however a long narrow tank wouldn't be suitable for species like arowanas, rays etc.

for example:

200" x24" x24" gives you 499G
120"x30"x32" gives you 499G
60" x 60 x 32" also gives you 499G

MyraAlam · May 13, 2009

LauraFrog said:
What are the dimensions of the tank? That will be more important than its capacity as most of those fish need room to swim, so it would need to be quite long.

The tank is 120" x 30" x 32".

tenohfive · May 13, 2009

Given that (please correct me if I'm wrong more knowledgeable members) Silver Arowena's can get to around the 3ft mark, I suspect that might rule them out.

I could well be wrong though, so please don't quote me on that. Looking forward to seeing some suggestions. Personally I'd probably stick about a million praecox rainbows in there, but thats a lack of imagination on my part.

MyraAlam · May 13, 2009

forby3 said:
lol mystus wykii all by it self lol

LOL Yeah, a Red-Tailed Catfish was also considered.

MyraAlam · May 13, 2009

tenohfive said:
Given that (please correct me if I'm wrong more knowledgeable members) Silver Arowena's can get to around the 3ft mark, I suspect that might rule them out.

I could well be wrong though, so please don't quote me on that. Looking forward to seeing some suggestions. Personally I'd probably stick about a million praecox rainbows in there, but thats a lack of imagination on my part.

Oh dear, that'd be bad.

I was under the impression that Silver Arowanas were smaller than 3 feet but then, aggressive fish are not my forte.

Any other suggestions?

england · May 13, 2009

a silver arowana should be fine in there

MyraAlam · May 13, 2009

nelly said:
a silver arowana should be fine in there

Oh

england · May 13, 2009

hmm what i could do with that :shifty:

The Arowana requires at least a 200 gallon (750 liters) tank to adequately keep them

lordofthesea · May 13, 2009

oscars and arrawanas are both beautiful and can live for many years. they make fine pets and can become tame enough to hand feed! :hyper:

my dad had an oscar that ate catfood out of his hand (it was that big!)

england · May 13, 2009

looking for inspration :unsure:

http

/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=287790

http

/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=265342

Davo86 · May 13, 2009

Silvers should be easily reaching 34-40" (eventually), however they are a very flexible and therefore 30" width is Just about doable.

Possibilities for the bottom levels, Bichirs, Lima Shovelnose, Tigrinus, Large Hoplos, large plecos, possibly rays but IMO they will restrict stocking

mid levels: flagtail, dats, Uaru, Severum, Chocolate Cichlids, Oscars, Silver Dollars, Tinfoils, Clown Knife, smaller bass, giant gourami, mbu

Top: arowanas, gars

MyraAlam · May 13, 2009

nelly said:
hmm what i could do with that

The Arowana requires at least a 200 gallon (750 liters) tank to adequately keep them

Any suggestions on how many to keep? And on what other fish to keep with them? He wants as nice a mix as possible so we're trying to work with that.

lordofthesea said:
oscars and arrawanas are both beautiful and can live for many years. they make fine pets and can become tame enough to hand feed! my dad had an oscar that ate catfood out of his hand (it was that big!)

How awesome!

Any suggestions as to how many arowanas and oscars? And can I keep something else with them? Any comments about the other fish on the list? ^_^