7ft Tank Ideas

[LisaLQ]

My 7 x 2 x 2ft tank is coming tomorrow (was supposed to be today) or the day after, and although it wont be set up for at least a month or two, I was wondering if anyone had any ideas for it?

The definite residents will be:

Albino common plec
L190 royal plec
L077 rusty plec
2 x albino bristlenoses

Substrate will be sand, decor bogwood and rocks, ph will be around 6.6, temp around 80f.

I'd prefer not to have any cichlids (however much I'd love them - my plecs are my main love, and I dont want to risk them getting beaten up - and I already have cichlids in my current tank). I'm also not made of money, so cant stock the tank with really expensive fish.

I may add to the plec population at some point also, so dont want to overstock - but obviously with all those bottom dwellers, I dont want it to look bare either. Any suggestions?

 

[timmystood]

I maybe wrong on this but are the Royal and Rusty plecs softwater? If this is the case them a community of discus would look great with the plecs, espically in a tank that large!

 

[chibi]

I'm a fan of big tanks with small fish. A really big school of tetras would look AWESOME. I saw a tank at Barnes and Nobles, a bookstore, down in Baltimore City that was HUGE and it had lots of tetras in it... it looked very natural and beautiful. I think you have tetras in another one of your tanks, though. D:

 

[timmystood]

I'm a fan of big tanks with small fish. A really big school of tetras would look AWESOME. I saw a tank at Barnes and Nobles, a bookstore, down in Baltimore City that was HUGE and it had lots of tetras in it... it looked very natural and beautiful. I think you have tetras in another one of your tanks, though. D:

This is similar to my plans for my next large tank. I'm hoping to get a 70 Gallon by the end of May and I plan to stock this with around 40-50 Neon tetra and 10-20 Corydoras Catfish... I think this will look great in a tank this size, espically if well planted! It will also mean the tetra 'school' instead of 'shoal'

 

[LisaLQ]

Yeah, our ph stays around 6.4-6.8, certainly no higher. My KH doesn't even register on the tests, meaning it's less than 1. Ph from the tap is 7, but with the low KH it always drops.

I dont think discus would be ok with the plecs though as they're mess machines and dont discus need super clean water (I honestly dont think I'm experienced enough for them either). I'd love them though - but they also fall into the "cost far too much for my budget" category lol. Says Lisa who just spent £50 on the royal...

 

[Joemuz]

Yeah, our ph stays around 6.4-6.8, certainly no higher. My KH doesn't even register on the tests, meaning it's less than 1. Ph from the tap is 7, but with the low KH it always drops.

I dont think discus would be ok with the plecs though as they're mess machines and dont discus need super clean water (I honestly dont think I'm experienced enough for them either). I'd love them though - but they also fall into the "cost far too much for my budget" category lol. Says Lisa who just spent £50 on the royal...

I was thinking that lol. How are discus not in ur price range when you buy loverly pleco which probably cost 100 times more??? LOL!

I think you should plant the tank round the edges but leave about 1/3 of the left and right sides clear and maybe some other clear patches for the plec to retreat to. Also maybe have your bogwood coming out into the middle of the tank from one of the back corners? Possibly cover bits of the wood with javamoss or a grassy tipe plant? I think that would look realy good.

 

[dwarfgourami]

I'd go for a school of bleeding hearts

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

How about some pearl danio's? They'll enjoy the current from the strong filtation you'll need in the tank . Swordtails or platys would also be cheap fish to add to the tank to add lots of colour, they are also peaceful and won't bother the pleco's at all .

 

[Erised]

Depending on how you want to decorate the tank you might want to concider silver dollars. If you're going for a lay out with a lot of wood and few till no plants they would definatly fit in. They'll also love the vegetables which I assume you'll be feeding your plecs. SDs are quite large as well so even with a shoal of say 5, your tank will not look empty.

 

[LisaLQ]

Thanks folks

I'm not planting up the tank, already got one heavily planted 6ft-er, not after another - besides, the plecs will get h-yoo-ge, so would shred anything in there. Well, they already eat any plant I put in anyway lol. Even the nice malayan swords I got *sigh* I am going to try one or two bunches of java fern and/or anubis, but I'm not holding my breath lol. They'd eat the plastic ones they have in there now if they could!

We've also already got tetras and platies in our planted tank - so really wanted to go for something different. The silver dollar idea was one I'd thought of too - I like the idea of a big shoal of them. Hubby wants a feature fish too though, and couldn't think of one that'd do - as the only feature fish I can think of are cichlids lol. When I say feature fish, I mean a single (or pair at most) fish - something that is interesting and different.

I think I will go with the silver dollars for definite - I'd really like the stripey ones but a. cant find them anywhere and b. dont know how much they cost? I'm not completely restricted price wise, just dont want to go into silly money - so whereas I could afford more than platies, I couldn't afford a big shoal of torpedo barbs (not at £20 for just three!). If you get me. I do love platies, but ours have shown they need a planted tank to be happy and breed, so I dont think they'd be too happy in a bogwood/minimal planted tank.

Hubby, bless him, was all up for an arowana, so I had to explain how the new tank might be big, but it's not that big...

 

[Miss Wiggle]

i think you should give me the tank..... or alternatively have polly for it!! lol

 

[thegnu]

what about the rainbows from Madagascar. there's lots to choose from which like your water and are really colorful and shoal well. also Congo tetras, some of the bigger barbs would look good (tinfoil 14", spanner barb 7") but anyway what a good size tank. it will take some stocking

 

[InaneCathode]

Curious where you're putting the tank?

 

[LisaLQ]

Erm...in my dining room....?

Got rainbows in my cichlid tank. I really love the look of spanner barbs (looked into them the other day) but read they're really arsey.

 

[invader]

I know you weren't keen on getting cichlids, but how about a Geophagus species? They are peaceful and very colorful and there are many to choose from.