Big New Tank For A Total Beginner - Help!

[Vijay]

I work for a small company in Cambodia who have decided to set up an office aquarium and I have been charged with the care of it.

I have absolutely no idea of how to care for tropical freshwater fish. I have read through a number of tropical fish care websites but still have a number of questions with which I hope you can help with.

The websites that I have seen look at general hobbyists with home fish tanks of 20 to 50 gallons. I'm afraid that I am no hobbyist and know nothing of fish care (at the moment!!).

My boss has ordered an aquarium with the following dimensions – 1700mm x 800mm x 750mm. Simple arithmetic works this out to be some 1020 litre capacity or 270 gallons. That is a lot of water and very heavy to boot - in the region of 1 metric tonne.

I should be grateful if you could help with the following. For a tank of this size:
• What sort of equipment will I need in terms of pumps, filters, lighting and heating and what sort of power will be required. I am particularly concerned about getting equipment capable of doing the job for a tank that size. I do not want equipment that is underpowered for the requirements.
• How many fish should we get?
• What sort of sizes? How big should the biggest fish be and how small the smallest? How many big fish? Obviously, a tank full of 5 centimetre fish will look silly.
• What types of fish should we get that will co-exist without wanting to fight or eat each other?.
• Real or fake plants? If real, will I need some form of organic material (soil, compost) in the tank substrate to provide something for the plants to take root in?

As I mentioned, we are in Cambodia and the tropical fish scene here is, well, basically non-existent and there are no local tropical fish suppliers. If there were, I would probably contract someone to set up and care for the tank until we understood how to do it ourselves. Without local help, I simply want to be able to make the tank look nice and not have any fish die on me or eat any its neighbours.

Any help you can provide with these questions and any other advice will be very gratefully received.

Please help.

 

[demasonisrule]

• What sort of equipment will I need in terms of pumps, filters, lighting and heating and what sort of power will be required. I am particularly concerned about getting equipment capable of doing the job for a tank that size. I do not want equipment that is underpowered for the requirements.
It completely depends on what types of fish you want
• How many fish should we get?
Again, some information on what fish you would like is necessary
• What sort of sizes? How big should the biggest fish be and how small the smallest? How many big fish? Obviously, a tank full of 5 centimetre fish will look silly.
Okay, this is all personal preference. For example, you could have large schools of small fish, you could have some large fish. As a beginner, I would recommend small, hardy fish, such as tetras or platys. Let me tell you, a display tank like that can be stunning!
• What types of fish should we get that will co-exist without wanting to fight or eat each other?.
this is part of the reason that I would recommend schooling fish-many other fish, such as cichlids are all aggresive, and can be difficult to keep alive. My cichlids bite my hand whenever I put my hand in their tank.
• Real or fake plants? If real, will I need some form of organic material (soil, compost) in the tank substrate to provide something for the plants to take root in?
I would recommend fake plants, or fake decor, but it can be whatever you want it to be.

 

[Vijay]

Wow!!!

Quick response. Many thanks indeed.

You know the task I have ahead of me and my complete lack of fish care knowledge and I hate to say it, I really do not have any idea of what I want.

I have looked at a number of websites and photo galleries and agree, a tank of that size does have the potential of looking absolutely stunning. Visitors to our office will be impressed. I'm sure there will be quite a lot of trial and error (which is what I want to try and avoid as much as possible by posting these questions).

So, let me put my questions another way:

If you were given a tank which is 1700mm x 800mm x 750mm, what sort of equipment would you need to aerate, filtrate and light adequately. What sort of power consumption would you be looking at.

What sort of fish would you put into a 1000 litre tank that will cohabit with each other without fin nipping and viewing each other as dinner?

What types of plants would you put in it? From what I have read on a number of websites, I already have some thoughts of larger rocks and formations to provide hiding places and cover.

As I mentioned in my original posting, we are in Cambodia and as yet, I have not found a single recognised aquarium supplies dealer. However, I have found a supplier in Bangkok which is not far away who can supply fish - if I can tell him species and numbers. That is something I just don't know. Websites talk about fish liking to shoal for protection and that you should have a minimum of 6 to 10 for a shoaling school. For a home tank of 30 gallons, that may well be true and accurate but what about a tank that hold 270 gallons? In a tank this size, does that figure still apply or should it be closer to 30 - 50 of one specie of fish? Consider that cost is not a limiting factor in supplying both equipment and fish.

This is the type of stuff that I just don't understand. What is important to me is that I have been tasked to do this and I want the tank equipment to be properly powered, not overstocked and not understocked and the fish to live happily together without too many casualties.

 

[Hunterprey]

270 gallon tank is a very good size tank, never had a tank that big so I can't help much
I'd suggest huge fish tho like oscar and Fire Eel, they'll get along, should look nice in an office.

Here's a nice Fire Eel video
http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfeQueSCgsg

 

[erk628]

You may want to post this in the new freshwater tank section its vistied more then this section!

 

[fish_tank0311]

I would say get silver sharks. They get quite large, up to 25-30cm, are a schooling fish, and are quite easy to take care of and really look like SHARKS!!!!!