brand new 50G - 2 foot cube

[jimbooo]

Hi everyone,

i had one of those wonderful phone calls last night from a friend wanting to off load a 50 gallon, 2 foot cube tank with stand, she wanted a whopping £50 for the lot (fish included). i obviously contemplated the idea/scanned the room for an appropriate spot and 10 seconds later called her back to accept.

so need ideas.... definatly not going to plant this one (not enough hours in the week to look after 3 planted tanks.

current ideas are cichlids, plecs or something like that in a single species setup.

i have a vision of a pyramid rock pile with black sand. this tank will be in the bedroom so moonlights are definatly going to be included, so nocturnal fish would be ideal.

i must stress, low maintenance is key so not interested in brackish (too much fiddling about)..... any ideas people, i'm picking it up on saturday.

James

 

[Ben]

Lake Malawi Mbuna fish sound like the fish for your tank.
Very very easy to keep
Check out the African Cichlids forum and read the 3rd pinned article about Mbuna

DD

 

[jimbooo]

The tank

The best advice in deciding on the size of the tank is as big as you can fit, or afford to go with. Any tank less then three feet in length is not a suitable environment for any mbuna. 29 gallons is NOT suitable. As far as cichlids are concerned this tank is the same as a 20 gallon, being only two feet long.

Length is the most important aspect when considering what type of tank to buy. A fifty-gallon tank that is four feet long is preferable to a fifty-gallon tank that is three feet long. Hex and cube tanks should be avoided completely, they are nearly useless for these fish because of an extreme lack of surface area. Mbuna are generally bottom dwellers, so aquarium height is the least important aspect--'tall’ tanks are undesirable.

thanks DD, i did that already and the section above put me off. it's a 2 foot cube and the article says cube tanks are no good???

my LFS suggested the same as you. i'm confused now

 

[Ben]

hmm, forgot about that.
I just though Mbuna when you said low maintanance.

What about New World Cichlids?
Maybe one Severum and you could add a school of tetras and a plec?

DD

 

[Ben]

http/cichlid-forum.com/articles/cookie_cutter_55g.php
This is roughly the size and should give you a decent idea

DD

 

[Paul_MTS]

tetras with a sevrum is a no go, my fellas would eat them for lunch!, once you#ved added decor there won't be enough size for a common plec or sailfin.

I reakon a pair of fire mouths would do well in there with a few select L number plecs and maybe a shoal of something.

or a few couples of appisto's....don't hold me to that though now sure on what space they need.

 

[houndour]

you lucky git. What fish came with it and where are they going?

You know you want a planted tank

How about botia? Or what about these dojo loaches that everyone keeps talking about? Supposedly they have lots of character. Dunno if they're suited to a 2ft cube tho.

Other than that I know nothing about cichlids and the like.

If you find cichlids are a no, how about a school of something reasonably sized plus plec(s). Like just Tiger barbs. I dunno. Just throwing some ideas around.

I'll just go back to my 5 gallon tank now

 

[jimbooo]

ha ha, sorry hondour.

it's coming with 2 clown loaches, 2 silver dollars and a bala shark (just got rid of one of those)

none of them will go in my existing tanks so duming the lot into the LFS for a part ex.

just dont know what to exchange for. i want something totally different. not a community and preferably single species. hmmm decisions decisions....

 

[annka5]

ooh, am JEALOUS.
Nothing that swims really actively as 2' wide/long, I guess.
But tank still quite big volume.
And if it's going in your bedroom, d'you need them to be a given size so's you can see them without your glasses on... or is that just me?!!
Is there a convenient fresh-water puffer species you could add?

 

[aloaring]

what about a colony of shell dwellers , i was thinking in the set up you descriped that they would be really nice. think cometcattle has a great setup of them!

 

[jimbooo]

not sure. brackish is a no go but FW puffers are an option.

if there is such a thing that is......anyone???

 

[Fish_Mike]

What about a South American Leaf fish,

You could probably keep 3 of those, and they're kind of boring, i guess, (never kept them) but it's surely something different

 

[Betta*b*Happy!]

Hi there,

I have a FW Puffer, he is a dwarf bronze and he is a real character, Most people will tell you they are species only and I'd tend to agree but we've kept him in our community tank since 'the days before i knew better' and we've not had a problem. He's lovely and is always checking out what we'er doing and his eating habits are comical!

HTH!

 

[Betta*b*Happy!]

OOh just had another thought.

What about a whole load of bumble bee gobys??!!

That would be amazing!

 

[pseud]

Argh! Noooooooo! Another tank for jim to show us all up with!!!

I'd go for a cichlid tank mate..