Calling All Monster Fish Experts: 500 Gallon Stock List

[england]

yea see iam not up on flagtail's
a ox would fill the bottom nicely

but thats why i suggested ornate birchirs, for bottom dwellers

 

[cheesy feet]

Megalodoras uranoscopus
As others have said big bichirs.
Herichthys Bocourti/pearsei (develop fantastic sheen/colour when older, much more eye catching than an oscar imo)
Red hooks?Nicer than tin foils imo.
I have a list of cichlids I was going to put in my 270gal before going down the oddball route.But it's on another computer

 

[synodontisjack]

Get a big pile up of bichirs on the bottom, your in the US so you've got a larger selection than we have, look into getting big ornates, endlicheri, ansorgii, lapradei and even bichir bichir or teugelsi.

 

[mixmaster jay]

mbu puffer lol these are great

 

[fenne11y]

ok it has to be said if your going to keep rays i wouldn't advise flagtailed prochildus in the same tank, because they have been known to nibble on the rays back and take the skin off, but not in all cases.

 

[MyraAlam]

thats what i am upgrading to 8x3x3 soon lol

well out of all them ive got a gold giant gourami and silver arowana, i used to have a 2ft silver with my arow but that died they wher great together

BUT ive now got a 12" silver (i bought it at 8" about a month ago) i tried it then and the gourami didn't like it lol but i am tyring it again in the next day or so and fingers crossed they will work, so if you want it to work i suggest to get a silver 3 or 4" bigger than it

thats what i am upgrading to 8x3x3 soon lol

well out of all them ive got a gold giant gourami and silver arowana, i used to have a 2ft silver with my arow but that died they wher great together

BUT ive now got a 12" silver (i bought it at 8" about a month ago) i tried it then and the gourami didn't like it lol but i am tyring it again in the next day or so and fingers crossed they will work, so if you want it to work i suggest to get a silver 3 or 4" bigger than it

I can't even imagine having a tank that big, my tank is way smaller! His tank is currently empty (obviously) but I get intimidated by the sheer size of it. Is it true that silvers are more prone to drop-eye than other aro species? Personally I think he loves asian aro's (as do I) but as you can tell from my location, we're sort of out of luck. I've also heard that giant gouramis are grouchy about tankmates- should it be introduced at the very end then? Also, do you think a giant gold gourami and a silver aro would make the tank look a bit too....lacking in terms of color? Would it be a single-shade overload?

 

[MyraAlam]

well that is a big tank
what filteration is this "friend" running?

what about
1 Silver aro (this has to stay)
6 tinfoil barbs
2 flagtail prochilodus
1 giant gourami (gold)
8 Uaru
1 oscar<of course
jagaur catfish the only problem is it has very soft smooth skin,if it receives an attack from the oscar it could have problems as no hard protection as skins so soft<only from what i have read...

was thinking should be fine with a Oxydoras niger,i love these catfish

It is enormous. Literally. As of now there are four Eheim pro 3 filters, 2 internal Eheim filters, and he's thinking about adding this external pond canister filter as well. Initially I suggested maybe he should just go with a huge sump but then again, I am honestly no expert on filtration. Firstly because I've had significantly, significantly smaller tanks and also because the most vicious fish I've ever kept happens to be a very stubborn tiger barb LOL so what do I know?

Yes, the jaguar probably wouldn't make it. Do you think there's any way to include rotkeils? Maybe get rid of the uaru's?

8x3x3 =
2039 L
448 uk gallons
539 us gollons

na thats not big enough lol

LOL God knows what you call big

 

[MyraAlam]

Without the rays i think that the bottom of the tank is going to look quite bare as jag cats don't really get that big (in terms of monsters) especially considering its a 3foot high tank

Does your friend like plecs or Bichirs?
or any of the big synodontis species? (decora, notata or ornatipinnis for example)
or even a group of striped raphaels (platydoras armatulus)

2 flagtail prochilodus

even in such a big tank i doubt 2 would tolerate each other for long,

Decora is gorgeous, I wish I could keep it myself . I think he'll most likely go with rays for the bottom. With that said, how many can be kept? And yes, if a flagtail was kept, he'd go with just one.

 

[MyraAlam]

yea see iam not up on flagtail's
a ox would fill the bottom nicely

but thats why i suggested ornate birchirs, for bottom dwellers

I love oxydoras...too bad I can never keep one. Do you think an ox would be alright in this tank? (If there were no stingrays.) We're still trying to figure out the bottom. The top and middle are much easier.

 

[MyraAlam]

Megalodoras uranoscopus
As others have said big bichirs.
Herichthys Bocourti/pearsei (develop fantastic sheen/colour when older, much more eye catching than an oscar imo)
Red hooks?Nicer than tin foils imo.
I have a list of cichlids I was going to put in my 270gal before going down the oddball route.But it's on another computer

Thank you so much for recommending the bocourti, that fish is absolutely gorgeous. I think it's suddenly become a must-have, although we'd have to look into it further. I have to say I agree, it's more eye-catching than an oscar. I'd replace the oscar with the bocourti off our list. Although I've gotta disagree with you regarding the red hooks- tinfoils all the way! Love those guys

Do you think you could find that cichlid list for me? I'd love to check it out

 

[MyraAlam]

Get a big pile up of bichirs on the bottom, your in the US so you've got a larger selection than we have, look into getting big ornates, endlicheri, ansorgii, lapradei and even bichir bichir or teugelsi.

You get to keep asian aros. That's the definition of lucky!

mbu puffer lol these are great

Now THAT is by far the most interesting suggestion we've received LOL

 

[MyraAlam]

ok it has to be said if your going to keep rays i wouldn't advise flagtailed prochildus in the same tank, because they have been known to nibble on the rays back and take the skin off, but not in all cases.

Uh-oh. This is the first I've heard of this- can anyone give me more info? We're actually not 100% certain whether the rays will be included after all. They'd definitely make the bottom awesome, but we're also considering other fish that would make the bottom pretty. Any pretty plecs or catfish out there? I'm afraid bichirs aren't too high on the list (please don't kill me bichir lovers *runs to hide*) but catfish will be loved.

 

[MyraAlam]

Jealous of the tank size Peacock bass is nice , i'd probs go with a load of bichir's for the bottom and then the arro's at the top

I'm jealous myself. If only it were mine! I just get to help out and stand on the sidelines and then go home miserably to look at my tiny little thing I like to call a fishtank hahahaha

 

[fenne11y]

hi, i would say the best bottom dwellers are

rays
polys
large eels
catfish
plecs
lungfish

then mid to bottom

knifefish

personaly those are your options for such a large tank with an arrowana

if ive forgotten any feel free to mention them

 

[MBOU]

Personally I would avoid the rays! Whilst its a perfect tank for rays, you are basing the tank around the Aro and not the Ray, it would need to be the other way round, rays can be really finnicky.

I've also known things like your larger cichlids (vieja, texas, jaguars and oscars etc) to pick at the rays causing injury, if the rays have spots that look like food or their fins, tail and even sting! I've also know fully grown smaller species and sub adult/medium sized rays like motoros eat fish like adult Green Terrors and Discus (therefore severums, uarus, chocolate cichlids etc could be at risk from the rays when older). I know i had my male motoro (with 30cm m, nose to bum without tail) in with a vieja synspillum who kept attacking him and biting him even though the vieja was only about 6-8cm long! Then he was in with angels and discus, he ate all the angels he could before i could get them out (they had been in their 6 months!) and the discus just kept 'picking' at the spots on his body and his clasp until he got and infection.