New house came with big tank

[Danvankleef]

Hello everyone, long story short, I moved into a house with a pretty sizable tank - 8'x2'x2'. I am absolutely new to all of this, but would like to make use of it (it is built into a wall in my finished basement). After talking with someone at a local exotic fish store, I have a couple ideas, but was hoping to get some thoughts from all of you. Not looking for anything too high maintenance, but I certainly would like to make good use of the space in my tank. What do you think?

 

[docpark]

Hi Danvankleef:

Wow, I'm jealous! That will be a great display tank.

I guess the first question is, are you thinking marine or freshwater? If marine, then I'm sure lots of folks on the forum will have suggestions for you. If freshwater, then a cichlid tank might be something to think about. Do you know anything about your new home's water (ph, hardness, etc.)? That should be a factor in your planning. For example, if your water is on the harder side with a higher ph, you might be able to have some of the African lake cichlids, which are really interesting and beautiful fish. If your water is neutral to acidic/soft, you could do a community set-up with several shoals/schools.

Does the tank have a filtration system already, or will you need to set one up?

 

[Danvankleef]

Thanks, I'm pretty excited. Definitely freshwater, but I am not aware of my water's hardness or pH, I will get that tested soon and update this thread. Filtration is already setup and everything has been continuously running since the previous owner left.

 

[docpark]

That's terrific. Once you get a sense of your water you can start looking into your different options.

You could probably get started by picking up an API Master Test Kit, which will allow you check ph, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. You'll need to monitor those quite a bit when you begin establishing the nitrogen cycle in the tank. API also makes a hardness (kh/gh) test kit which would be worth picking up as well.

Your tank would be dandy for a 'biotope' set-up, such as "Amazon" or "African Rift Lake." You'll find lots of really great fishes for such a set-up. The size of your tank would also allow you to do a species-specific set-up with a few of the larger fishes.

 

[thrujenseyes]

holy cow, i'm soooooo jealous!!!!

Can't wait to hear your parameters and see you get started!!!

 

[Danvankleef]

I was thinking about going with some larger fish as a possibility (although my head is swimming with possibilities now). Any suggestions on larger species for beginners? I would certainly start with babies so my kids can watch them grow over time...

 

[**sarahp**]

hi welcome to the forum! The possibilities for a tank that size are numerous - I'm very jealous.

. Filtration is already setup and everything has been continuously running since the previous owner left.

However, a little more info on this might be useful. If the tank has not had fish in for a while then all the good bacteria will have died and you will have to do a cycle before you can put fish in. You need to start by reading this if you need to do a cycle.

http://www.fishforums.net/threads/cycling-your-new-fresh-water-tank-read-this-first.421488/

 

[Munroco]

First thought, big tank - big fish. How about big tank - little fish. I think if I had this and the water was suitable I'd go for a densely planted tank with a few apistogrammas, loads of corydoras and ottocinclus and huge shoals of ember tetras and cardinals.

 

[Danvankleef]

I just came from testing my water (finally). Ph is at 8.0, which he said is great for cichlids. Based on having sand in there already, I'm thinking about doing lake Malawi cichlids and perhaps adding a polypterus down the road? Any thoughts? I really appreciate everyone's input so far...

 

[Toney]

Cool

 

[thrujenseyes]

Lake Malawi cichlids would be perfect and oh man the brilliant blues and yellows will look amazing!!!