Opinions on this tank concept

[SAChichlidLover]

Hi all, this is my proposed project so things might change last minute yet but heres a rough plan.
After a month of research and planning I have came up with my new tank concept. Its going to be an aggressive/predatory cichlid tank with a jack dempsey, salvini, tiger oscar, gold saum, sailfin pleco and possibly geophagus altifrons. I'm actually going to be building a plywood aquarium to cut down the cost dramatically and to also size it to my liking. Probably looking at least aound a 120 gallon tank so plenty of space for each fish. With the tank theres obviously risks and it is going to take some time to properly design the stand but I have my hopes up that this tank will work, I plan on spending most of my budget for this on the actual scape itself as I know I've picked some of the terrors of the hobby. Scapewise the subsrate will be carab riverbed sand, there will be multiple larger rock caves and fake silk plants for cover also including a rocky incline in the middle to break sightlines. Filter system will be a allpondsolutions EFX 2000l/hr, two larger sponge filters either side of the tank and a undecided hang on the back filter so there will be extremely high amounts of filtration for this tank. I have the issue of space at the minute so before I can even start this I have to try and move alot of the things clustered in one area for my proposed fish garage room thing hahah but I am very excited to hear your thoughts on this!

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Sounds interesting! What is a plywood aquarium? Not familiar with that.

I've always thought a large tank with some big munchies in it would be fun, but I've never tried it. I almost inherited an alligator gar once, but turned it down. Good luck!

 

[I Like Rare Fish]

Well, I think it is majorly overstocked.

 

[Wills]

Hi sounds interesting but 120 is not going to be big enough for these - it could be viable in a 180 6x2x2. But in all honesty just go as big as possible with plywood its not that expensive to add feet like glass.

I know you know what Im going to say about the geo . I wouldnt get a Surinamensis type in here but a Brasiliensis type could work either true Brasiliensis, Bahia Reds or maybe Iporangensis but they might be too small.

It's probably me being a bit picky but for such a bespoke project these are all very 'normal' fish. Are you not tempted by some of the more unusual cichlids? Some of the smaller Veija, Oscura, rarer Texas types like H.Deppi maybe even things like RTMs?

Wills

 

[I Like Rare Fish]

It's probably me being a bit picky but for such a bespoke project these are all very 'normal' fish. Are you not tempted by some of the more unusual cichlids? Some of the smaller Veija, Oscura, rarer Texas types like H.Deppi maybe even things like RTMs?

I like oddballs, and rare fish, as my name suggests, so I am supporting this. Unfortunately, I know nothing about cichlids, but I know TONS of oddballs good for this. Pelican Knifefish, Rainbow Pencilfish, Redtail Chalceus, Banded Leoporinus, South American Lungfish, Multiple Bichir species, Leaffish, Mottled Sculpin, Exodons, Humphead Glassfish,, betta macrostoma, Rock Bass, the list goes on and on. Let me know if you want more suggestions

 

[SAChichlidLover]

Hi sounds interesting but 120 is not going to be big enough for these - it could be viable in a 180 6x2x2. But in all honesty just go as big as possible with plywood its not that expensive to add feet like glass.

I know you know what Im going to say about the geo . I wouldnt get a Surinamensis type in here but a Brasiliensis type could work either true Brasiliensis, Bahia Reds or maybe Iporangensis but they might be too small.

It's probably me being a bit picky but for such a bespoke project these are all very 'normal' fish. Are you not tempted by some of the more unusual cichlids? Some of the smaller Veija, Oscura, rarer Texas types like H.Deppi maybe even things like RTMs?

Wills

Fair point to be honest, I will try my best to fit a 180 in but it will be tough haha and it will probably will only add an extra tenner on lol.

Haha I knew you would try and get me to get brasiliensis, I'm not really too bothered on what eartheater as long as its a large one that won't get bullied by the terror or sal haha.

I did want to get some vieja, the rarer silver varieties come to mind (argentinas) but I didnt really research them so I didnt want to throw them in not really knowing too much about them, I also wanted t-bars and even true parrots but I kinda wanted to stick to basics aswell. Any vieja I love the look of though its just I dont know enough about them to incorperate them into the plan.

 

[SAChichlidLover]

Sounds interesting! What is a plywood aquarium? Not familiar with that.

I've always thought a large tank with some big munchies in it would be fun, but I've never tried it. I almost inherited an alligator gar once, but turned it down. Good luck!

Its essentially a hardwood aquarium with a large acryllic/glass pane on the front to view the fish!

Same here to be honest, always loved the bigger cichlids to be honest and aw missed oppurtunity haha thank you!

 

[Colin_T]

After a month of research and planning I have came up with my new tank concept. Its going to be an aggressive/predatory cichlid tank with a jack dempsey, salvini, tiger oscar, gold saum, sailfin pleco and possibly geophagus altifrons.

I think it's bound to have problems. As an example, we had an 8x2x2ft tank in the shop and it had a pr of Jack Dempseys, a pr of Texas and a pr of festae cichlids in, along with a number of smaller central American cichlids. The boss was a huge cichlid fan. Everything was great while the fish were young. They ate well, and got along, they swam all over the tank and nobody argued.

About 12 months later the Jack Demspeys matured and took over half the tank. Then the festaes matured and took the other half. The Texas tried to take a corner but got bashed, as did everyone else. Eventually it came down to the Jack Dempseys and the festaes. They had half the tank each and there were constant fights. A customer came in looking for some big fish for his tank and bought the Jack demspeys and shortly after that, another customer took the festaes. The tank was scrapped and turned into a planted tank with tetras and angelfish.

That tank was bigger than the one you plan on making and we monitored it for aggression, which did eventuate.

Most tanks that have big predatory fish in, usually end up with one fish that has bashed or killed everything else in the tank.

If you get a female jack dempsey, tiger oscar, gold saum, sailfin pleco and big Geophagus species, and double the length of the tank, then it should be less of an issue. But a big male Jack Dempsey is trouble. Managuense and Dovii are others I wouldn't touch.

 

[itiwhetu]

What ever you do it will be fun. You may find that you will be more successful with fewer species.

 

[NannaLou]

@SAChichlidLover - a question from a newbie...what is a plywood tank..? All I can think off is, “how will you see the fish”??? ???

 

[itiwhetu]

Do you just fiber glass the inside of the plywood surround

 

[Colin_T]

a plywood tank is simply a wood tank with glass panels in front. You seal it with a special type of paint and you have a wooden aquarium.

 

[NannaLou]

a plywood tank is simply a wood tank with glass panels in front. You seal it with a special type of paint and you have a wooden aquarium.

Ahhhh....thank you ?

 

[itiwhetu]

a plywood tank is simply a wood tank with glass panels in front. You seal it with a special type of paint and you have a wooden aquarium.

That is interesting as when I have built ply wood tanks, it has a plywood surround then we have fiber glassed the inside to make it water proof. Then insert a glass panel in the front for viewing.

 

[SAChichlidLover]

I think it's bound to have problems. As an example, we had an 8x2x2ft tank in the shop and it had a pr of Jack Dempseys, a pr of Texas and a pr of festae cichlids in, along with a number of smaller central American cichlids. The boss was a huge cichlid fan. Everything was great while the fish were young. They ate well, and got along, they swam all over the tank and nobody argued.

About 12 months later the Jack Demspeys matured and took over half the tank. Then the festaes matured and took the other half. The Texas tried to take a corner but got bashed, as did everyone else. Eventually it came down to the Jack Dempseys and the festaes. They had half the tank each and there were constant fights. A customer came in looking for some big fish for his tank and bought the Jack demspeys and shortly after that, another customer took the festaes. The tank was scrapped and turned into a planted tank with tetras and angelfish.

That tank was bigger than the one you plan on making and we monitored it for aggression, which did eventuate.

Most tanks that have big predatory fish in, usually end up with one fish that has bashed or killed everything else in the tank.

If you get a female jack dempsey, tiger oscar, gold saum, sailfin pleco and big Geophagus species, and double the length of the tank, then it should be less of an issue. But a big male Jack Dempsey is trouble. Managuense and Dovii are others I wouldn't touch.

Thanks so much for the advice! I’ll see what I can do doubling the tank length wise and I planned on a female everything as I didn’t want to cause a new world war fish haha. To be honest I was thinking about swapping a few of the species but I definitely wanted to keep the oscar, dempsey and gold saum on the list as I do believe they will handle each other better than the other species