Really Large Tank

[Zante]

If you had a really large tank, what would you do with it?

Biotope? Mixed?
Freshwater? Marine? Reef?
Large fish? LOADS of small fish?
Planted? Not planted?

The tank to be used for this game has a base of 20x6 meters and is 3 meters tall.
(approx base 65x20 feet and 10 feet tall)

The rules of the game are this:

• You can only choose one setup, can't say you're undecided between two or more different options.
• You have to describe the scaping, any plants/corals
• Any technicalities you feel are appropriate (such as water currents, lighting, refugium, equipment, etc)
• Describe the stocking, not necessarily in detail, but enough to give an idea

 

[eaglesaquarium]

20x6x3 METERS?!   This is a BIG tank!!!
 
This could be fun.  The downside of this tank would be scaping! 3 meters tall?  You'd have to climb into it to scape it, then climb out of it.
 
 
I'll have to think about this a little before I answer.  Time to do some research.

 

[fluttermoth]

I think I'd be tempted to do a massively upscaled version of a standard community.

Probably a sort-of Asian biotype, as most of the fish I'm thinking of (the ones that get too big for most people to really keep properly) seem to be Asian.

Bala sharks for the shoaler, maybe tinfoil barbs as well, clown loach for the bottom, giant gouramis for the top (I know they get pretty ugly when they're big, but you'd be attached to them by then).

Sand substrate, of course, with giant saggitaria/vallis and some big branches; nice and simple.

 

[SamB]

sharks 

 

[Zante]

sharks 

Sorry, not enough for the rules of this game. You need to be a bit more descriptive
Here's my entry:

I was really torn between a giant version of my discus tank and a reef, but the entry must be one, and amazon it is.

I would have a large sand bed, about a foot deep, heavily planted. There would be a lot of amazon swords as midground plants, possibly a forest of vallisneria gigantea in a corner. Loads of wood, a couple of trunks and lots of roots. There would be a few rocky "islands" in the sand with hidey holes and caves.

LED lighting with a proper controller to make natural day/night transitions, and solar panels to help with the heating of the tank.

Water movement would be fluvial, that is water would be sucked at one side and pushed in at the other with a system of pipes and panels to give an uniform flow throughout the tank.

As for stocking I'd go with
- 50 discus
- 50 altum angels
- 200 rummynose tetras
- 200 cardinal tetras
- 50 starlight plecos
- 200 sterbai corys
- 50 blue rams
- 200 marbled hatchetfish

It would probably look fairly empty to start with, but the idea is to let them breed into the right numbers to fill the tank.

 

[ncguppy830]

south american Biotope
freshwater
400 neon tetras
200 schwarzti? cories
300 congo tetras
20 convict chiclids 
300 swordtails (central america  whatever)
Extremely planted with hundreds of hiding places.
plenty of fish so the chiclid can control the population but not kill everyone.

 

[stanleo]

First I would take a trip to South America and explore the regions river systems and then do something bases on my personal findings. But this is what I am thinking.
 
I would find the biggest pieces of wood I could that has thick branches and turn it so the branches go into the substrate so it looks like the roots of a tree so the top of the wood would have to come up to or out of the water line. I would get 5 of them.
 
The substrate would be natural sediment that you find in the rivers of south America.
 
The plants would all come from those rivers as well. Lots of them and I would import as many species that are indigenous to the region. I would want lots of plants that grow out of the water as well because I would do this with no lid. Ones that flower out of the water but grow in the water.
 
For fish, the focal point would have to be discus. LOTS of discus. At least 100.
 
Maybe 50-75 Angel fish
 
Prolly 200 cardinal tetras.
 
300 corydoras of different species so I can see how they school together.
 
Maybe another school of some small tetra species from the region. Maybe red phantom tetras. 100 at least.
 
Also a lot of plecos. They biggest they come from the region and maybe like 25 of them.
 
Also and this may not work but a predatory fish. One that is good by himself, not big enough to eat discus or angels but big enough to eat the other fish. Maybe an Oscar but I would have to do more research on that.
 
Also a large colony of shrimp. Something native that has the ability to breed in fresh water. I am talking a large colony at least 1000 strong.
 
This tank would have a lot of places for fish and shrimp to hide like a hollow log or in between all the plants. I would want natural behaviors.  
 
I would get the most powerful powerheads I could find and direct all of them in one direction down the middle or the back long ways to create an artificial current.
 
Lighting would have to suspend from the ceiling. I am thinking pendant light all around to give the effect of sunlight and on a dimmer timer to simulate dawn and dusk.
 
I would want to setup an automatic water change system that would simulate what happens in nature.
 
This is all of course assuming that money is no object! This would get pricey lol.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Money would be the least limiting thing in this scenario... having somewhere to actually put this would be my biggest issue.

 

[wrightt3]

I think fluttermoths idea is really good but I would probably add some arowanas and some big catfish to the stock too.
-6 arowanas
-6 giant gouramis
-30 bala sharks
-30 tinfoil barbs
-50 clown loaches
-6 walking catfish
-6 pungas catfish

 

[Wills]

south american Biotope
freshwater
400 neon tetras
200 schwarzti? cories
300 congo tetras
20 convict chiclids 
300 swordtails (central america  whatever)
Extremely planted with hundreds of hiding places.
plenty of fish so the chiclid can control the population but not kill everyone.

 
Hate to say it but thats not even an American Biotope haha!! The Congo Tetras are from Africa and the Convicts and (as you said) the Swordtails are Central American.
 
 
Im not sure what I would do with it, apart from getting it plumbed for automatic water changes haha!!
 
 
Also Im not sure people are pushing the numbers enough here !! This thing is  97247 US gallons so 2-300 of a fish is not going to fill it out that much haha!!
 
Wills

 

[Ruskull]

Ah but it is nice to dream..............
 
I'd probably have a Southeast Asian Biotope similar to what's in my 36 gallon, but much larger numbers of course.  Allow me to ponder this setup a bit more & I'll be more specific.

 

[Blondielovesfish]

That would be a nice tank to have

I would probably have it as a mixed tank, the stocking would be something like this....
4 Black Ghost Knife fish
50 Silver Dollars
10 Big catfish (can't remember the species)
20 Angels
50 Clown Loaches
50 Bala Sharks
That's all I can think of for now

It would be heavily planted with really big plants at the back (can't remember the species) and different amazon sword plants in the front. I'd get a really big piece of driftwood and have lots of rocks to create caves.

I'd probably find the lighting and heating a problem as well as finding a 10X turnover rate filter.
I'd have underwater lights for night and hanging lights for the day.
I'd probably have a CO2 system rigged up, not sure how I'd make one big enough though.
I'd have a 5000 gallon sump.

 

[Zante]

 
Also Im not sure people are pushing the numbers enough here !! This thing is  97247 US gallons so 2-300 of a fish is not going to fill it out that much haha!!
 
Wills
 

 
I did mention that I expect the fish to fill the tank by breeding

It's interesting how nobody mentioned a reef so far...
 
http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=IExF0NO1e7w

 

[eaglesaquarium]

This section is for freshwater... so its a biased group.

 

[ncguppy830]

 

south american Biotope
freshwater
400 neon tetras
200 schwarzti? cories
300 congo tetras
20 convict chiclids 
300 swordtails (central america  whatever)
Extremely planted with hundreds of hiding places.
plenty of fish so the chiclid can control the population but not kill everyone.

 
Hate to say it but thats not even an American Biotope haha!! The Congo Tetras are from Africa and the Convicts and (as you said) the Swordtails are Central American.
 
 
Im not sure what I would do with it, apart from getting it plumbed for automatic water changes haha!!
 
 
Also Im not sure people are pushing the numbers enough here !! This thing is  97247 US gallons so 2-300 of a fish is not going to fill it out that much haha!!
 
Wills
 

opps ii guess i messed up