Setting Up A New 75 Gallon Tank

[Dan Whtie]

Hi. My recent posts about trying in vain to find a good (non betta) fish for a small 5 gallon tank has finally prompted me to go ahead and get back into the hobby for real. Of course the real reason is that my wife just saw a Blood Parrot in the store and fell in love with them. So that means we need no less than a 75 gal tank... she goes over the top like I do often, going from 5 to 75.

I'm very familiar with tank maintenance, water quality issues and so on, but am less familiar with fish selection. I know sometimes there aren't hard and fast rules, but I wanted to bounce some ideas off people here. One thing I know is that this will be a tank for larger, probably semi-aggressive fish, rather than for peaceful tetras, mollies and smaller varieties.

I know we'll be getting a blood parrot. My understanding is that this is NOT an artifically colored fish (at least the orange ones aren't). I did want to confirm this as I did see some parrots that were completely natural in color - mottled brown color with some black in them. If I can get more than 1 we probably will, but I need to learn more about how aggressive they are with each other.

Can anyone give me some quick pointers on what else would go with them? I was thinking a pair of angel fish, some clown loaches (although they're a bit frantic), maybe some small cichlid varieties, large gouramis, barbs, silver dollars or bala sharks, maybe rainbowfish ???

Also, I really like live plants but I read that parrots like to dig up the substrate, let alone what the other fish like silver dollars might do. I also don't care for the hood lights that you get in a typical store. If I do have plants, these lights are useless. Any thoughts on what I can get that still looks good in a living room (ie, no shop lights or large high intensity lights)?

Thanks for any comments or links!

dwhite

 

[AlaskaMatt]

For plant lights you go for Compact flouresents, the hoods look the same as most of the ones that come with a new tank, and they have alot more wattage, and are fairly cheap compared to other alternatives like metal halide lighting. Heres some examples: http/www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod...p;N=2004+113345 http/www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod...p;N=2004+113345

 

[Dan Whtie]

For plant lights you go for Compact flouresents, the hoods look the same as most of the ones that come with a new tank, and they have alot more wattage, and are fairly cheap compared to other alternatives like metal halide lighting. Heres some examples: http/www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod...p;N=2004+113345 http/www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod...p;N=2004+113345

Thanks, Matt. I've bookmarked those links. Has anybody found a good website that can recommend some good fish combinations, of the sort I mentioned above?

dwhite

 

[rdd1952]

Not being familiar with the blood parrots, I can't really suggest tankmates. As for the lights, the cheapest place I've found to buy lights is here. I haven't bought from them in almost 2 years but they were by far the best at that time.

 

[Dan Whtie]

Not being familiar with the blood parrots, I can't really suggest tankmates. As for the lights, the cheapest place I've found to buy lights is here. I haven't bought from them in almost 2 years but they were by far the best at that time.

Thanks, I've got them bookmarked, too.

dwhite

 

[caboose_122]

for parrots these are what would be good tank mates for them:
Silver Dollars
Black Skirt Tetras (Black Widow)
Giant Danios
Congo Tetras
There are many other suitable dither fish, these are just a few that came to mind.

Other good tank mates may include, but are not limited to:
Cory Cats
Any variety of Pleco
Twig Catfish
Kribensis
Convicts (can be aggressive and there is possibility of cross breeding)
Sevrums
Large Angels

check this site if you need any reference for parrots:

http/www.geocities.com/parrotcichlid/main.html