Stocking Advise

[always4lora]

Afternoon Guy's,
I'm currently on the lookout for a 6x2x2 or 6x3x2 atm and want to have a good idea of the stocking in time for when i get hold of one.

I like predatory/oddball fish and was thinking off the following;

6x3x2

Stingray Potamotrygon Scobina if i can get one
polypterus Lapredei x3
Polypterus Endlicheri
Polypterus Congicous
Asian Arrowna
Tire Track eel
Oscar or another middle dwelling species Maybe Clown Knife?


6x2x2
Polypterus Weeksii
Polypterus Ornatipinnis
polypterus Lapredei x3
Polypterus Endlicheri
Asian Arrowna
Tire Track eel
Oscar
Silver sharks or Silver Dollar's
Oscar

I'd rather get the 3ft wide one but they rerely come up for sale might have to settle with a 30" wide. Which ever i get will be well over filtered.

Any tips suggestions?

 

[dave_oddballs]

id probably ditch the oscar in either tank, and as you mentioned get something like a clown knife.
id also definitely go for silver dollars as opposed to silver sharks, try and get hold of either the black barred ones or red hooks they will look brilliant, im thinking of getting around 6 red hooks for my tank, but need to get rid of this arowana!
you could still keep scobina in the 6x2x2 but you'll find it hard finding them, i've been looking for about a year!
and you'd do well as you mentioned to well over filter, i've only just started being happy with mine after i added the fx5 to the 2 eheim 2080's! and im buying T1's eheim 2080 too so i'll have 4 big filters, i'll be really happy with it then, maybe one day when i have the time and money i will empty it, get it drilled, and have a big sump!
id probably recommend if you get one, get it drilled first and do it that way, once you have it done you can have a big sump and change what you want in it! and change it when you want, plus potentially add a few hundred litres of water to the system.
what kind of asian aro would you be after? if your just after any then greens are the cheapest at about £150, then there is red tailed golden at about £300, then up and up.
that guy who we want to order the bichirs from has the red hooks on his list and gave a good price for a group of 6!
will have to try and get some cash together pretty soon!

 

[always4lora]

Smart i'll leave the oscar in the tank it's in then. I'm trying to get a tank 2nd hand atm so might already be drilled might not be , if i dont have one by june/ July i'll just buy a new one but would need to go 6x2x2 as id imagine the extra foot in depth will cost a fair bit.

Yeh the Scobina's to appear to be rare ! but then again from what i've been reading they're good for getting feeding and are pretty hardy compared to the other smaller rays.

 

[synodontisjack]

I'd be tempted to get the 3ft wide tank, then have poly's, a trio of gars, south american lungfish, a few dats and a heterotis.

 

[always4lora]

I'd be tempted to get the 3ft wide tank, then have poly's, a trio of gars, south american lungfish, a few dats and a heterotis.

I like the African arrowana's theyre smart, i like all arrowana's really just some get pretty big. Which gar's? dont most get too big? i like dats but i think id struggle to get them at a good size so they dont get eaten. Whatever i do i'll have Poly's

 

[dave_oddballs]

the only gars that would fit [assuming you get a 30-36 inch wide tank] is spotted, florida spotted or short nose, short nose being harder to get hold of. African arowanas are really hard to find, in fact if you do find any tell T1, as he is looking for one!
Dont worry about the size of dats, my new two thin bars are about 3 inch and there with a 6 inch indo dat, 14 inch arowana, 8 inch pink tailed characin, 3 rays and my two 12 inch bichirs and nothing bothers them!

 

[synodontisjack]

florida gars would be fine and the only ones you really get in the uk (pretty much all labled spotted are floridas) Florida's only get 18" or so in captivity and there a fantastic fish to keep.

 

[always4lora]

ooooo proper nice looking fish too love the scales on them and the teeth totally cool. I've had a look at new tanks but cannot see anywhere that does 36inch wide. I could go with 78inch long by 30inch wide and 24inch tall, this would work out at around 240usg would this be big enough? suprisingly the tank by itself will cost about £400 which is quite cheap going to make my own stand .

 

[dave_oddballs]

i would have thought that would be sufficient.
I will get a price for you from reef n river, he has a guy make his tanks and are quite cheap.

 

[always4lora]

That'd be brilliant if you can ask about the 3ft wide and the 30inch that would be good i'd imagine the 3ft would be a fair bit more but it's good to ccmpare. The tank will be going in my brick shed so need to get a move on and get the insulation sorted. Going to use polystyrene boards with thin wood around the outside.

 

[england]

oooh this sounds good, cant wait to see it up and running bud

 

[dave_oddballs]

well i know it was about £500 for a 6x3x2 as i was very close to ordering one before i found my 7 foot one for sale, i know it was 10 or 12 mm glass can't remember which, and it comes with glass sliders, apart from the juwel and fluval tank i had all the rest have come from there, and i even have my 2 foot tank upstairs that i got from this guy when i was 8! thats 15 years and i only resealed it last year!
anyway i will be in this weekend as i need to top up on my frozen food stocks, so i will get a price for you then, its not too far for you to come if its a good price, thats why i mentioned it. what prices have you got for this size so far?
and is that your ideal size 6x3x2?

Dave

 

[always4lora]

6x3x2 would be my ideal size as with the width it'd give me some good stocking options if i ever wanted to change the stock.

The prices ive got are from Aquariums ltd which is somewhere in lancashire.
78"x30"x24" is £350
78x24x24 is £290
72x24x24 is £270

 

[dave_oddballs]

he said he doesn't stock glass to make the 3 foot wide one anymore so it would work out too expensive for a 1 off order so your best sticking with what you've found, i have had a look round and is quite hard to find 3 foot wide tanks!

 

[dave_oddballs]

this seems a fair price for a 72"(L)x30"(W)x24"(H)
http/www.aquariums.ltd.uk/AquariumBuy.asp?ProdURN=lqQmDFc4PtvlChlB3ycq3AD5twsf9IFLW9Vkfdrh6KknC98REw