stocking campatibility

[Sanj]

it's going to be plonked in the middle of my bedroom!!

Are you sure!!??? A five foot long aquarium is really heavy. Both my aquariums are downstairs and like your idea my 5ft aquarium forms a divider in my living room and I worry over whether the floor is strong enough lol. Is your bedroom upstairs or downstairs? Just be careful.


Have you thought about Redline torpedo barbs? Their body shape is like balas, they are really clourful almosr iluminous red stripe across their body and yellow tips on their tail.

Unlike Balas they grow to only 6".

I currenly have 3 balas and 3 Redline torpedos. Will be getting more of them (RLTs) too

 

[Sanj]

Btw they arent cheap £10-15 or more each at the moment.

 

[Paul_MTS]

Yer my dads really not being helpful, i'm asking him if i can have a big tank up there and he don't answer, really getitng on my nerves recently!!

I'm planning on putting it in the middle which below has a bedroom wall there, although I think i'll ask my great uncle as he designed our extension. Yep it's a upstairs bedroom.

I'm really going after the wow factor and really like bala sharks although those barbs look pretty good.

 

[Sanj]

Ok, well If it is over a wall it would have more support, but best to check with your uncle.

Those pics of the torpedos are of fish stock coming into UK so the arent as large as they will get. Six inches is a good size, but yes bala are impressive when they are larger. I would suggest three balas, no less although i wouldnt get any more either because 5ft tanks are minimum size for full grown balas really.

 

[Paul_MTS]

u say the torpedoes are 10-15 each thats a nuts price!!

yeh, willbe checking everything out, but be speaken to my brother and seems he will co-operate with clearing his room abit for a tank

and would come and pick it up!!

i think 3 would be a good number for them anyways

 

[rvm]

Just an update. I got 3 balas today. they are about 5" at the moment. I couldn't get them any smaller or they'd get eaten by the oscar. They are cool fish and look really good in my tank!!! If you're getting a 5 footer and don't want cichlids, then they're the way to go!!! They aren't that cheap either though. I paid £30 for my 3, but they are a bit cheaper when they are smaller. My LFS has 7" ones for £20 each !!!!!

 

[Aquascaper]

Plenty of fish info for you so far so i'll make a point about the background at each end idea............... IMO don't.
I did it with a tank of mine and it really seemed to confuse the fish and they were constantly swimming into the 'open' sides.
If it was my tank i would just leave it open and use plants to fill the ends instead.

HTH

 

[Sanj]

u say the torpedoes are 10-15 each thats a nuts price!!

Yup thats because they have only been available in the hobby farily recently that is the main reason the price is high and als obecause they scome from limited region in South India. The price will eventually come down a bit.

RVM,

what are the dimensions of your tank?

 

[bunjiweb]

People seem to worry about the weight of tanks. Well If you think about it, the force exerted on a MUCH smaller area by a human is probably equal to the weight of a tank distributed by a stand.

Now imagine your having a party and there are 5 people in your room.... thats got to be equal to a couple of hundred gallons of water!


As for RTB Sharks I have one in my 50G and he is very peacful, never chases the other fish (even the gold tetra) and just scavanges and swims about happily. I have heard they only get terratorial in smaller tanks with few tank mates.

Ben

 

[rvm]

RVM,

what are the dimensions of your tank?

Big enough for them to live to the end of their years perfectly happily thanks!!!!
Have a look around for my pictures thread and you'll see my tank.

 

[Paul_MTS]

Yer, I Kind of went off the idea of the 2 ended backgorund, I think I would make the middle of the tank quite thick with tall plants then have foregorund on each side. That would be the plan for my room, but as it seems I'm going to go for a 6fter rather than 5 so my brothers gonna box some of his stuff up then I'll have it in his room which has a solid concrete floor so no problems there, and i don't have to carry it upstairs then

Well if this 6ft tank is 6x2x2 it's going to 1.5 tonnes (1500 lbs) which is alot of weight being put down on a 6x2 area, where as if i had a few tonne of epople in my room it would be in several different places.

My LFS has the silver sharks at about 2/3inch for a few quid, but this tank I'm looking at already has 3 silver sharks which are probable near fully grown.

I'm planning on getting a ruby shark for my 3ft tank aswell.

 

[Sanj]

I've seen silver sharks and bala sharks labelled differently? Silver sharks only grow to 20cm I have read.

I may be wrong though

Ben

Silver Sharks and Balas are the same.

There is however two main sources, one from Thailand where reportedly they only grow to about 20cm and the other from parts of Indonesia which grow up to 35cm.

Perhaps they are just variants, or different environmental conditions affecting their final size?

 

[Pointy_kitty]

People seem to worry about the weight of tanks. Well If you think about it, the force exerted on a MUCH smaller area by a human is probably equal to the weight of a tank distributed by a stand.

Now imagine your having a party and there are 5 people in your room.... thats got to be equal to a couple of hundred gallons of water!


As for RTB Sharks I have one in my 50G and he is very peacful, never chases the other fish (even the gold tetra) and just scavanges and swims about happily. I have heard they only get terratorial in smaller tanks with few tank mates.

Ben

RTBS still have territory
but yes you are right,
the bigger and more well set up the tank, the more peaceful the shark
but there should still only be one in the tank
that was the issue in question

 

[The-Wolf]

Now imagine your having a party and there are 5 people in your room.... thats got to be equal to a couple of hundred gallons of water!

AWWW Ben only five people come to your parties, such a shame

 

[bunjiweb]

*****.