*surprise Topic* Inspiration Needed: 180L

[dgwebster]

After spending hours trawling through stock suggestions posts and members photos and all sorts, I am still looking for inspiration for a 180L tank.
 
It is a 48 x 15 x 15 tank, so please keep this in mind as I ask the all too familiar question: what to put in it.
 
This is a blank canvas. For reference it will be filtered by a tetratec ex1200 so it has quite a high cycle.
 
I do not want a community tank, have one already I am thinking 2 or 3 fish in the larger range suitable for the tank as a possibility.
 
All suggestions welcome within this

 

[techen]

Congo tetras?

 

[dgwebster]

I do like the congos. Been having a look around 'murica cichlids too, find these guys rather interesting. 

 

[techen]

Never kept Cichlids but I know they don't like plants?

 

[dgwebster]

well they do like plants... its just we dont like what they do to plants

 

[Lunar Jetman]

How about a few Rainbowfish? You've got a 4 foot tank so they'd have a bit of space to swim around in.

 

[leighton_87]

A pair of Blue Acaras?

With some dither fish of you wanted more interest in there

 

[Livewire88]

Never kept Cichlids but I know they don't like plants?

 
lol what is that I see in your picture? a Cichlid 

 

[dgwebster]

rather like the acaras, though would the tank not potentially become a little cramped? looking at what, 40 gallons ish there?

 

[leighton_87]

180 litres is 48 US gallons - most sites reccomend 50 US gallon minimum. I'm sure it could be workable.

 

[DrRob]

The obvious counter question is what do you like? There are loads of fish you can get into a long tank like that, particularly the smaller ones that like territory such as the apistos or acaras.
 
Then there is the option of going for something more species only, such as juwel cichlids, or things like the smaller central americans like the thorichtys group (firemouths, ellioti, and such like). I suppose technically you could probably get a pair of jack dempseys into that tank as an option, but it's on the lower end of tank size options.
 
Then there's the rest of the fish world outside cichlids. It's long and relatively narrow, so may make a good riverine set up for something like hill stream loaches.

 

[dgwebster]

Certainly the filter that will be on it would be able to complement a stream setup nicely.
 
So about 500 pictures and webpages later ive decided on a couple of hardscape choices i would really like to include:
 
Substrate: black sand/gravel to be used, background will also be black.
 
With all this blackness, im going planted with a mix of mainly broad leaf background and some foreground low grass types. 
 
Im thinking the acaras will love the plants?
 
Any other thoughts from the extra info in people? Its that or i put 200 neon tetras in there...

 

[dgwebster]

Ok, been looking around some more and I quite like the blue acaras. I'm wondering about a pair of acaras and a shoal of giant danios for some dither fish.
 
I am also teetering on one other thing, the over filtration on the tank being the only reason for considering it (and frequent water changes), its to add a small plec, something in the 6" range. anyone experienced or read of experience with doing this before?