What Shape Tank?

[CheniseMummy]

Hello All im new to this site a relativly new fish keeper. Ive been keeping 7 Leapord danio's in a 20litre tank for about 6months. As my tank is quite small and id like to get some more fish im going to buy a bigger tank. Their is two possible options i think i will go for.

Square round fronted tropical heated tank measurements Dimensions: 455 x 490 x 495mm
Volume: 80L

Or a 65Litre Rectangle shaped tank, 60x30x42cm both on stands.

I have researched some fish that id like to maybe keep, Not too sure yet the combinations but would like a community tank with at least 1 angel fish possibly. The danios i have now and some long finned golden ones. I also seen a black shark with red tail i like, a cat fish or other sucker type that stays quite small. And some sort of tetra or barbs. With living plants.

Would either of these tanks be big enough to house either 1 angel fish in a cummunity or seperatly. Also appreciate some thoughts on my other fish and any recommendations would be helpfull.

Stephanie

 

[OldMan47]

For an angel, try to get a water depth of at least 40 cm. Angels are very tall fish and need enough height in their tank to not feel cramped.
In general, I have avoided the curved front tanks. I will admit they are attractive but I have no idea how best to maintain them and after 50 years of fish keeping, I have plenty of other things I would rather learn about my fish and equipment. I also find their distortion of the fish's appearance disturbing.

As far as shapes, I work to provide the most swimming room I can for my fish. For a fast swimming fish like a danio, tank length is important. Those fish are regular bullets in the tank if they have enough room to get going. If you are breeding fish and want large numbers, the water surface area becomes important. That means a tank that is sort of square in dimensions works out better than the same volume of water in a tall tank.

So now we have a conflict to resolve. Taller is better for angels but more square and therefore shorter is better for large fish numbers. None of us can solve that dilemma for you because it all comes down to where you are willing to compromise and what factors are important to you.

 

[Assaye]

For the sake of the danios, get the tank that has the longest side. Danios are speedy little blighters and when given room to open up they love to zoom around.

An angel requires a particularly tall tank, as Oldman said. However, they do also require quite a long tank as they can easily reach 6 inches as an adult. None of the tanks you listed would be big enough - these fish need a good 18" of height and 36" of length in a tank. You'd need to be looking at something of 100+ litres.

The black shark with the red tail is either a rainbow/ruby shark (fairly boisterous, terriatorial, reach 6 inches) or a red tail black shark (RTBS - very boisterous, very terriatorial, reach 6-8 inches). Again, these fish need more space than those tanks can offer. I would strongly suggest looking at tanks that are 150-180 litres for these guys. It is also not recommended to keep them together and definitely don't keep more than one of the same species.

There are many sucker mouthed fish so without a positive ID it's hard to say what is best. Some are little otocinclus that stay at about 1" and some are baby plecostomus and would reach 24" (2 foot) or more as adults. Always best to get a specific species ID as their needs vary wildly.

Barbs and tetras should be fine as long as you don't get any that will outgrow the tank. In a 60 litre tank with those dimensions, I feel the danios will take up most of the swimming room so would stick to just danios and some bottom feeders such as corys. May fit in one shoal of 6 small barbs (such as cherries). Avoid any barbs/tetras that exceed 1.5" as adults. The larger tank will be more accommodating but the shorter dimensions mean I would avoid any larger tetras/barbs as they won't have much zoom-room. There are so many tetras and barbs that we really need some ideas as to what you like before we can advise.

 

[CheniseMummy]

Hey thanks very much for your guidance its much appreciated. Especially about keeping angel fish and shark together. I was concerned that the tanks would be too small for and angel. So ihve been looking at others that are second hand as i cant afford more than £150 on the tank. My danio's would love a bigger tank as they keep hitting the sides in mine atm.

Can anyone please tell me how many liters this would hold. Its in my town so could collect very easy. The dimensions he has put are. Is it bigger than the others.

http/i148.photobucket.com/albums/s3/astephanieanne/fishtank.jpg



THE MEASUREMENTS FOR THE TANK INCLUDING LID ARE-

HEIGHT-47CM.

WIDTH-80CM.

DEPTH-35CM.

 

[CheniseMummy]

Sorry i forgot to add.

I was thinking about cherry barbs, tiger or some black one i seen not sure their name. I also wnated to up my shoal of danios to around 10.

If an angel fish isnt a good option for the tanks i can afford have space for. What other beatuifull fish that would be a good centre piece be that would fit in with my other choices.

 

[AquaticRex]

everyone pretty much has everything covered, but i just want to say, research every fish thoroughly. i had bought a sucker pleco that is in my 60 gallon, and the person at the pet store said if you agitate it enough when cleaning it will try to sting you with its barbs it has on its head. and the one i have, the barbs would cause a very harmful infection. so check to see if the fish you get for a community fish are semi-aggressive or not. cause the pleco i got was in the community section...

 

[AquaticRex]

i would tell you what size that is, but your not canadian or american i dont think, and our metric system is wayyy different from yours. that to me looks like its maybe somewhere between 20-29 u.s. gallons. i dont know if that helps any

 

[CheniseMummy]

Thanks i googled it and it says between 90-131Litres. So a little bigger.

 

[AquaticRex]

of course if you wanted you could always just, do what i did, and go for a big big tank lol i did it randomly one day lol, its always fun for decorating even if your not going to put a lot of fish in lol designing is what i love to do, and trust me, your going to be up sizing really quick lol. i started with a 10 gallon u.s and now have a 60 gallon u.s lol. its lots of fun

 

[CrystalClear16]

THE MEASUREMENTS FOR THE TANK INCLUDING LID ARE-

HEIGHT-47CM.

WIDTH-80CM.

DEPTH-35CM.

Click 'calculator' at the top of the page to work it out. But you need the measurements of the actual tank - not including the lid.

 

[The Tropical Tank]

Hey thanks very much for your guidance its much appreciated. Especially about keeping angel fish and shark together. I was concerned that the tanks would be too small for and angel. So ihve been looking at others that are second hand as i cant afford more than £150 on the tank. My danio's would love a bigger tank as they keep hitting the sides in mine atm.

Can anyone please tell me how many liters this would hold. Its in my town so could collect very easy. The dimensions he has put are. Is it bigger than the others.

http/i148.photobucket.com/albums/s3/astephanieanne/fishtank.jpg



THE MEASUREMENTS FOR THE TANK INCLUDING LID ARE-

HEIGHT-47CM.

WIDTH-80CM.

DEPTH-35CM.

That tank is about 130L or around 30 Gallons, which is a decent size