# i want to make this happen



## NEWBIE4NOW (Jan 2, 2004)

ok for me this is my dream tank,,i know its nothing special really to some of you..but this is what i want..i just got word we got our loan approved and this is what i want in the family room i plan to have a small 75 gallon with smaller chiclids in the dining room and in my basement im gona hook up make it look like a sports bar and gym im gona have a piranha tank down there..but in the family room this is what i want

texas chiclid 5''-3
jack dempsey 5''-3
oscar 6-7''-1
bumble bee oscar 5''-1
peruvian oscar 4-5''-1
peacock bass 8-9''-1
jacquar chiclid 6''-1
asian sailfin sharks 4''-4
silver arowanna 10'' -2
black arowanna 6''-1
green terror 6''-1
clown loaches 6''-5
wyckii 12''-1
tiger catfish 4-5''-1
pleco's 8''-4
leaf fish 2''-2
black ghost knife 5''-1
african knife fish 5''-1
clown knife fish-6''-1
tinfoil barbs 4''-3
frontosa 3''-3

thats it im thinking a tank around 96x24x25=240 gallon??


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## 14_blast (Oct 6, 2003)

nice tank in theory, imho that jaguar cichlid could dominate the tank and I don't think you can put 2 arrowanas in the same tank.


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## Fargo (Jun 8, 2004)

Too many fish for 240gal. The big guys need a minimum of 55gal apiece when mature.


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

For that tank you're going to need probably a couple thousand gallons. There are so many incompatible fish on that list that you would literally need a tank larger than most zoos have to keep them all together.


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## lemmywinks (Jan 25, 2004)

some of those fish will not go together unless you have a frickin huge pond.

for that tank I would suggest

1 texas
1 jack dempsey
2-3 oscars
1 Green terror
clown loaches
1 clown knife

these fish might still be small but remember taht they will eventually get very large


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

I dunno lemmy, this texas I've got over here is an evil bastard, I wouldn't put it in any size tank with anything because I think it goes out of it's way to pick fights. It flares and charges at the pane of glass on his tank facing my con/green terror/kribensis tank which is ACROSS THE ROOM









Maybe they're not all like that but christ, I get the feeling this thing wouldn't cohabitate with anyone anywhere.


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## Fargo (Jun 8, 2004)

lemmywinks said:


> some of those fish will not go together unless you have a frickin huge pond.
> 
> for that tank I would suggest
> 
> ...


 I might eliminate one of the choices on that list and get a couple of Cons, simply because they rarely get to grow out in large tanks, and males look awesome if they get huge.


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## NEWBIE4NOW (Jan 2, 2004)

lemmywinks said:


> some of those fish will not go together unless you have a frickin huge pond.
> 
> for that tank I would suggest
> 
> ...


 dang thats it in that big tank?makes me wonder if i wana bother with it then..i may have to tweak it out a bit.i know for a fact i was arrowannas i heard you could have 2-3 together they wouldnt kill each other..also i know i want some oscars..maybe i'll go with those 2 and a jaquar and some clown loaches?


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## Trimma194 (Mar 20, 2004)

do what i do...put them all i nto one tank..when they start fighting, seperate t hem and buy more tanks!


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## NEWBIE4NOW (Jan 2, 2004)

after lookin over the list that was way over stocking so im gona go with this

2 arrowannas 11''
3 oscars 7''
1 jagquar 6''
1 peacock bass 8''
3 common plecos 8''

and i guess it will be trial and error from there so what happens.im hoping this works out thanx for the suggestions bros.


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

You cannot fit a peacock bass in there. Alone it would work fine but you cant stick it in there with a jaguar (aggressive as hell), 2 arros and 3 oscars and hope it turns out fine. Maybe the 2 arros, and 3 oscars or the two arros and 1 jaguar but I still don't think you can fit all that in there


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## NEWBIE4NOW (Jan 2, 2004)

i just really hate to waste a huge tank like that 8 feet long on only 2-3 fish would look boring has hell i think.


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

Unfortunately that's the tradeoff when you get large predatory or territorial fish. I agree with you completely that that big a tank is a waste on so few fish so you need to revamp what you're doing to put in there. Lose the idea of a peacock first of all because that's going to be the biggest thing taking up your space. By all means get the two arrowanas, put in an Oscar, a green terror and some smaller cichlids like firemouths or convicts, 4-6 of either of those (I'd go with all females myself as they're prettier and breeding pairs always cause problems with aggression in the tank). So you could have something like

2 arrowanas
1 Oscar
1 Green Terror
4 Female firemouths

and you've got 8 fish in that tank. It doesn't sound like an awful lot but when you consider those arrowanas will be 2 feet big, the Oscar and Green Terror both 1 foot big, and the cons/firemouths 6 inches big the tank will by no means look empty and will have plenty of activity.


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

Also maybe add some tinfoil barbs like 4 of em and you'll have an attractive and ACTIVE tank to look at.


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## NEWBIE4NOW (Jan 2, 2004)

thanx for the suggestions i think i will go with that...im gona have to put in some good hiding spots for the smaller ones so they dont get eaten up till they put some size on them.also you think frontosa's would look good in there? or is that a bit too much has well?


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## lemmywinks (Jan 25, 2004)

el twitcho, why couldnt he keep a peacock bass in there? if you say because of their size that is BS. unless he has some temesis they will not out grow that tank. and the arrowana will get larger than 24" so if anything will get to big it will be that.

frontosas will not do very well w/ those fish. they dont like to be in with more agressive fish. but I think that a big colony of frontosas would look awesome in there. maybe 2-3 males and about 6-7 females


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

Fronts I don't know much about. The only thing I'd really worry about is the arros eating your cichlids and barbs while they're still small. If you keep everyone relatively the same size nobody should get eaten but that's going to be difficult finding real young arros. Maybe a divider or something until everyone grows big enough the arros won't eat em. Other than that even though the cons and barbs won't get as big as the GT and Oscar they will still be too big to be eaten and in a big tank like that if they eventually get their asses kicked by the bigger fish (they probably will) they'll have lots of room to stay out of their way afterwards. It's going to be an awesome setup dude, not as insane as what you previously envisioned mind you, but still a setup I'd personally dream of having


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

Lemmy - Not because of size, because I've heard and seen that they're aggressive as hell.


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## lemmywinks (Jan 25, 2004)

elTwitcho said:


> Lemmy - Not because of size, because I've heard and seen that they're aggressive as hell.


 only while they are breeding. peacocks are pretty damn mellow normally


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

Eh even still, yes alone one can fit in there fine but because of their size aside from their aggression (which they may not have too much of if you're right) I don't think they would get along with the other fish in the tank. Put a peacock bass in there and you're going to have to put less of other fish which goes against what he's trying to do by fitting a few more than 2 or 3 fish in that tank.


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## NEWBIE4NOW (Jan 2, 2004)

well for the arrowannas i can get the 11'' ones for only $16 each from a guy named joey's on pfish.net but since that size may cause a problem for the smaller fish i can get some 7'' ones from pedro but he wants $65 for each one!! so thats a big sacrifice in size and price i gotta make.


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

Forget that price dude, get the 11 inchers and try and work something out with your cichlid sizes. If you can't get full grown ones or even larger ones you can always do some magic with dividers for your cichlids to have some space to grow bigger before swimming with the big guys. Worst case if you have the cichlids for a few months before you get the arros. Either will work, I just think it'd be a pain in the ass to toss in all those 2 inch cichlids and have them gradually disappear.


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## NEWBIE4NOW (Jan 2, 2004)

think i will just pick up a small tank on the side like a 60 gallon and grow out my smaller ones some then toss them in.then maybe get a irritan or something for the 60 gallon


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

Yes you also cannot go wrong with more fish tanks, lol









Have fun dude, I'm definately envious of your future set up.


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## NEWBIE4NOW (Jan 2, 2004)

thanx for the advice bros i really appreciated it.now time to give a call to glass cages and see what shipping is gona cost me and put in the order.


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## con man (Mar 7, 2004)

in my 70 long 28 wide 20 tall i have 3 pecockbass occelaris (6in) 2 hystrix rays (1 male 1 female at 6-8in disk) a 6-7in water cow and 2 4-5in largemouth bass and i kno my tank will be overcrowded withing a year and a half

eventually il get rid of the largemouth and maybe 1 of the peacocks

once i get bored with this tank (2-3years) il go with a group of 2-3goliath wolfish and 2 redline snakeheads

then il hope that one of the redlines gets killed off and one of the wolfs too then il be done with fish keeping until something new comes along and really gets me going


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## acestro (Jul 7, 2003)

Getting to this late... The first impression I get is that you want a lot of fish. With an 8 foot tank you can either get a breeding/species tank for very large fish or go with a medium sized medium stock community or a lot of smaller fish.

There's a lot to be said about a lot of smaller fish. Aggression can be controlled by space alone and you get the many species that you want.

There are sooooo many cichlids. An order from Jeff Rapps could hook you up with quite a variety that you wouldn't be able to find at the LFS. If you keep to smaller genera like Thorichthys, certain smaller Archocentrus (or whatever that is now), maybe some smaller geophagines, etc. you would have an awesome show tank.

If you dig this idea let me know and I'll throw out more names/pics. I think your original angle was to have something like this.


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## NEWBIE4NOW (Jan 2, 2004)

well my orginal idea from day 1 was to try and have odd ball type fish.you know kinds you dont normally see in lfs and petsmart's.i know not everything on my list was under that catagory but most where.i havwe finally decided i belive im gona go with

2 arrowanna's 11''
1 green terror 6''
3 common pleco's 8''
3 tinfoil barbs 4''
1 oscar 7''
and a few smaller chiclids like firemouths those look sweet and im gona grow the tinfoils and firemouths in a small tank like a 60 gallon till they reach some decent size.but i will email the guy you mentioned i have his website page and let him know what i want to do and will see what he suggests thanx for the idea bro.


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

That sounds awesome, I'd add another tinfoil barb to make it four. Not for any particular reason other than you could easily fit another one and I think it'd look nice


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## NEWBIE4NOW (Jan 2, 2004)

well i got jeffr's email back and heres what he suggests.

Great tank! If you like, I can recommend one each of the following
'large-growing' cichlids to throw in there. Each would be 2-3" to start
with, and the potential to grow BIG and showy.
Amph. citrinellus
A. trimaculatus
N. haitiensis
P. friedricksthalli
V. fenestratus
Aeq. rivulatus (true Peru green terror!)
A. festae
C. umbriferus
Hemi. fasciatus


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## NEWBIE4NOW (Jan 2, 2004)

now that i look over my orginal list i dont know what in the world made me think i could fit in 22 different types of fish most of wich grow over 10'' for a total of 41 fishin only a 240 gallon....lol im glad i ran into you bros or else i would have had a expensive sushi dinner...lol


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

That's an awful lot of aggressive cichlids he recomended there...


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## NEWBIE4NOW (Jan 2, 2004)

ya i looked into some of them and a few say its possiable with a big enough tank to mix but i dont know maybe he thinks since the tank is big and they are so smal that by the time they grow to decent size they will be used to each other?


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## lemmywinks (Jan 25, 2004)

ya all the ones jeff recomended will not work. youll be lucky to get 3-4 of the to co-exist in there. but all of those fish are pretty damn rare and IMO just 3 or 4 of them would make an awesome tank. you might think that ony 4 big 12" fish would be boring in a large tank but once you actually see them in there I think that it would actually be pretty damn cool


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

Or maybe he thinks after your fish all kill each other you'll go buy more from him... Seriously, I can't figure out how a guy who purportedly knows cichlids as well as he does would recomend something like that.


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## quadratic (May 3, 2004)

I think (hope!) he's recommending that newbie4now choose one of the fish he listed and grow it into a show fish. Anyone who knows anything about keeping cichlids knows that putting one of each of those fish in a tank has a 0% success rate. Nothing is impossible, but this is close enough.


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## NEWBIE4NOW (Jan 2, 2004)

here is jeff's response when i asked him if he was sure of his picks..

In that size tank? Yes. Raise them together and they will establish their
own pecking order early on. Much better than throwing adults together and
playing referee.
I have seen posts by some folks that think these fish need 100+ gallons
each. Makes sense if you want to see a lone fish swim 6 feet in one
direction, then back 6 feet in the other. In practice, I've always kept
fish as I listed in your email.
Jeff


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## crazyklown89 (Aug 28, 2003)

I say the best looking tank for a 240g would be
2 arowanas
couple of stingrays
some datnoids
possibly a big bichir.


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## DC_Cichlid (Jun 24, 2004)

For your 240 gallon, you could do this..... and add a couple more on

texas chiclid 5''-2
jack dempsey 5''-2
oscar 6-7''-1
bumble bee oscar 5''-1
peruvian oscar 4-5''-1
jaquar chiclid 6''-1
black arowana or silver arowana 6''-1
green terror 6''-1
pleco's 8''-2

*DONT* keep 2 arowanas in only a 240 gallon tank.. Thats not enough room for two. You can get away with 1... but thats all for arowanas.

Once you add all these fish, you will notice that what alot of people have said above is BS,...

Yes Jaguars are somewhat agressive, but not when theres so many other fish that are the same size, or bigger.... He will settle down, or be put in his place.

You dont need 4 frikin plecos, lol.... they sh*t more than eat anyways...:laugh:

Oscars are awsome, I love them also... they have great character...

Im also considering building, or buying a 240+ gallon aquarium.... so here is what I would keep in it....

- 2 Green Terror's
- 2 Carpite's
- 2 Texas 
- 1 Jaguar
- 1 Tiger Oscar
- 1 Albino Oscar
- 1 Red Oscar
- 2 Jack Dempsey's
- 2 Hujeta Gar's
- 1 Gold Nugget Pleco
- 1 Royal Pleco
______________________
- 16 Fish Total

And a couple others... I wouldn't keep all these fish in there for life, but untill most are around 8-10" inches( 2-3 years.)

(EDIT: Raising fish when they are smaller ( 2-3 ") helps alot, they learn to tolerate eachother,...

Depending on what types of fish you have in one tank, they will boss eachother around, or leave eachother alone.

You need to try it out, dont belive what ppl tell you on the internet... much of it is BS.)


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