What to put in a 180?

divemaster99

Dovii
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Jan 10, 2014
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Well this might be a little soon since the soonest I'm getting this tank is the end of the year but more than likely in fall 2015 but I like to REALLY plan ahead if time :). The reason I'm asking so soon is there are a few fish at my LFS that wouldn't outgrow my 75 until I can get the 180 but depending on what I stock the 180 with would affect whether the fish I'd get now are compatible. I've already thought about this tank even before I setup my 75 for the shear fact that a 180 is going to be an amazing tank to have!

there are just SO many possibilities of fish I could do but before I get into specific species I'd like to generalize what kind of tank this is going to be, tropical or native.

could either of these stocks work?

Native:
3 Bluegill OR 3 yellow perch
1 Black Crappie
1 SMB
1 White Bass OR 1 freshwater drum (drum would be a growout)
1 Yellow Bullhead
1 Sailfin Pleco (I know it's not native but I already have one in my 75 and I'm to attached)

Tropical:
1 Green Texas
1 Jaguar cichlid
1 or 2 other large SA or CA cichlids
1 Irwini catfish (possible growout)
1 Florida Brown Bullhead (possible growout)
1 Sailfin Pleco (as stated above I already have him)

some other setups I was thinking of were: 2-4 large predatory slightly-diurnal catfish or peacock bass with two or three larger catfish.

Feel free to tweak and/or improve any of my potential stocks and suggest any you'd like (has to include my sailfin pleco).

approx tank specs and water specs:

dimensions: 72" x 24" x 24" (182cm x 61cm x 61cm)
subsrate: sand or very fine gravel
filtration: maybe a power filter but more than likely a $hit!oad of sponge filters.
temperature: if tropical then whatever is necessary, if native then 64-78.
ph: 7.6 (I don't mess with pH)
water changes: I'll do up to 60% a week if I have to :).

again I know I'm asking a bit early but it does pertain to what's going on with my setups now since I have the opportunity to get some awesome tropical or native growouts now.
 

that_fish_Guy

Peacock Bass
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Jul 29, 2013
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In one of my 6x2x2 I am keeping a jardini arowana. Just wanted to input because I've had trouble stocking tanks in the past. It's kinda like baskin robins. SO MANY FLAVORS or in out case SO MANY POSSIBILITIES haha lol.


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axs377

Polypterus
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Dec 17, 2006
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In a 180 I'd think you could keep 4 large cichlids plus a cat or two given proper filtration. A jag and green terror plus a couple others would probably work, though it may come down to the personalities of the individual fish. The bullhead gets huge correct? I know very little about catfish...
 

divemaster99

Dovii
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Jan 10, 2014
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In a 180 I'd think you could keep 4 large cichlids plus a cat or two given proper filtration. A jag and green terror plus a couple others would probably work, though it may come down to the personalities of the individual fish. The bullhead gets huge correct? I know very little about catfish...
Yellow bullheads get about 14-16" and are bigger poop factories than many plecos, but they're I fish I've been dying to keep.
 

ekaj

Feeder Fish
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Apr 13, 2014
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I just got a 180 too, great tank size for cruzin fish. I always thought native tanks were cool, and if something doesn't go right, just throw fish back were you got them. crappie are usually in groups and will school with perch and bull bluegill, but might get picked on alone. Also, if you want bullhead, make sure that if the tank went through an earthquake, everything would stay secure, because bullheads like to dig and destroy everything. watch your pleco, because smaller ones will suck to the side of bigger fish and can mess them up. peacock bass will mix in the native tank too if they are about the same size. make sure you have good aeration with that many fish.
 

divemaster99

Dovii
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Jan 10, 2014
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Bump.

And not to sound rude to the above poster but no matter what at least in PA you can't by law release any fish that have been kept in captivity into the wild. For example I could feed my 75 (let's just say it was diseased and I didn't know) then I go feed the native tank and then the natives get sick. Maybe they're sick and I can't even tell then one gets to big and I release look what would happen: a foreign disease in the native habitat. Personally if a fish got to big id get someone's permission to put it in their private pond or if worst comes to worst eat it, crappie taste as good as they look :). Not that I'd want it to ever come to that.
 

festaedan

Piranha
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Jul 25, 2013
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Maybe make it a south american biotope with a huge shoal of cory cats, some kind if pim, a school of tetras, less aggressive cichlids, ect.
Personally what I'd do is put a stingray and some angelfish and a large amount of schooling fish or a large pair of ca or sa cichlids like umbees.
 

Karl K

Plecostomus
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Feb 10, 2014
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Irwini is cool, but it would definetly outgrow, if PlanetCatfish, and seriously fish is right about the size, so the question is, will you have a bigger tank when it does :D?
I'd do natives, like perch, and that kinda stuff, but again i've seen some monster perch, so im thinking they might outgrow too, but i dont know how big they get in captivity.
Ekaj, you definetly cant just throw fish back where you caught them, in Divemasters situation, they could have gotten tropical diseases fron the Pleco, or from other native fish caught somewhere else.
 

divemaster99

Dovii
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Jan 10, 2014
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Irwini is cool, but it would definetly outgrow, if PlanetCatfish, and seriously fish is right about the size, so the question is, will you have a bigger tank when it does :D?
I'd do natives, like perch, and that kinda stuff, but again i've seen some monster perch, so im thinking they might outgrow too, but i dont know how big they get in captivity.
Ekaj, you definetly cant just throw fish back where you caught them, in Divemasters situation, they could have gotten tropical diseases fron the Pleco, or from other native fish caught somewhere else.
Yeah irwinis from my research get about 24" when fully grown but it takes years to attain that size. Soonest I could get a bigger tank than this would be approx 10 years so yeah probably not the irwini.

glad I have another native supporter! I'm actually considering 3 yellow perch for the 55 native I'll soon have since yes they will get about 14" fully grown but that would take several years and I could put them in the 180 at that point. IMO even a 100 is a good permanent home for perch but maybe that's just me. Regardless I worry about the SMB and bullhead even more, they're both dream fish but they're messy as hell and COULD get pretty dang big.
 

Karl K

Plecostomus
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Feb 10, 2014
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Yeah irwinis from my research get about 24" when fully grown but it takes years to attain that size. Soonest I could get a bigger tank than this would be approx 10 years so yeah probably not the irwini.

glad I have another native supporter! I'm actually considering 3 yellow perch for the 55 native I'll soon have since yes they will get about 14" fully grown but that would take several years and I could put them in the 180 at that point. IMO even a 100 is a good permanent home for perch but maybe that's just me. Regardless I worry about the SMB and bullhead even more, they're both dream fish but they're messy as hell and COULD get pretty dang big.
I think we might be talking about 2 different "perch" fish :D
Is this it?

perch.jpg
 
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