Umbee tank size

[Guapoteguy291]

Thinking of setting up a second tank for a single umbee. Want to hear from current or prior umbee keepers on the size tank they kept and the size their fish attained in captivity. I have no interest in hearing regurgitated facts from someone who has never kept/seen one. I have kept healthy dovii to full maturity and while they do require quite a bit of space and bigger is always better imo alot of the tank/specimen sizes are exaggerated regarding dovii anyway.

 

[CANAMONSTER]

6x3 footprint is nice. 6x4 even better

I had a pair with a big 20 incher in a 6x30"
He did OK and was quite content the thing that I never thought of or encountered prior as this was the biggest fish I had ever owned, was his bioload.

Fx5 could not keep up with the Ammonia so I had to add more filtration. ( only filter for big fish should be a sump) I ran in to some illnesses a few times. I was just doing 1- 40 Percenter WC a week but IMO should have been 2 or 3 times a week to keep up with good husbandry. Tank was a 220g.

Miss that big guy, probally the best fish I have owned.

 

[doviione]

Here is my pair in a 170 bow.

 

[Benno87]

Here is my pair in a 170 bow.

View attachment 1136796

They are stunning, great job. My dream fish is a male umbee in a solo tank. Don't think I'll ever be able to get a tank big enough though lol

 

[sbgbuddy]

my pair are in a 150 tall and have been since he was 12". He's now over 20". But I would recommend at least a 6'x2.5 .

 

[Blue Bear]

6x3 footprint is nice. 6x4 even better

I had a pair with a big 20 incher in a 6x30"
He did OK and was quite content the thing that I never thought of or encountered prior as this was the biggest fish I had ever owned, was his bioload.

Fx5 could not keep up with the Ammonia so I had to add more filtration. ( only filter for big fish should be a sump) I ran in to some illnesses a few times. I was just doing 1- 40 Percenter WC a week but IMO should have been 2 or 3 times a week to keep up with good husbandry. Tank was a 220g.

Miss that big guy, probally the best fish I have owned.

Can you explain "only filter for big fish should be a sump" to me?

 

[thiswasgone]

Can you explain "only filter for big fish should be a sump" to me?

Although i'm not the OP, i'll try to explain. While, IMO, an Umbee can live nicely in a 220-240g (depending on the dimension), it is still quite small. A large fish in a small tank means faster concentration of ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite. In OP's case his problem was with ammonia. Now depending on the feeding schedule and the amount of food fed, the ammonia levels will vary. Still, after a week of feeding (especially with substrate) the amount of waste inside the tank will spike those levels up. In OP's statement he said he had a fx5, which is a good filter, but his ammonia levels continuously became slightly too high for his bio-filter to handle appropriately. The main issue he was faced with was a lack of surface area for his beneficial bacteria, meaning he needed a large filter than the fx5 for more bio-filtration. From my knowledge only sumps are larger than canister filters and can allow for a custom amount of biological media to suit the person's needs. This means that "minimum" size tanks for large fish can have less WCs done and healthier fish.

If I messed up somewhere in this explanation, please correct me. I'm pretty tired atm, so I don't really know if I made any sense.

 

[Blue Bear]

Although i'm not the OP, i'll try to explain. While, IMO, an Umbee can live nicely in a 220-240g (depending on the dimension), it is still quite small. A large fish in a small tank means faster concentration of ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite. In OP's case his problem was with ammonia. Now depending on the feeding schedule and the amount of food fed, the ammonia levels will vary. Still, after a week of feeding (especially with substrate) the amount of waste inside the tank will spike those levels up. In OP's statement he said he had a fx5, which is a good filter, but his ammonia levels continuously became slightly too high for his bio-filter to handle appropriately. The main issue he was faced with was a lack of surface area for his beneficial bacteria, meaning he needed a large filter than the fx5 for more bio-filtration. From my knowledge only sumps are larger than canister filters and can allow for a custom amount of biological media to suit the person's needs. This means that "minimum" size tanks for large fish can have less WCs done and healthier fish.

If I messed up somewhere in this explanation, please correct me. I'm pretty tired atm, so I don't really know if I made any sense.

Thank you, good too know. I appreciate it.

 

[doviione]

View attachment 1136876 my pair are in a 150 tall and have been since he was 12". He's now over 20". But I would recommend at least a 6'x2.5 .

Now that is a monster!

 

[CANAMONSTER]

Although i'm not the OP, i'll try to explain. While, IMO, an Umbee can live nicely in a 220-240g (depending on the dimension), it is still quite small. A large fish in a small tank means faster concentration of ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite. In OP's case his problem was with ammonia. Now depending on the feeding schedule and the amount of food fed, the ammonia levels will vary. Still, after a week of feeding (especially with substrate) the amount of waste inside the tank will spike those levels up. In OP's statement he said he had a fx5, which is a good filter, but his ammonia levels continuously became slightly too high for his bio-filter to handle appropriately. The main issue he was faced with was a lack of surface area for his beneficial bacteria, meaning he needed a large filter than the fx5 for more bio-filtration. From my knowledge only sumps are larger than canister filters and can allow for a custom amount of biological media to suit the person's needs. This means that "minimum" size tanks for large fish can have less WCs done and healthier fish.

If I messed up somewhere in this explanation, please correct me. I'm pretty tired atm, so I don't really know if I made any sense.

You got it! Except one thing.
Bigger filter DOES not equal lesser WC's

In my case I didn't have enough bio filtration that's why I say sumps are the best like you explain. All the filter DOES is convert ( see Nitrogen Cycle) but still leaves Nitrates which increase faster with a low Water volume to fish weight ratio.
Not just Nitrates are a bi-product but many other variable's change in the water, Ex. PH, Salinity, etc etc.

So in a nut shell you can keep a 20 inch fish in a 150g but its way more work IMO and to small Sorry SGbuddy, it works obviously but just looks so damn Wrong!

SGbuddy what is your WC schedule like?