My First Monster Fish Setup

I am a newcomer to the whole Monsterfish keeping. Ive always had a love for fish and all aquatic life, but i never realized that these larger monsters were available to domestic people. I always thought the only way Id see monsterfish is by going to a public aquarium. In the last few months I started reading about various monsters. The first fish that caught my eye was the arowana. Gorgeous fish, and predatorial as hell, which i definitly like. However, my tank would not house one of these monsters. The more I read about monster predators, the more interested i became, and at the same time... the sadder i became. I could only wish for the money to buy a tank big enough for these kinds of fish, and then recently it hit me. I was going to have to build myself a tank. So I have now started work on a 400 gallon tank, it will be my first monster tank. I had to decide which fish to get, and decided I should start easy. Odly enough, most of my fish are ancient fish. I got 2 polypterus's, a african knife fish, 1 ropefish, and 3 oscars. I chose these fish because they seemed like good fish to start my carrier as a monster fish keeper. At the moment I have them all in a 45 gallon tank, they are all still babies though. Within a month or so, the new tank will be ready, and then they will be ready to move.

The last few days, since i bought the new fish, I havent stopped watching them. And I must say, they all have such interesting personalities. And I think its a shame that nobody ever talks about the African Knife Fish, all I ever read about is the black ghost and the clown knife. ofcourse the clown knife is an amazing fish and beautiful too, but For the time being I cannot keep a fish that big yet. But the african knife, is also an amazingly cool fish. I think in some ways they are even prettier than the clown knife, the shape of the body is smoother and they have arealy cute face, as apposed to the mean clown knife face. I dont find the black ghost knife fish to be very interesting, I dont think I have ever seen one swimming around before. I always sea them floating upside-down in a dark corner. How boring is that. Im quite happy with my african knife...

Also the polypterus's are quite a character, they have an amazing sense of smell. literally seconds after i throw in some fish strips, they come out of hiding and start sniffing their way towards it. They can be quite nippy though if other fish are invading their hiding space, i think all my fish have been nipped at once or twice by these guys. I really love the way these fish always look like they are smiling. Same goes for my Ropefish, that girl always looks like shes got a big smile on her face. When you can actually see her that is, Ive never seen a fish hide so well... or not seen. Yesterday I spent 20 minutes trying to find her, and she was nowhere to be seen, I was afraid she escaped or something. then i went and got a snack, came back, and there she was. I still have no idea how she pulled that off, I literally looked EVERYWHERE. Amazing fish.

My oscars too are really cool. I have seen a lot of oscars, but i really think mine are the prettiest ive ever seen. The coloration on them makes them all totally different fish. The albino has gorgeous orange marble type prints. The other two are both olive green with bright orange, but one of them has a gorgeous pattern going over the tail and fins. Pictures will be up soon.

Anyway, I just wanted to share my new setup, I recommend these fish for beginners in the oddball/monster/predator fish keepers area. They are quite easy care, and still gorgeous to look at. Dont be like all the stupid kids I read about who jump into a snakehead, arowana, clown knife or some other giant fish before they can afford the caretaking. Its amazing how many grown fish you see in the LFS because some people were irrisponsible and took fish they couldnt care for.

Yea the 400g tank is quite a project. I did some research on different methods of building tanks, and after contemplating doing a full glass tank, I finally decided it would be easier to make a tank that is part wood, and part glass. So I am going for a corner tank, the front window and side window will be glass, the rest will be build from wood. This design also makes me feel safer about moving the tank into place, seeing as wood doesnt chip and break as easily as glass. Im a college student, so the tank will need to be moveable, so I have actually welded a frame with wheels under it so it can be rolled around, ofcourse to do this you would have to lower the water level, but atleast I wont have to empty the whole thing. I think its quite a good idea.

Heres a link to a site that explains the general technique I am using.

http://saltaquarium.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ/Ya&sdn=saltaquarium&cdn=homegarden&tm=21&gps=449_858_1020_615&f=00&tt=14&bt=0&bts=0&zu=http%3A//www.athiel.com/lib6/tank.htm

The tank I will make will ofcourse be upscaled. The design I am using is generally the same, but the site I learned it from is in Dutch. The only real difference is that I will be covering the inside of the wood panels with a silicone layer to help seal it, then i will cover it with Epoxy paint. In the link I posted just now, they dont do this, they just go straight to epoxy paint. Which should work too, but if it somehow gets chipped by a rock or anything, then the water will start to seep into the wood.

Ill post pictures of my fishies tonight.

Yea the measurements will b approx 2 meters long, 1 meter wide and 80 cm tall. Ill be using 19 mm glass so it will be plenty sturdy, so the PSI shouldnt be a problem.