What direction should I go? Help me decide please!

Chicxulub

Hand of the King
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Hey guys.

I just signed the papers on my new house today, so I might FINALLY be getting my 510 up and running sometime soon. Since I moved across country in December and had to live with my inlaws for a bit, I didn't have room for any tank larger than a 56 column tank. This caused me to have to sell off all of my fish except for my goonch, little BATF and the remaining imperial loach that I had. The other fish were either too big for the 56 or easily replaceable (tinfoil barbs and such).

The 510 will be gorgeously aquascaped. I'm going to have a proper, natural looking substrate and I have two large, gorgeous root balls as centerpieces. The tank will have a 3D background from Designs By Nature. I'm going all out. I want it to look GOOD.

The one aspect that I can't decide on is what FISH to put in it. Billy Badass the BATF is a must, he's going to be the crown jewel of this tank.

Now, building around that, I can't quite decide where to go.

My first option.
The traditional monster fish setup. I can keep Billy, keep my goonch, add two more imperial loaches, add some clown loaches, maybe a pair of rays, a couple aros, etc. The same thing we've all seen done a hundred times. I LIKE these fish and it really wouldn't hurt my feelings to have a tank with your typical monster fish setup.​

My second option.
An African biotope. Billy as the centerpiece, a couple of ornate polys on the bottom, maybe an afrowana at the top and... what? I find that in spite of my rabid love of the tiger fish and my familiarity with a couple of the other large characins from Africa, I'm not overly familiar with interesting things I that could throw into this mix. I know about polys, a few of the larger cats and that's about it. I'd want to avoid rift lake cichlids in this tank if I went that route.​

Help me out guys. I'm going to essentially be starting from scratch either way anyway. Tell me what you would do in this situation! What would be cooler?
 

strollo22

Siamese Tiger
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Personally, I would do option one. I think a well thought out African biotope would be outstanding, but there isn't an unlimited amount of "interesting" African fish imo. Might get rather boring pretty quickly when you throw in the the poly's. A nice giraffe cat would be a great, active addition though. I still like the ideas of rays/cats on the bottom, billy in the middle and perhaps round 2 with a black aro?


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rodger

Polypterus
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Rob, I am voting for option 2. The more I study Afro fish, the more I like them. There is a huge amount of diversity there. I'm not talking about Rift Lake cichlids. I'm talking real fish like you mentioned. I have been thinking about an afrowana myself. What will you do with the goonch?

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wrslrcichlid

Candiru
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Personally for me, I would do option 2 for the learning opportunity. You said yourself you didn't know enough about african fish to really put together a good "interesting" stock list. To have the opportunity to further your education and have something a bit unique would be my choice.
 

cephalofoil

Jack Dempsey
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i also say option 2. you never really see non-cichlid african biotopes very often, and any biotope done correctly is quite a feat IMO. there are a few african knives, though i'm not sure if they'd work or not.
 

Ninjouzata

Gambusia
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Not sure if you're wanting opinions from people with experience in the fish you're looking at or just in general..if just in general then I think #2 sounds much more interesting and agree with wrslrcichlid. Seems a great learning opportunity.
 

Chicxulub

Hand of the King
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Thank you all for the input. It seems as though the African biotope is strongly favored.

Part of the reason I'm thinking of going African on this tank is because there aren't too many big, interesting fish in Africa. Billy will hit 2' in a few years, and in a 4x8 footprint tank, he'll have it pretty well filled out by himself. At least as far as mid level pelagic fishes go anyway.

Another concern that I'm having is that Billy is living up to the reputation of a brevis. He's killed every other mid level fish I've put in the tank with him and he's even started taking to nipping Dottie's tail when he gets hungry. I love his personality and how interactive he is, but I suspect he might not play well with others. I've not written off trying to co-hab him yet, I'm just observing that he's being a bit more difficult than most tigerfish that I've worked with.

I'm gonna start researching the African idea. Will a pair of ornate polys play nice with each other or should they be kept solo? Are polys are to get onto pellets?



What will you do with the goonch?
I'd find a new home for her.
 

rodger

Polypterus
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Polys are easy to wean onto pellets. Two Ornates will live together fine. I would also recommend Teugluesi. They are another upper jaw that gets even larger than the Ornate. Talk to Mike and Kevin at Jurassic Aquatic. They are the go to guys for wild Polys and other Afro fish. No other vendor on here I have delt with can touch their customer service. This has been an unpaid endorsement.

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justarn

Arapaima
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you could make it awesome mate... i personally am fed up with the regular bare tanks full off dat, aro, bass and rays... what about throwing in a big group of target buttikoferi or mozambique to keep him busy? maybe a nile perch and african lung could be thrown into the mix, african snakehead but i guess you are usa? i think it would be awesome... what about a kampango catfish, holy grail of african cats imo!-)

just googled and africa has the niger stingray and pin cushion ray if you can get them?

oh and maybe a pair of emperor cichlids, another option!
 
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