Stocking a 680 gallon and a 300 gallon aquarium

[sayersweb]

I currently have a 300 (72" x 30" x 32") gallon and a 200 (72" x24" x 26") gallon aquarium, and I'm in the process of purchasing a 680 (120" x 36" x 36") gallon to replace the 200 gallon. The 680 is a complete setup with fish and I am trying to figure out how to combine my existing fish with the new ones and how to distribute them between the two aquariums. Both aquariums have wet/dry filters and large canisters, so they are well filtered. This is what I am thinking:

680 Stock:

1 Black Arowana
1 Red Tail Giant Gourami
1 Flagtail
4 Bala Sharks
1 Pink Tail Chalceus
1 Monodactylus Sebae
1 Monodactylus Argenteus
9 Wide Bar Silver Dollars
4 Red Hook Silver Dollars
3 Thin Bar Silver Dollars
4 Surinamensis geos
3 Altifrons geos
4 Threadfin geos
9 Clown Loaches
5 Blue Botias
1 Synodontis cat fish
1 Gold Nugget Pleco

Couple of things that worry me:

Will 16 silver dollars overwhelm the aquarium or maybe the 10' length will let them school nicely? Not sure how the Monos will do in freshwater, they are currently 6" to 7" long and seem ok. It is a big aquarium, but I do not want to overstock. Once a fish is in the 680 it is very difficult to get it back out, so I don't want to have any regrets. The aquarium comes with an assortment of wood, boulders, and plastic plants. If I need to reduce the stock, the Monos and Balas would probably be the first to go. Could also reduce the number of wide bar silver dollars.

300 stock:

1 Flag tail
1 Red Spot Gold Severum
1 Red Shoulder Banded Severum
4 Nicaraguensis
4 Red-head Geos
7 Electric Blue Acaras
3 Biotodoma Cupido
6 Silver Dollars (regular, max size 5" - 6")
15 Roseline Barbs
12 Assorted rainbow fish
3 Neolamprologus Leleupi
2 Julidochromis Marlieri
3 Clown Loaches
2 Queen Loaches
2 Small plecos (not sure if I will keep them)

The 300 stock list seems reasonable to me. The silver dollars would be the first to go if the stock needs reducing. The 5 african cichlids could also go. I could always put some of the Roselines in my 55 gallon.

I will keep the 200 running temporarily to hold any of the fish I am not keeping until they find new homes.

Any suggestions or opinions would be greatly appreciated. I'm really thrilled about getting the 680, although it will be a lot of work to get it moved and up and running.

 

[spiff44]

I dunno about the rest, but personally I would keep the loaches together

 

[KNH]

I had 24 silver dollars (14 tiger, 7 red hook, 3 thin bar) in my 10' and yes it was a bit overwhelming.

 

[sayersweb]

Are you talking about the Clown Loaches? I'm starting to think of putting all Clowns in the 680 and the other loaches/botias in the 300.

 

[sayersweb]

I had 24 silver dollars (14 tiger, 7 red hook, 3 thin bar) in my 10' and yes it was a bit overwhelming.

So, the tigers get to 6", thin bars 8", red hooks 10". I'm facing 9 wide bars that can get 12", along with 3 thin bars, and 4 red hooks. What do you think would be a good number of large silver dollars in a 10'? I'm thinking of only keeping 4 or 5 of the wide bars.

 

[KNH]

Wide bars will get to 14" or better in a large tank. 4-5 would be fine. Just all depends what you like.

 

[sayersweb]

Wide bars will get to 14" or better in a large tank. 4-5 would be fine. Just all depends what you like.

I re-read my post and found it could be confusing. I'm thinking of keeping 4 or 5 wide bars, along with the 4 red hooks, and 3 thin bars. So, that would be 11 or 12 total, instead of 16. I wonder if they will all school together once the wide bars start getting really large.

My main concern... and why I am trying to whittle down the number of fish, is bio load. I'm planning on weekly water changes, and want that to be sufficient to keep nitrates at a very low level. The silver dollars seem to be high bio-load fish because they eat so much. Otherwise, I would keep all 16 of them. One thing I found interesting is that the current owner uses very small pellet size even as the fish are getting bigger. It seems that this allows the smaller fish to get plenty of food, while the bigger and more aggressive eaters have to work harder to stuff themselves.

 

[fishbum]

Pick one kind of silver dollar and go with that. Mixing them won't look as nice as one kind in my opinion.

 

[vincentwugwg]

The mixed silver dollars will most likely not school together. And wide bars can get quite huge...more like 16 inch +. I agree with fishbum.. pick one. I personally think thin bars school tightly. My 2nd choice would be tiger SDs. Green sp. are great as well.

 

[sayersweb]

Finally have the 680 in place... should have it filled and stocked today. It makes the 300 gallon look small: