125G stocking ideas, im out of them.....

[nitrofish1]

Hello forum, been a while but I'm looking at purchasing a 125 gallon tank soon, of course I am open to other tank ideas, but I'd like it to be new with canopy and all for aesthetics (my budget is $1,500 USD), a 125 Gallon setup seemed to fit the bill for this price range as far as total setup cost is concerned.

I was considering a 125g saltwater fowlr tank but was put off by the cost of getting it up and running, so I'm pretty sure I was going to go freshwater, maybe a large mbuna community but I am open to other ideas. Some of the concerns I have are buying a group of fish that are expensive to feed or house, so far most that I have looked at either require twice daily feedings of shrimp etc. which I consider to be a bit much.

I like Bichir but as they say, its lonely at the bottom, tank would be a little bare, was looking for some color.

Thanks

 

[o5b0rn3b]

I'd personally do 1-3 severums. You can still get a bichir. And a school of tetras or barbs that are large/full bodied enough to not get eaten. 3 different severum species would give you tons of color and a great center piece for a tank that size. Just try to keep all males so no breeding.

 

[Ihsnshaik]

1500 can get you a 200+ gallon gank with everything needed but used.

125 gallon with stand and canopy my LFs sells them used for 2-400$ depending on condition. A lot of people donate tanks so they need to price it to move fast

 

[nitrofish1]

I'd personally do 1-3 severums. You can still get a bichir. And a school of tetras or barbs that are large/full bodied enough to not get eaten. 3 different severum species would give you tons of color and a great center piece for a tank that size. Just try to keep all males so no breeding.

I was thinking around 5 or so Senegal Bichir would be good, but I would have to grow them out before adding other fish. This would be 1-3 of each kind of severum up to about 3 species? I like the way they look.

1500 can get you a 200+ gallon gank with everything needed but used.

125 gallon with stand and canopy my LFs sells them used for 2-400$ depending on condition. A lot of people donate tanks so they need to price it to move fast

I was referring to a full canopy, as in the wooden top above the aquarium, I can get the full setup from Petsmart for like $500 new but I wanted to top it off with the canopy instead of a bare glass top with a strip of lights, going for a clean look.

 

[Angelphish]

I'd personally do 1-3 severums. You can still get a bichir. And a school of tetras or barbs that are large/full bodied enough to not get eaten. 3 different severum species would give you tons of color and a great center piece for a tank that size. Just try to keep all males so no breeding.

Rotkeil, Gold, and Red.

 

[Oxymus]

If you don't look for 125G Acrylic tank then $1500 would be enough for a saltwater tank.
You just have to do is slow and shop around a bit.
Here is my saltwater FOWLR 110G (60x18x24)

And here is my 40B Mantis Shrimp Setup

It's doable if you take your time! Good Luck and have fun.

 

[kewpiefishypewpie]

I'm pretty jealous of your FOWLR tank, nice.

 

[Oxymus]

Another thing most folks waste alot money in salwater is LIVE ROCK.
*You don't go to any LFS and buy Live Rock from their so called "live rock" tank, those are all dead rock after months in there with a simple power filter and nothing for Bacteria to feed on.
*Just buy dry/base rock cost like $1 per pound and it will become live after you complete cycled your tank (you can buy small potion of live rock that already cured and has some living thing on it and seed all your rocks or look on your local craiglist ppls selling their real Live rock for $3/LB).
*You don't need to buy protein skimmer right of the batch, wait until your tank cycled or wait 2, 3 month later.

 

[Angelphish]

Can't a mantis shrimp destroy a glass tank?

 

[o5b0rn3b]

Not 1-3 of up to 3 species. Up to 3 fish total, I wouldn't push anymore. You might have some bioload issues with 5 bichirs and 3 severums. With 5 bichirs I'd just do one severum. Will you have a sump? That'll help you out with your bioload capacity. Personally 3 bichirs and 3 sevs should do nicely in a 125.