New World Large Aggressive Community tank

[Hedrus]

Hi everyone. New to the forum and this is my first post. I am researching building a large tank for New World aggressive fish. In the past I have had salt water reef tanks and predator salt water tanks. It's been a while since I have had any kind of fish and I wanted to get back into the hobby but do something new. Fresh water! I started with looking at Oscars. From there I read articles about tank mates and tank sizes for an Oscar community tank. I am super new to fresh water and all of what I am writing here so please feel free to correct anything that sounds off. But I have read a lot of articles(which could easily be wrong or bad info) and watched a bunch of youtube videos.

So my idea for fish right now would be the following: 2 Oscars(long fin tiger regular and albino if I can find them), Redhead Severum, Green Terror, Quetzal cichlid(central Americas and potentially a bad fit but I'm listing anyway to get feedback because they are gorgeous), arowana(I know not new world but I see them in so many tanks with these fish I thought I'd put it here to get opinions), Red hook silver dollars(dispersion fish), Clown Loaches and a Pleco.

I was thinking around 300 gallons. Is that in the ballpark? Or is this way too much and it would need to be way larger or not possible at all? I mean I have seen some tanks in that range with most of these fish and even some much smaller tanks with many of these fish together. I was thinking 1 of each with the exception of loaches, silver dollars, 2 Oscars and maybe a few severum but I'm unsure. What would the best filtration for this be? I am used to sumps with salt water but I see a lot of sponge and canister filters for fresh water. I was thinking simple fine sand bed with some soft rocks and lots of driftwood. Maybe a fake rock backdrop or just black backdrop. I was thinking of tossing in some large Amazon swords (potted) and if they get beat up no big deal. If the fish enjoy tearing up some plants thats cheap enough to do here and there for them and I like plants.

I am potentially selling my house this winter so I wouldn't be building this tank until after I buy a new house and move but I am researching everything now. I hope this doesn't sound crazy to people. Did as much research as I could. Thanks for taking the time read this.

Kenzie

 

[Rocksor]

First, do you have hardwater (GH reading) or softwater? Centrals require hardwater, while oscars do way much better in soft water. I wouldn't mix and match those. There are hardwater South American species that do well in hardwater, and can be aggressive (festae, 50/50 with green terror)

SA Arowana need a minimum 4 foot wide tank (not a normal dimension for 300g). They do best in a 6 foot wide tank.

Sumps are best since it adds a bit more water volume, and since you have experience with sumps, go with that.

Youtube does not show the best stocking for New World cichlids. It's way overstocked. There are a few exceptions like videos from Lee Nutall.

Welcome!

 

[Hedrus]

Tank dimentions I was looking at are 30"H x 96"L x 24"D. That's 8' wide unless my math is super wrong. 96/12=8 I was thinking that was a good long tank and it has 2 foot clearance for a large pleco to be able to easily turn around. My tap water has a water softener so its slightly soft but not super soft. I was reading that tank bred quetzal cichlids are more tolerant of various water hardness. Is that true? I was hoping the same was true for tank raised South American fish as well since my water is slightly soft. I need to research what gear people use in a sump for fresh water. I assume its not the same as salt. Thanks for the super fast reply. I am not sold on the fish list at all. Just doing the research on fish I thought were interesting and would look cool in a community-varied colors, body shapes, zones of tank and movement.

 

[Rocksor]

Tank dimentions I was looking at are 30"H x 96"L x 24"D. That's 8' wide unless my math is super wrong. 96/12=8 I was thinking that was a good long tank and it has 2 foot clearance for a large pleco to be able to easily turn around. My tap water has a water softener so its slightly soft but not super soft. I was reading that tank bred quetzal cichlids are more tolerant of various water hardness. Is that true? I was hoping the same was true for tank raised South American fish as well since my water is slightly soft. I need to research what gear people use in a sump for fresh water. I assume its not the same as salt. Thanks for the super fast reply. I am not sold on the fish list at all. Just doing the research on fish I thought were interesting and would look cool in a community-varied colors, body shapes, zones of tank and movement.

4 foot wide, means 4 foot deep. Silver arowanas can easily hit the 30" mark within 2 years under the right conditions

A water softener does not soften the water for fish. It softens the water for people by replacing the calcium and magnesium with sodium or potassium. Soft water for fis has a lower TDS value, lower GH and Lower KH value than hard water. Since you have a water softener, then it's best to bypass the water softener (using the water before the water softener), and use your hard water for Centrals. Centrals will thrive in your hard water.

You can still get your melanura or synspila version of the melanura. I would skip the oscars. There's a bunch of other Centrals that are sympatric with melanura like Petenia splendida, Firemouth, Robertsoni, Jack Dempsey, Salvini, Mayan, Bifasciatus, Synspilus, T. helleri, T. pasionis, Rhamdia guatemalensis, Poelicia, Gambusia

There are also Central American plecos, but these may be harder to find. A pleco isn't necessary if you plan on getting sand sifting firemouths with your Vieja type melanura.

Also, New worlds do not like to be overcrowded in such a small space like Africans. They get stressed out when overcrowded.

 

[Cich Mind]

Silver arowanas can easily hit the 30" mark within 2 years under the right conditions

What's up Hedrus ,
I would say most if not all of the fish you mentioned would fit in a 300 gallon except the Arowana. Rocksor gave you a bunch of good fish ideas also. I don't know if your getting a tank built or you have access to a 300g.
If you're getting it built why not go for it and have 3' wide instead of 2'. A 3' width would open up a lot more fish choices for you. Just my 2 cents. GL

 

[Hedrus]

What's up Hedrus ,
I would say most if not all of the fish you mentioned would fit in a 300 gallon except the Arowana. Rocksor gave you a bunch of good fish ideas also. I don't know if your getting a tank built or you have access to a 300g.
If you're getting it built why no go for it and have 3' wide instead of 2'. A 3' width would open up a lot more fish choices for you. Just my 2 cents. GL

Since I read Rocksor's post about the tank I have been reading every arowana care webpage I can find and watching youtube videos. None and I mean none of them mention tank dimensions. They just say 250 gallon minimum. That is the exact reason why I joined this forum to get people to give me advice. So much missing information. What would be an ideal tank size for what I am trying to do with the list above? Lets ignore water hardness parameter. I can swap fish in or out of the list if that is a problem. Is 300 gallons ok? What is more versatile for these fish in terms of dimensions? The only dimensions I keep reading about are the tank width from left to right. Nothing is mentioned about height or depth with the exception of plecos needing 2 feet depth to turn around easily. From your quote you are saying going 3' depth back to front will be what is most important for an arrowana? Makes sense if the same logic for plecos is used since arowanas get around 3' long.

 

[tlindsey]

Tank dimentions I was looking at are 30"H x 96"L x 24"D. That's 8' wide unless my math is super wrong. 96/12=8 I was thinking that was a good long tank and it has 2 foot clearance for a large pleco to be able to easily turn around. My tap water has a water softener so its slightly soft but not super soft. I was reading that tank bred quetzal cichlids are more tolerant of various water hardness. Is that true? I was hoping the same was true for tank raised South American fish as well since my water is slightly soft. I need to research what gear people use in a sump for fresh water. I assume its not the same as salt. Thanks for the super fast reply. I am not sold on the fish list at all. Just doing the research on fish I thought were interesting and would look cool in a community-varied colors, body shapes, zones of tank and movement.

Welcome aboard

 

[Hedrus]

Question about tank dimensions. Would 72" width left to right, 30" height top to bottom and 36" depth front to back which is 336.6 gallons work? If I had to keep it 8 feet long and 3 feet wide that would make it quite a bit larger and more expensive. The prices seem to skyrocket over 300 gallons. Would that work for all of these fish including an arowana?

 

[Rocksor]

What is your end goal for the arowana? Is this a fish you wish to keep 10 years and over? Or is it merely to have and then rehome after a year or 2? Yes they can get bigger than 36" in the aquarium see pictures below of a captive silver, that didn't have the best care in the beginning, and yet still hit 40" (not completely straight in picture).

Photos of the recently lost Fre at 40" and 10 years old and Falcorina at 30" and 3 years old per above videos.

View attachment 1445071View attachment 1445072View attachment 1445073


Falcorina:

View attachment 1445074

My silver arowana in 4500 gal

Our arowana bad streak goes on. In the last year we had lost two big old ones, Delray and Fre, and now the relative newcomer Falcorina has died at 30 inches at probably 2.5 years old. We got her less than a year ago. At present I believe this is just a coincidence and no common cause can I...

www.monsterfishkeepers.com

 

[Tj203]

Hi everyone. New to the forum and this is my first post. I am researching building a large tank for New World aggressive fish. In the past I have had salt water reef tanks and predator salt water tanks. It's been a while since I have had any kind of fish and I wanted to get back into the hobby but do something new. Fresh water! I started with looking at Oscars. From there I read articles about tank mates and tank sizes for an Oscar community tank. I am super new to fresh water and all of what I am writing here so please feel free to correct anything that sounds off. But I have read a lot of articles(which could easily be wrong or bad info) and watched a bunch of youtube videos.

So my idea for fish right now would be the following: 2 Oscars(long fin tiger regular and albino if I can find them), Redhead Severum, Green Terror, Quetzal cichlid(central Americas and potentially a bad fit but I'm listing anyway to get feedback because they are gorgeous), arowana(I know not new world but I see them in so many tanks with these fish I thought I'd put it here to get opinions), Red hook silver dollars(dispersion fish), Clown Loaches and a Pleco.

I was thinking around 300 gallons. Is that in the ballpark? Or is this way too much and it would need to be way larger or not possible at all? I mean I have seen some tanks in that range with most of these fish and even some much smaller tanks with many of these fish together. I was thinking 1 of each with the exception of loaches, silver dollars, 2 Oscars and maybe a few severum but I'm unsure. What would the best filtration for this be? I am used to sumps with salt water but I see a lot of sponge and canister filters for fresh water. I was thinking simple fine sand bed with some soft rocks and lots of driftwood. Maybe a fake rock backdrop or just black backdrop. I was thinking of tossing in some large Amazon swords (potted) and if they get beat up no big deal. If the fish enjoy tearing up some plants thats cheap enough to do here and there for them and I like plants.

I am potentially selling my house this winter so I wouldn't be building this tank until after I buy a new house and move but I am researching everything now. I hope this doesn't sound crazy to people. Did as much research as I could. Thanks for taking the time read this.

Kenzie

Well I have a 600 gallon and have about 200 fish in it. All about nutrient export also I vote for a sump so much easier maintaining. I had one of the 3d backgrounds and detritus got behind it and I could never get it cleaned. Maybe if you seal it very well but don't know how it will hold up in time.