MFK is really good at giving my brain ideas for future tanks...especially large tanks. This is just a tank IDEA (IE NOT GOING TO HAPPEN ANYTIME WITHIN THE NEXT FEW YEARS), but I'd really like some feedback to learn about what goes with what and such...so here goes:
224 gallon custom tank (72.5X30X24), filled to 20 inch mark (so 180 gallons)
About 1/3 of the tank would be home to red or green mangroves, planted in a 3 inch thick layer of Miracle Mud or similar substrate, designed for saltwater plant species. The other 2/3's of the tank would be filled with a 3 inch thick layer of oolitic calcium carbonate sand. Specific gravity would be 1.010-1.015. Water would be taken out of the tank through a toothed, meshed, bulkhead at the sandy part of the tank, and returned via spray bar on the mangrove side of the tank. The water would go through a sump, where a protein skimmer and trickle filter media would take care of waste (trickle filter first, protein skimmer afterwards). Lighting would be metal halide or similar intensity LED's above the mangroves (probably Kessil's), and LED lighting above the rest of the tank as well, with a glass cover over the entire tank.
Stocking:
10 Selenotaca papuensis, 3 inch long scats that would eat algae in the tank, and probably also live up to their namesake (scatophagus) in helping to disperse their tankmates waste.
10 Monodactylus kottelati, the schooling fish of the tank, also small, but very vivid fish.
6 Periopthalmius novemradiatus, a small colony of Indian Dwarf Mudskippers, or maybe a similar mudskipper species.
6(?) Archerfish, most likely Toxotes microlepis, the stars of the tank.
15 Mollies, either black, or sailfin mollies, which would help the Scats eat algae, and provide food for the other fish as well.
3 Violet gobies, Gobioides broussonnetti, which would be the sand sifters of the tank.
3 "freshwater" flounder, Achirus lineatus, which are just cool.
2-3 Figure 8 puffers. They're pufferfish.
I think I'd enjoy feeding this tank...a lot. I read an account about a man who tried to breed scats, and he tossed in heads of lettuce into their breeding pool a few times a day. Lettuce isn't really nutritionally correct, but seaweed tied in bundles to mimic lettuce is. Or tied in a mesh bag so they could play with it. Veggie flakes for the mollies. And if I was able to, I'd try to wean the flounders, gobies, monos, and mudskippers onto defrosted mysis if possible. Phytoplankton stuffed mussel on the half shell would keep the pufferfish' teeth out, and their messy leftovers would be vacuumed up by the gobies' sandsifting and the mollies scavenging. Fiddler crabs with their claws snapped off would provide a good live treat as well. But the most fun part would probably be the archerfish. When I had one, I would dip my finger in water, then into a tub of bloodworms, and dangle it over the water...a few seconds later, SNAP! the archerfish would have bloodworms in its stomach, and I would be very happy. I'd probably try to do something similar to the Mosasaur feeding in Jurassic World...but instead of a shark, it would probably be chunks of shrimp squid or worms connected to fishing line or something...
Anyways, y'alls thoughts? I'm worried about the specific gravity being an issue. I'm also thinking that there might be a few compatibility issues, and possibly water flow/circulation problems...
224 gallon custom tank (72.5X30X24), filled to 20 inch mark (so 180 gallons)
About 1/3 of the tank would be home to red or green mangroves, planted in a 3 inch thick layer of Miracle Mud or similar substrate, designed for saltwater plant species. The other 2/3's of the tank would be filled with a 3 inch thick layer of oolitic calcium carbonate sand. Specific gravity would be 1.010-1.015. Water would be taken out of the tank through a toothed, meshed, bulkhead at the sandy part of the tank, and returned via spray bar on the mangrove side of the tank. The water would go through a sump, where a protein skimmer and trickle filter media would take care of waste (trickle filter first, protein skimmer afterwards). Lighting would be metal halide or similar intensity LED's above the mangroves (probably Kessil's), and LED lighting above the rest of the tank as well, with a glass cover over the entire tank.
Stocking:
10 Selenotaca papuensis, 3 inch long scats that would eat algae in the tank, and probably also live up to their namesake (scatophagus) in helping to disperse their tankmates waste.
10 Monodactylus kottelati, the schooling fish of the tank, also small, but very vivid fish.
6 Periopthalmius novemradiatus, a small colony of Indian Dwarf Mudskippers, or maybe a similar mudskipper species.
6(?) Archerfish, most likely Toxotes microlepis, the stars of the tank.
15 Mollies, either black, or sailfin mollies, which would help the Scats eat algae, and provide food for the other fish as well.
3 Violet gobies, Gobioides broussonnetti, which would be the sand sifters of the tank.
3 "freshwater" flounder, Achirus lineatus, which are just cool.
2-3 Figure 8 puffers. They're pufferfish.
I think I'd enjoy feeding this tank...a lot. I read an account about a man who tried to breed scats, and he tossed in heads of lettuce into their breeding pool a few times a day. Lettuce isn't really nutritionally correct, but seaweed tied in bundles to mimic lettuce is. Or tied in a mesh bag so they could play with it. Veggie flakes for the mollies. And if I was able to, I'd try to wean the flounders, gobies, monos, and mudskippers onto defrosted mysis if possible. Phytoplankton stuffed mussel on the half shell would keep the pufferfish' teeth out, and their messy leftovers would be vacuumed up by the gobies' sandsifting and the mollies scavenging. Fiddler crabs with their claws snapped off would provide a good live treat as well. But the most fun part would probably be the archerfish. When I had one, I would dip my finger in water, then into a tub of bloodworms, and dangle it over the water...a few seconds later, SNAP! the archerfish would have bloodworms in its stomach, and I would be very happy. I'd probably try to do something similar to the Mosasaur feeding in Jurassic World...but instead of a shark, it would probably be chunks of shrimp squid or worms connected to fishing line or something...
Anyways, y'alls thoughts? I'm worried about the specific gravity being an issue. I'm also thinking that there might be a few compatibility issues, and possibly water flow/circulation problems...
