240 or 300 gallon hap stocking recommendations?

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ecoli73

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 15, 2010
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Sunnyvale, CA
Hi, I am going to get a 240 or 300 gallon tank soon(1 month), the dimension is going to be 96x24x24 or 96x24x30(still deciding whether the extra 6 inches in height is worth $500 or not)

Most likely I will have to(by executive order) to populate it with lively colorful(but not "wierd" looking) fish and since I prefer FW, it seems a hap tank is a natural choice. Can someone recommand a stocking list?

Thanks
 
You getting a tank from truvu? They're right down the road from you...I would look at a 300 wide if I were you. The 30" from front to back really opens up your aquascaping options. A 30" tall tank is difficult to decorate and you'll have a hard time finding tall enough rocks to fill the space. My 2 cents.
 
Well a tank that size definately gives plenty of options. Hap. Borleyi "Red Fin Kadango" are nice, venustus, prot. steveni Taiwan Reef are nice, cant go wrong with champsochromis caeruleus not very colorful really but big predators are always fun. Otopharynx lithobates males are cool if you can find a nice one. Ive had these all together before minus the champ. And that was only a 125 gallon tank so you can find a few more species still. Or do some really cool aquascaping.
 
Well, 300 wide is a more attractive option; unfortunately that is not an option for me as the stand would be too wide for entry(the tank itself is fine). So with that in mind, I did pick up that bargain stand 96"x24"(with a little shipping damage that won't be seen) Truvu had on their website for $299. So yes, it would be between 240 or 300 tall.

As for rock works, I would most likely go for some open water species with some light rock work. It was hell trying to keep the tank clean when i had my mbuna tank.

Thanks for your thoughts!
 
my 125 was open water. i had a few chunks of lace rock but other than that it was open. i liked to be able to see all my fish. they didnt fight so it worked out nicely. that being said you may as well go 300 tall if there is no need to worry about aquascaping. reaching 30" down to rearange stuff is a pain but sounds like you wont have to worry about that.
 
I say go with 5-6 breeding groups of things that won't interbreed.

Check out what I did with my 180 a few months back. Breeding groups of Fossochromis rostratus, Protomelas spilonotus Mara Rocks, Nyassachromis broadzulu, Placidochromis electra "blue" and Otter Point Jakes. So far, everyone except for the spilonotus have bred and aggression is minimal. You can do the same with your larger tank, but I'd avoid super aggressive fish - Tyrranos, Aristochromis, fuscos, etc. Of these fish, even an 8' long tank will not keep a single breeding male from violently ruining a good time for everyone else.

Closeups start around 1 minute into the video.

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Good luck.

EDIT: Forgot that at the time, I also had a group of Stigmatochromis spirostichus in the tank.... they quickly became pretty rotten and wouldn't stop trying to hunt female peacocks, lol. Hence the anti-predator-breeding-group-in-a-community sentiment.
 
Red Empress has always been one of my personal favs, and with haps you could look into Victorians as well Astatotilapia Latifasciata, Pundamilla Nyereri, Xystichromis Sp (Kyoga). all very colorful IMO
 
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