65 gallon stocking ideas please!

[loogielv]

Hey guys, I've kept fish most of my life, but i'm really new to KEEPING fish. Let me explain. I've had the family goldfish tanks, I've had the 10 gal setup with bettas. I've kept 2 oscars until they outgrew their 29gallon etc. Very casual keeping at best.

Now i'm on a whole new fish keeping plane of existence and I need your help!

Someone is giving me a 65 gallon aquarium (complete w/ stand and canopy)

and I want to know what i can stock it with. This will be on display in our living room, and mostly for the kids and family enjoyment. I'm looking for some good activity and good personality.
I was thinking Cichlids (African I guess, I like the bright colors I tend to see from the Malawi species) but I could go any which way as long as it works.

I also need some help with the substrate, after deciding what species and how many will go in there.

So please, any feedback is welcomed!

I have future plans for a few 100 gal tanks and a monstere 600 gallon, so this is like my prep tank to get me started understanding monster fish keeping at the levels the big boys play at!

 

[Noto]

Glad to hear you are becoming a more sophisticated fishkeeper!

There are tons of options for a 65, and Rift Lake cichlids are certainly a good one. The usual set up for them includes lots of calcium carbonate rock to keep the water hardness at the level they prefer. So, you can use Texas holey rock and various limestones for decor and crushed coral or aragonite as a substrate. Most African cichlids are plant eaters, so it's hard to keep live plants with them.

 

[loogielv]

live plants are out of my scope right now. in the future, they're in, but for now, i need to learn about 1 thing here and there first.

what constitutes calcium carbonate rock that's easily attainable?

 

[Cohazard]

Are you willing to pay shipping if it's the only way to get the fish you want?

That's a big question you should ask yourself, because if you're not, your best bet is to scope out the FKing scene to see what is common or available in your area.

Find something you like, ID it, and research it. Coming up with a stocklist can be slow and meticulous, but worth the careful planning in the logn run, when you're 100% satisfied with what you have.

What are the dimensions of your tank?

 

[loogielv]

what is FKing? new term to me.

in the future i'd be willing to for sure. for now, it's more of a casual step in a serious direction. more to help my family understand and enjoy fish more, more to sell the obsessed mentality to my wife etc etc.

I live in Las Vegas, and there's alot accessible to me typically, and I know there's 4 or 5 fish stores around town and a pet store that can get any exotic pet on the planet. if something isn't available to me, it's not imperative i get it in there. I'm just looking for like a "starter stock" so to speak?

 

[importracer]

65g is not a whole lot of room for any Monster exhibit......But you can start off with convict cichlids.....Grab three or five 1 inchers and grow them out...."Growout" will be the term you will use A LOT when getting into MONSTERS, it means "growing out" a colony or single species of fish from young sizes in a small tank, and when a sub-adult size, transfer to a much larger(liveable) tank....Convict will breed, normally within 2-3 weeks of establishing residence.....Just take out the remaining fish and leave the spawning pair in the tank....You will be stocked with fry every month or two, his will help get adjusted to the cihlid's breeding world....

 

[loogielv]

so you're saying use the 65 gallon tank as a temp housing for 5 baby convicts, as they grow out, watch for the mating pair, and remove the rest. the mating pair stay in the 65 forever and the others go into a larger tank that can support 3 convicts?

 

[Noto]

The calcium carbonate (CaCO3) rocks typically used in tanks are limestone and aragonite. Some common building stones, such as travertine and marble, are also CaCO3, as are chalk and calcite. Coral and many mollusc shells can also be used to supply CaCO3.

 

[Cohazard]

"FKing" is me being lazy and not typing out Fish Keeping. Sorry.

If you've got good stuff local, check out what's available.

Also since you said you like color and interaction, maybe africans are for you.

I've never kept africans, so I'm a big ignorant there, but they've always looked best for display fish, not so much a fish you can interact with (like a pet), but have a lot of interesting behaviors to watch anyways.

I think it depends on what your family would be drawn to more, being a disconnected observer, watching the fish go about their business, or interaccting with the 'beg for food' type of fish, that will face your family head on when they are in front of the tank.

hth