DIY planning in progress needs help

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keaser06

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 18, 2009
283
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Englewood, FL
Hi, I am kinda new here I haven't posted a whole lot but have read just about as much as I can the last few weeks. I have gotten myself the monster addiction and will need a large tank soon so I am in the process of planning and building a tank to house my monsters. I got myself a 55gal now with 1 pbass (sold to me as ocel but think its a hybrid) and 1 silver aro and 1 sydontis cat. They are all babies at the moment but my plan is 3 more pbass and a big tank to house everyone. Now that you know what I am building my tank for I need some help planning my tank and some of you p. bass experts can help me a little.

My tank idea is to do a fairly large plywood build but I am not 100% sure it will be big enough for my stock ideas. I was planning on a 6x2x2 tank out of 3/4" plywood with a frame made out of 2x4s and I want both ends and the front to have glass so I can see the fish from all sides. Now do you guys think that with a total of 4 pbass, 1 aro and the 1 sydontis that tank will be large enough and if not what would you suggest? Also if its a 24" tall tank but the glass will only be 18" tall what thickness glass would I use?

Thanks for any help with these noobish questions but I love my new babies and have always loved my tanks and want to treat them well.
 
you need a bigger tank for that stock load. 6x34x32 would be better. Aros get over two feet. you wouldn't want your fish to barely be able to turn around would you.?

those fish get huge. even after i made my 500g I now think it's pretty small as my aro gets bigger every week. it's always a good idea to go big the first time when you have monsters. if not then you will have to do something in the long run.
 
Would I really need a tank that deep? I can understand it being wider and even longer but does it really need to go over 2' deep? what about a 6x3x2 tank you think that would be enough to house those 5 fish? This is probly not a permanent tank for these guys nor is this a permanent stock list I'm sure. I have the fish addiction and the "always needs to be bigger and better" addiction haha.
 
thanks for your help hopefully i will be starting this soon
 
Just thought I'd do I quick draw up for you for the plans. I've already built a plywood tank that was 8' x 2' x 2' and it didn't need external bracing it just need bracing along the top. Anyways here's basically what your tank would look like:

plytank.png

Here's the dimensions:

Bottom piece: 6' x 3' x 3/4" Plywood
Front and back pieces: 6' x 2' x 3/4" Plywood
Side pieces: 34 1/2" x 24" x 3/4" Plywood
Viewing window: 68" x 18"
Glass size: 70" x 22" x 1/2"
Top bracing: Two 34 1/2" 2x4s

Ok, a little more information. For the glass piece I left a two inch border all the way around until the top I left a 4 inch border for the top bracing. The glass thickness is very debatable I went with the glass sticky so it's up to you how much you trust that. The glass will also have a half inch clearance on either side so it will have a good solid fit.

One last thing, here's your tank with a 2 foot long 3 inch high by 3 inch wide fish.

plytankfish.png

From what I gather pbass and definitely arrowana have the potential to reach that size. Just giving you an idea of what a fish would look like in the tank at their potential sizes.

Anyways let me know what you think or if you want me to design it a little different and I'll make some adjustments.
 
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