Getting back into the hobby and need real advise on setup

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K

Kyletakashi

Feeder Fish
Nov 21, 2017
2
0
1
45
Hello,

When I was a lot younger I had a few fish tanks before I left the hobby and my last was a 60g acrylic with aggressive fish that were not fully grown. The setup was a biowheel and canister filter nothing crazy but it worked and I never lost any fish.

Now that I'm older and my son loves fish I want to get back into the hobby but want to go a lot larger and more advanced. Here is a small list of the fish I would like to keep:

Tiger oscar
Ornate bichir
Red tail barracuda
Red tail leopard pleco
Peacock bass
Asian arowana (if I can find and afford)
One of the smaller stingrays (if I can find and afford)
Channa snakehead (if I can find and afford)

I believe all these fish can coexist in a large tank together but let me know what you think and if there are any I should stay away from or if there are any you think can be added to the mix.

With this being said I was looking to go at least 200 gallons+. I would like to stay with acrylic as I never had any issues with mine before but let me know what you think on this as well as size. I also have no idea what kind of filtration this would need and what works best. I see tanks have many different systems but I just want to go with what's "best" for this type of tank and I am not building anything so I'm willing to pay for quality. I believe a really nice sump would be best but I do not know enough to say for sure but my budget is around $5000 for the tank and setup (not including fish). Can someone let me know if this is realistic and what I can get for around this amount of money. If you are familiar with Bashsea then this is the type of quality I would like to have in my setup if possible for the size of my tank if I can afford.

I'm really getting back into this at a novice level and want to have something that I do not need to have years and years of experience in nor do I want to have a small "regular" easy tank. I'm will to learn and figure things out again but anything that makes it easier would be beneficial as I do not want to loose really nice fish because of my own error or stupidity.

I know I asked a lot of questions and hopefully someone has time to help someone trying to get back into the hobby but if you don't I totally understand and maybe you can direct me to somewhere that has all this information.

Best,
Kyle
 
I can't answer all of your questions, but I can give you a link to Truvu's site. They make acrylic tanks, have been since 72, the year I was born, so 45 years making tanks is some kind of history. I have one myself 3rd hand now and all is fine. It's housing a younger pair of JDs atm
www.truvuaquariums.com
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Welcome back!!

Very impressive plan you have there :)

Few high level comments...

-Asian Arowanas are banned in the United States, there are often places selling them on aquabid or something but they are either illegal or fake. Just..don't...do...it...

-For the stingray the smaller ones (true hystrix, scobina, etc) are indeed very hard to find., but they are certainly out there.

-If you instead go with a Silver or Black arowanna, you are going to want a larger tank than 200 gallons. 8' x 4', or at least 8' x 3' footprint would be much better

-Obviously the cheapest option is finding a good deal used, and $5000 is certainly realistic for that (especially if you are willing to take a road trip). Buying the equipment new however, at the size I'd recommend, that would be pushing it. However, if you are buying new the stand is a large part of the cost on larger aquariums - are you willing to make your own stand to save money?

-You may struggle a bit with fish compatibility. Plecos are generally not recommended with stingrays because they can suck on their disc. Stingrays are also known to eat pretty much anything they want to, so some of your fish may be on the menu.
 
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i think you could probably get a nice acrylic 300 gallon and most of the setup new for 5k. if youre handy at all and enjoy the occasional diy project i would recommend building your own stand. most stands you can buy with tanks are overpriced and not as sturdy as one you can build easily from $80 worth of lumber and screws. plus you get a lot of freedom to customize the look and plumbing and such.
 
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Welcome back to the hobby. It can be a demanding hobby IMO but one that is well worth it. It's hard to know where to start as far as advice goes. First thing you should probably do is buy a book or two to reacquaint yourself with the intricacies of keeping a Freshwater Aquarium. Re-learn all over again about the Nitrogen cycle and familiarize yourself with important terms like alkalinity, hardness, TDS, PH etc, etc. As well as some of the more common aquarium diseases. Advice on filtration can vary as many have their own personal opinions based on what works for them based on their own individual needs, etc. Many will probably suggest sump or Canister while some like myself favor less commonly used filtration methods. I myself like using custom Matten, Canister and Algae scrubbers combinations.

As for the set up, one of the first and most important things you'll need is a Freshwater Test Kit; so you can monitor your water parameters and make sure they're where they should be. As for the tank I'm not sure where to get a Quality Acrylic but CustomAquariums makes excellent Glass Tanks and the nice thing is their prices include delivery. They also reinforce their frames to help prevent cracking and they offer to basically plumb in their custom sump system. When I did a quick price up you could get a 195 gallon with glass lids, their sump system and a Steel and Wood stand for around $5 G's. Plus as I said they'd deliver it and IMHO that's a good deal.

As for your fish choice first thing you should know is Channa and Asian Aro's are illegal in the US. So unfortunately you'll have to cross them off your stock list. Your choice on stock and how well it would work is subjective IMO. Oscars and PBass are generally on the peaceful side so in a large tank they should be okay together. The Pleco can be territorial as can be the Ornate bust again in such a large tank and with enough hides I think they'd be fine together. The Cuda will probably be too small as an adult to be kept with the Oscar and Pbass. Even though they are liquid lightning I imagine even if he stays away from them it'll lead him to jumping or dashing into a tank wall at the cost of his life. As for the Rays, IMHO they need specialized set ups. Even small ones need quite a bit of open area at the bottom at very least because of their discs. So I wouldn't suggest any tank with less then a three foot width. These are just my personal opinions but I think they're sensible.
 
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