how large of a tank will I need to upgrade to?

[Nature Scaped]

Hello,

I currently have a 125 gallon with the following so far,

- Red head Tapajos geo (5)
- Red shoulder severum (3)
- Curare severum (2)
- Bumblebee Oscar (3)
- Cactus pleco (1)
- Tiger moray eel (1)
- Tigrinus catfish (1)
- Irwin's catfish (1)
- Jaguar catfish (1)

Most fish here are still under 6", with that said I am looking to add the following yet.

- Zebrina pike
- Rosemarie pike
- Silver arowana
- More geos or severums around 3-5

I am planning to upgrade my current tank here soon. What would be the proper size for what I currently have, and if I'd like to add the others listed how much bigger would I need to go?

 

[nicobee18]

That's quite the stock list, a huge bio load with those fish. Not to mention the possible aggression problems you may face when adding the pikes. Id definitely think you'd need to be looking at something 8 -10 foot long or larger, at least 2 - 3 ft wide. The Tigrinus and Irwin's alone are capable of growing to 2ft long, its going to be difficult to maintain that stocking level. Cichlids being cichlids really need space for territories and that will be no different in your case. A bullish Oscar can well claim and defend a 6ft tank for itself if it wants to. You'll also need a extremely well setup filtration system to handle the bio load, coupled with large every other day water changes (80% +). Id be worried about the Tapajos becoming Catfish food as well, as those guys only top out around 6", a mere snack for a fully grown catfish like the Tigrinus.
This is all based on my experience keeping cichlids, I'm sure others will have different advice, but good luck, if you manage to make it work, it'll be a showstopping aquarium for sure.

 

[neko1]

this sounds like a bad plan. Leave the Silver arowana out of your ideas and it might work. Most fish get so big you will need atleast a giant pond.

 

[Nature Scaped]

this sounds like a bad plan. Leave the Silver arowana out of your ideas and it might work. Most fish get so big you will need atleast a giant pond.

well the Arowana and pikes were just up in the air not a for sure thing. I was thinking those might now workout with the current stock. As of now, I’ve had no aggression issues as all fish were bought within months of each other and are still small. Yes I know that could change in the future as they reach a larger size, and I’m prepared to move stuff if needed.

That's quite the stock list, a huge bio load with those fish. Not to mention the possible aggression problems you may face when adding the pikes. Id definitely think you'd need to be looking at something 8 -10 foot long or larger, at least 2 - 3 ft wide. The Tigrinus and Irwin's alone are capable of growing to 2ft long, its going to be difficult to maintain that stocking level. Cichlids being cichlids really need space for territories and that will be no different in your case. A bullish Oscar can well claim and defend a 6ft tank for itself if it wants to. You'll also need a extremely well setup filtration system to handle the bio load, coupled with large every other day water changes (80% +). Id be worried about the Tapajos becoming Catfish food as well, as those guys only top out around 6", a mere snack for a fully grown catfish like the Tigrinus.
This is all based on my experience keeping cichlids, I'm sure others will have different advice, but good luck, if you manage to make it work, it'll be a showstopping aquarium for sure.

Yeah might skip out on the pikes and Arowana. Just some I’d love to keep, but who knows I may always try. The geos yes with them I’m prepared to move if needed. I was probably thinking of going with a plywood build, that way I can get the size to what would work best with my stocking.

 

[nicobee18]

If you're willing to go big, you could make a absolute ripper plywood tank to house these monsters and like I said it'd be a showstopper. With decent rock work and driftwood I'm sure the fish could suss out territories and it'd all work nicely. Good stuff with the Geo's, I only mentioned them because I absolutely love mine and they deserve better than being snack food lol.
Filtration wise I'd suggest a good amount of jap mat, and a large fluidised k1 filter. I also love my Aqua Ultraviolet UV, that's been a investment I'd make time and time again on future setups. Just my personal preferences when it comes to filtering decent size tanks with messy cichlids.
Whatever you decide I hope to see photos of the process on here and good luck with it all.

 

[Nature Scaped]

If you're willing to go big, you could make a absolute ripper plywood tank to house these monsters and like I said it'd be a showstopper. With decent rock work and driftwood I'm sure the fish could suss out territories and it'd all work nicely. Good stuff with the Geo's, I only mentioned them because I absolutely love mine and they deserve better than being snack food lol.
Filtration wise I'd suggest a good amount of jap mat, and a large fluidised k1 filter. I also love my Aqua Ultraviolet UV, that's been a investment I'd make time and time again on future setups. Just my personal preferences when it comes to filtering decent size tanks with messy cichlids.
Whatever you decide I hope to see photos of the process on here and good luck with it all.

Thanks for the help so far! I was planning to do something similar filtration wise, I’m planning to fit the biggest I possibly can. I’m a firm believer in the UVs too, so plan to do that as well. I’ll make sure to make a build post once I get to that point. Still a little ways out yet, going to let these guys get a little more size to them and hope to hold off until winters over here.

 

[duanes]

You will probably need a minimum 300 gal when the current fish are adults, without adding anything from the second part of the list.
If it were me, after the new tank is acquired, I'd use the 125 as a sump.
I use a 125 gal tank as a filter and planted sump/refugium on my current main tank.

 

[kzimmerman]

I personally don’t think a 2-3’ tank depth will work out well, it should be about twice as deep as the largest fish in the tank. Gotta give fish room to move! It’s very easy to build a deep tank in plywood, and building the largest tank you can is always the best thing to do. It would suck to build that monster tank just to have to build another one in a year!

 

[ryanstef]

10 ft * 3 ft

 

[tlindsey]

Hello,

I currently have a 125 gallon with the following so far,

- Red head Tapajos geo (5)
- Red shoulder severum (3)
- Curare severum (2)
- Bumblebee Oscar (3)
- Cactus pleco (1)
- Tiger moray eel (1)
- Tigrinus catfish (1)
- Irwin's catfish (1)
- Jaguar catfish (1)

Most fish here are still under 6", with that said I am looking to add the following yet.

- Zebrina pike
- Rosemarie pike
- Silver arowana
- More geos or severums around 3-5

I am planning to upgrade my current tank here soon. What would be the proper size for what I currently have, and if I'd like to add the others listed how much bigger would I need to go?

Welcome aboard