Couldn't agree more, i have celestial pearl danios in my 25G paludarium, and have to say, if my 200G was ever freed up, i'd probably do a very large school of these fish...
I need inspiration...
- Thread starter Mudslinger14
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Couldn't agree more, i have celestial pearl danios in my 25G paludarium, and have to say, if my 200G was ever freed up, i'd probably do a very large school of these fish...
If you want to base it on the pictus, you should get more of its kind. They are shoalers, so maybe add five friends or more to make it happier and more outgoing/adventurous.
I would recommend 1 or 3 severums. If you are considering discus, severums are a great alternative. They might not look as pretty but beautiful enough and require less maintenance/money. We have 5 severums(2gold, 1super red, and 2green) and I must say, the male green severums are amazingly colorful, at least the one I have is. Severums are good community cichlids; ours are kept with other cichlids(3 blood parrots and 4 jewel cichlids) and 3 different schools of fish - giant danios, buenos aires tetras, and black skirt tetras. Nothing serious goes down, only some chasing and that's it.
As for going planted, you might need some better lights and good substrate.
-If you don't have the right substrate/rich enough substrate then you'll have to switch it, which would be a lot of work.
-If you don't have the right lights(they can be quite expensive)... then your plants might just die off and would make the substrate switch useless...
Plus you'll need to spend more money on fertilizer(I think the 125 will need a lot) and other plant stuff too(maybe CO2).
So picking the easiest plants would be best. You might not even have to switch the gravel or change lights if you pick the right plants. CO2 can be inexpensively made by making a DIY version. Fertilizer always helps.
There is some risk with keeping severums and plants together, I don't think they would uproot them but would probably eat them. It would be worth a try, so fast growing plants would be a good choice.
I'll try to come up with other possible tank mates for you.
As for aquascaping, have you considered driftwood? If you already have one, get some more. Making some caves with a bunch of rocks would be good too. Sometimes the simplest set ups can look the best - only if you give it some thought though.
Good example of simply nice http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/f...-220-South-American-and-some-of-its-occupants
also http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=698386&d=1312335770
I would recommend 1 or 3 severums. If you are considering discus, severums are a great alternative. They might not look as pretty but beautiful enough and require less maintenance/money. We have 5 severums(2gold, 1super red, and 2green) and I must say, the male green severums are amazingly colorful, at least the one I have is. Severums are good community cichlids; ours are kept with other cichlids(3 blood parrots and 4 jewel cichlids) and 3 different schools of fish - giant danios, buenos aires tetras, and black skirt tetras. Nothing serious goes down, only some chasing and that's it.
As for going planted, you might need some better lights and good substrate.
-If you don't have the right substrate/rich enough substrate then you'll have to switch it, which would be a lot of work.
-If you don't have the right lights(they can be quite expensive)... then your plants might just die off and would make the substrate switch useless...
Plus you'll need to spend more money on fertilizer(I think the 125 will need a lot) and other plant stuff too(maybe CO2).
So picking the easiest plants would be best. You might not even have to switch the gravel or change lights if you pick the right plants. CO2 can be inexpensively made by making a DIY version. Fertilizer always helps.
There is some risk with keeping severums and plants together, I don't think they would uproot them but would probably eat them. It would be worth a try, so fast growing plants would be a good choice.
I'll try to come up with other possible tank mates for you.
As for aquascaping, have you considered driftwood? If you already have one, get some more. Making some caves with a bunch of rocks would be good too. Sometimes the simplest set ups can look the best - only if you give it some thought though.
Good example of simply nice http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/f...-220-South-American-and-some-of-its-occupants
also http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=698386&d=1312335770
Just my 2 pence worth but we love our silver dollars, we have 6 in our 180 and they look incredible, people always ask if they are pirranah fish , we told my 6 yr old nephew they were and now he wont even go in the room they are in ...oops !
Thanks for the links and advice. I actually have a saltwater reef tank, so I'm familiar with lighting and dosing, etc etc. This may come in handy though, seeing as I've really been caught on paludariums...
I think if I planned it properly, got as many opinions as I could and sucked up to my dad for some extra $$$ I could do it...
I was thinking a smaller version of this http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?329022-1700-Gallon-Stingray-River
This is one of my dream tanks and just makes me drool every time I look at it
I'm still researching them though...
I see, I can't say I'm impressed much by paludariums. Maybe if there were birds flying around perhaps 
To me it's just extra space and extra work, it's not for the fish anymore. If you say it's for those amphibians, then I hope they're happy.
I'm not sure, but do those paludariums put off a bad smell?
If I had the chance, I would get a super tall tank so that way the fish will be happy with the amount of water and I would be happy with the extra plants/work on top. To make it an actual community, maybe add beetles, butterflies, dragonflies, snakes, worms, turtles, and frogs(which ever applies on the biotope).
Planted tanks only work if the aquascaping is nice and believable, otherwise it's a waste. Paludariums are on a whole 'nother level. Even if you're not that good at aquascaping, I think it would impress most people just because you don't see it that often.
P.S. - The examples I gave were the first ones I saw, not necessarily the best examples(no offense to the tank's owners)
P.P.S. - How big is your sw tank?
To me it's just extra space and extra work, it's not for the fish anymore. If you say it's for those amphibians, then I hope they're happy.I'm not sure, but do those paludariums put off a bad smell?
If I had the chance, I would get a super tall tank so that way the fish will be happy with the amount of water and I would be happy with the extra plants/work on top. To make it an actual community, maybe add beetles, butterflies, dragonflies, snakes, worms, turtles, and frogs(which ever applies on the biotope).
Planted tanks only work if the aquascaping is nice and believable, otherwise it's a waste. Paludariums are on a whole 'nother level. Even if you're not that good at aquascaping, I think it would impress most people just because you don't see it that often.
P.S. - The examples I gave were the first ones I saw, not necessarily the best examples
(no offense to the tank's owners)P.P.S. - How big is your sw tank?
you could also have a group of angels, they can look quite nice and are not very aggressive, but a bottom dweller that I have found quite amusing is the skunk loach, they are very active and add a limited chaos to a tank
I see, I can't say I'm impressed much by paludariums. Maybe if there were birds flying around perhaps
I'm not sure, but do those paludariums put off a bad smell?
If I had the chance, I would get a super tall tank so that way the fish will be happy with the amount of water and I would be happy with the extra plants/work on top. To make it an actual community, maybe add beetles, butterflies, dragonflies, snakes, worms, turtles, and frogs(which ever applies on the biotope).
Planted tanks only work if the aquascaping is nice and believable, otherwise it's a waste. Paludariums are on a whole 'nother level. Even if you're not that good at aquascaping, I think it would impress most people just because you don't see it that often.
P.S. - The examples I gave were the first ones I saw, not necessarily the best examples
P.P.S. - How big is your sw tank?
If I do this, I'm doing it right. It's not going to be a 50% job. It'll be good, even if it takes me a year to complete fully.
I'm definitely going to get advice about aquascaping if I go through with this, because I'm not incredibly creative and just logging in to MFK, I get inspired. Now, the only thing I would be worried about is the humidity, mold and fungi factor related to the warm enclosed 60-70 gallons of water...
Also on the land portion of the tank, would fake plants be adequate for some of the trees, or bigger plants? I could get a moss or something for the ground, and maybe some odd branches or pieces of decorative 'debris'.
How about raphael catfish, 1 birchir, 1 black ghost knifefish, 2 L-187b, 3 arfican butterfly fish, and 5 clown loaches.
