I've decided that I'm going to set up a large aquarium. It's going to be between the 200-250 range. I'm going to give it the great them of the prehistoric times. I will definitely add Gars, which are awesome, but also a bichir or two, an arowana, knifefish, ropefish, maybe something else. I want some good ideas for a prehistoric themed tank. Maybe some ideas for cleanup crews because I can't find any that are really prehistoric. Different plants or logs or rocks or any other ideas for a Jurassic Aquarium.
Jurassic Aquarium
- Thread starter zippybomb
- Start date
Wow, youre so overstocked and underfiltered. They need at least a 4000 gallon tank with a million times turnover rate for filtration along with 300% daily w/c's. Make sure to treat with prime and you'll be gold!
?!? First you need to decide WHAT fish you want THEN Figure the size tank you need for those fish...If your going Aro(and Silver being the likley canidate) Plus you want gar go safe and get a 10x3x3 enough swimming room for everyone...And the only "Prehistoric" cleanup crew is YOU there is no fish that'll clean up the tank for you....Cichlids are plenty prehistoric believe it or not (~180mya I beleive according to Ad Conings) Really as long as you have good filtration (I recommend 2 FX5 & a Sump) you could have an Aro Gar a BGK a group of bigger polys and a few cichlids
To clarify, i'm looking into getting a florida gar. Also, I have not set up the aquarium yet, just looking for ideas. Also by "cleanup crew" I mean something like a cory catfish or shrimp who keep the water even cleaner. I'm definetly not going ot leave the fish to fend for themselves. Thanks for all the feedback so far! Keep the ideas coming!
zippybomb;4620837; said:
From personal experience, I'd say avoid using small fish and invertebrates as your clean up crew unless you're fine with replacing them on a regular basis. My 12" Florida gar and 10-14" longnose gars either ate, killed, or injured multiple Corydoras catfish (up to 2.5") and ghost shrimp. If you want a living clean up crew, then go with snails; they'll keep your aquarium pretty tidy.
I'm liking your concept. It sounds like it would be fun to try to interpret the decoration from what is available now. If you're going for a florida gar you're going to want something that is at least 3 feet wide, due to their scales being big and not so flexible. they're like SUVs, have large turning circles... same for arowanas actually.
as far as decor goes, I would go for a small sized river rock, something tan-grey colored, with large stones in the corners, vertically strong, something that looks like an underwater cave, with stalactites, dark, with minimal other decoration. IMO your fish might be too rough on any living plants so I'd skip on the plants.
all in all its all based on what you think is the prehistoric look, and what you find to be aesthetic in it. just like the "natural" look there are many interpretations of it and many of them are not very natural.
as far as decor goes, I would go for a small sized river rock, something tan-grey colored, with large stones in the corners, vertically strong, something that looks like an underwater cave, with stalactites, dark, with minimal other decoration. IMO your fish might be too rough on any living plants so I'd skip on the plants.
all in all its all based on what you think is the prehistoric look, and what you find to be aesthetic in it. just like the "natural" look there are many interpretations of it and many of them are not very natural.
finally catch a break and get to post some stuff...work's been kicking my ass lol
alright, jurrassic idea is pretty neat, in fact its what most of us gar guys are going with..
good that you're going with florida gars, they're pretty forgiving as far as first gars go. you're likely not going to need a 3' wide tank for it though, as captive specimens seldom get much larger than 20".
i would definately skip any small clean up crew, i had a chinese algae eater that was likely killed and really messed up my water. ropefish might get attacked as well.
why not go for a stocklist like this:
5x florida gar and an assortment of polypterus, throw in an african aro if you can find one
alright, jurrassic idea is pretty neat, in fact its what most of us gar guys are going with..
good that you're going with florida gars, they're pretty forgiving as far as first gars go. you're likely not going to need a 3' wide tank for it though, as captive specimens seldom get much larger than 20".
i would definately skip any small clean up crew, i had a chinese algae eater that was likely killed and really messed up my water. ropefish might get attacked as well.
why not go for a stocklist like this:
5x florida gar and an assortment of polypterus, throw in an african aro if you can find one