New 3500 gallon tank- trying to decide what fish...

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Here is my list of "budget" fish so far, all from MFK classifieds:

Achara cat 22"+ $20
Red devil/midas 6" $10
2 Jack Dempseys 5-7"
Caquetaia spectabilis (male 8")
Crenicichla proteus (female 8")
bifasciatus (5")

The only one I'm not crazy about is the bifasciatus, but it is free. :-)

Sticking with S. American fish. Going to try and find a good price on some 6" or so albino oscars after the above are doing well for a while. After that I'm not sure. I would love a Ray or two, but not sure how they would do with the ciclids.

Cheers!
~K
 
Hopfully they'll still be available by time you have the pond cycled...
Personally, I'd be concerned more with filtration and a cycled pond, no sense in stressing out freshly shipped fish further by introducing them into an uncycled environment...
 
Well these are all local fish, going to wait until cycled before I introduce anything. Started adding ammonia today. My current filtration is OK, I just want a lot more! I have several of these fish on hold and they will still be available when the tank is ready- the others I have offered to pay for now and pick them up once my H2O tests out OK. We'll see if they hold them or not. Thankfully I am only 30 minutes from Chicago so there is a pretty large MFK community so there should always be a fair supply of fish that have outgrown the current owners needs! :-)

EDIT TO ADD: My heater works great. Brought ice cold tap water up to 78 degrees overnight! I have bumped it to 84 to help speed up cycling. Got a replacement filter cartridge today from the pool supply store. Going to be adding in the UV filter and a second high pressure filter hopefully next week.

I have also added pond starter bacteria (to bottles, each treat 1500 gallons) to speed up the cycling.
 
destro;1877308; said:
Well these are all local fish, going to wait until cycled before I introduce anything. Started adding ammonia today. My current filtration is OK, I just want a lot more! I have several of these fish on hold and they will still be available when the tank is ready- the others I have offered to pay for now and pick them up once my H2O tests out OK. We'll see if they hold them or not. Thankfully I am only 30 minutes from Chicago so there is a pretty large MFK community so there should always be a fair supply of fish that have outgrown the current owners needs! :-)

EDIT TO ADD: My heater works great. Brought ice cold tap water up to 78 degrees overnight! I have bumped it to 84 to help speed up cycling. Got a replacement filter cartridge today from the pool supply store. Going to be adding in the UV filter and a second high pressure filter hopefully next week.

I have also added pond starter bacteria (to bottles, each treat 1500 gallons) to speed up the cycling.
Click to expand...
Excellent...

And you are using 100% PURE ammonia right?...

You can tell the difference, by shaking up the container...
if it foams do not use...
if it doesn't foam it's cool to use...
 
Yeah, I had to go to two different stores to find pure ammonia (not lemon scented! LOL!).

I didn't try the shake test though- It said pure ammonia on the bottle. I will try it next time I go downstairs. If it isn't, then thankfully I only did one treatment! I also have about 30 lbs of carbon, just in case! :-)
 
destro;1877482; said:
Yeah, I had to go to two different stores to find pure ammonia (not lemon scented! LOL!).

I didn't try the shake test though- It said pure ammonia on the bottle. I will try it next time I go downstairs. If it isn't, then thankfully I only did one treatment! I also have about 30 lbs of carbon, just in case! :-)
Click to expand...
I apologize for not mentioning the "shake" test earlier,
My bad...
At least you know now, and the next time I post about fishless cycling I'll be sure to include that detail...;)
 
Yeah, thanks for that information- been keeping fish for 20+ years and never heard of fishless cycling before. Would have come in handy a few times over the years! To think of all the feeder goldfish I could have saved!

:-)

Just a couple of pictures of the pond as it sits now:

This is from the front door to the office:
picture.php


From the main hallway, this really gives a good indication of the colors of the atrium, the others are all sunbleached in the pics- it really is this colorful in person from most angles! In the foreground you can see stairs going down- that is where the pump room is (along with a ton of offices)
picture.php


From the back doors (where most traffic goes, from the office out to the warehouses):
picture.php

Note these pics were taken today, just haven't fixed the date in my camera since I replaced the batteries!
 
destro;1877733; said:
Yeah, thanks for that information- been keeping fish for 20+ years and never heard of fishless cycling before. Would have come in handy a few times over the years! To think of all the feeder goldfish I could have saved!

:-)

Just a couple of pictures of the pond as it sits now:

This is from the front door to the office:
picture.php


From the main hallway, this really gives a good indication of the colors of the atrium, the others are all sunbleached in the pics- it really is this colorful in person from most angles! In the foreground you can see stairs going down- that is where the pump room is (along with a ton of offices)
picture.php


From the back doors (where most traffic goes, from the office out to the warehouses):
picture.php

Note these pics were taken today, just haven't fixed the date in my camera since I replaced the batteries!
Click to expand...
Looks great! now have maintenence clean that glass...:D
 
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