I'm moving the end of the month to a bigger place and I'm definitely turning the basement into the man cave, so I want to build a very large plywood aquarium to house my fish in the man cave but I'm having trouble figuring out how many gallons would be good for all the fish. Here's the list of fish: Mayan, Oscar, Peacock bass, king Kong parrot, Vieja hartwegi, Jack dempsey, Red devil, Butterkoferi tilapia, Red tiger Motaguensis, Red terror, Green terror, Green Texas, Trimaculatus, Electric blue acara, Cuban cichlid..... all of them are around 3 to 5in , I also have two umbee cichlids that are 2.5 inches in a different tank that I've got maybe two weeks ago. So I need to figure out what's a bigger enough size tank for them all.
Plywood aquarium size
- Thread starter Tat2_yo
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Tbh you would have to build something massive the size of a small pond and you still will probably have deaths. Most of your Cichlids are extremely aggressive. They will also claim a huge area for territory for example the Umbee claim probably the largest area.
That's what I was thinking a small pond, the fish get along so far and I constantly change the decor around so no one has a territory for long
Not to rain on your parade, but like mentioned that combo will most likely end badly. I would recommend multiple aquariums if you plan on keeping any of them long term. The only reason it has worked out so far is that they are only juveniles. When they start to mature you will have a war zone on your hands.
T
Tat2_yo
We don't want to be mean spirited. 
But it really is a big deal, unless you are prepared for the heartbreak of seeing your fish all scarred up with split fins and missing scales and blind eyes. Then the most wounded one will become lunch.
Look deep inside yourself and ask "Why do I want this?"
The answer will not be "For the fish."
When the welfare of the fish comes before basic desires, you will find success.
But it really is a big deal, unless you are prepared for the heartbreak of seeing your fish all scarred up with split fins and missing scales and blind eyes. Then the most wounded one will become lunch.
Look deep inside yourself and ask "Why do I want this?"
The answer will not be "For the fish."
When the welfare of the fish comes before basic desires, you will find success.
I would not mix in bay snook eith all those fish. Petenia splendida is and timid cichlid IME and only stands it ground when breeding. I know this becausr i have a group of five snooks.
I am guessing it would be about $6000 a year to feed that tank (full grown fish) on a healthy diet, unless you're breeding food.
I spend $400 a year just to feed one medium Oscar.
I spend $400 a year just to feed one medium Oscar.