Stock Discussion

[Jon M]

So I happen to stumble upon quite the find and I am managing to ad my dream tank to my fish room setup. I didn't plan on being able to setup my final tank for 3-5 years down the road but I guess I recently just got lucky.

I'm just looking to start up a dialog to discuss potential stock/new fish ideas and see what others opinions are to give myself some ideas. I'll start with me and my gf's entire room/setup.

240g
CK about 20", Albino Oscar maybe 12" or so, Fire Eel about 28-30", Florida gar about 12", 24k Spider Kelberi P.Bass about 8", and a red Shoulder Sev Sp Hero

55g
8-9" Male Jag, 7-8" striped raph cat, and about 14 GD

55g (this one is my gfs)
4-5 rainbow fish 3-4 angel fish and 4 geo sveni about 3" --- everything in this tank is newly added and all juvenile and the geo are mine, growing out for my big tank

30g sw
clown, domino damsel, b/y damsel, royal gramma, some florida ricordia, gsp, and decent cuc

SO, I'm acquiring roughly a 560g island to finish the room. It's 8ft x 4ft x 30" tall. My plans are move everything from the 240 to the 560, rehome the jag (down to naples with viktor) let the gf separate her angelfish and rainbow fish between the 2 55's and obv when the geo's are big enough move them to the 560 with everyone else.

That's all I have in my head so far as far as moving around. I've always wanted an aro but frankly as time goes on I'm less interested in them, and they seem like a hassle from what I've read so I'm less interested in them. I think this would make for plenty of stock room in the big tank, and still an empty 240. So I'm just open to any ideas. Just wanted to startup a discussion on your thoughts and opinions on what moves you would make in my shoes.

I've alrdy secured the large tank and am setting up the transportation of it in the next 30 days so I'm just trying to get the ideas flowing! Always exciting setting up a new tank, let alone getting new fish! Figured I'd end this post with a fun video I just took of the 240 feeding tonight. I'm very rookie with the videos and still learning how to edit and shoot them well so it's very blunt and basic but still fun.

240 feeding time

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

If one is able to, I kind of have come to admire kendragon 's approach to keeping fish - raise what excites you, or even challenges you, for a while, years, rehome, get a new fix, rinse and repeat But Ken's got a network of peers where he is, ready to take in the fish he's done playing with

Loved the vid. Tasteful tank and happy, healthy, beautiful fish!

 

[Jon M]

If one is able to, I kind of have come to admire kendragon 's approach to keeping fish - raise what excites you, or even challenges you, for a while, years, rehome, get a new fix, rinse and repeat But Ken's got a network of peers where he is, ready to take in the fish he's done playing with

Loved the vid. Tasteful tank and happy, healthy, beautiful fish!

I dunno... The longer I have a fish the harder it is for me to part with. Also, like you said, there's the finding a good home for them when you choose to not have them anymore part!

Thanks Viktor. Look forward to learning to take much higher quality vids!

 

[Jon M]

Damn, no one? I thought for sure this'd be a fun discussion.

 

[Backfromthedead]

Congrats on the upgrade. Thats a serious improvement on space. I like what you have happening already. I like your plan of moving everyone into the big tank minus the smaller fish of course. I would say you have room for compatible tankmates as long as youre willing to keep up with maintenance. I think a shoal of larger SD like widebar or redhook would be great in there. Use one of your smaller tanks for quarantine whenever you want to add something new of course.

Of course, you could set up that 240 somewhere for that jag. You might be surprised what an appealing fish it becomes when you give him a large tank to himself.

 

[Jon M]

Congrats on the upgrade. Thats a serious improvement on space. I like what you have happening already. I like your plan of moving everyone into the big tank minus the smaller fish of course. I would say you have room for compatible tankmates as long as youre willing to keep up with maintenance. I think a shoal of larger SD like widebar or redhook would be great in there. Use one of your smaller tanks for quarantine whenever you want to add something new of course.

Of course, you could set up that 240 somewhere for that jag. You might be surprised what an appealing fish it becomes when you give him a large tank to himself.

Thanks! I love SD and would consider it for sure. I used to have a large shoal of 13 and lost them all within 48 hours to velvet. Kind of swore them off after that, cause I was so bummed, but nothings forever and I'd consider it. In regards to setting up the 240 "somewhere," I'm actually not moving anything! It's staying right where it is. So here's a couple shots so you can see my "fish room" layout. The 240 is hugging this wall by itself, and I actually have the plumbing for the w/d threw that wall behind it into the kitchen. Then the other three are on a wall across from the 240, and if you look close at the blue tape marks on the floor in the last picture, that's where the 560 is going to go right in the middle. So it'll create kinda a walk way around the 560 and the other tanks. Also, we plan on making black panels for the metal stands probably with some magnets, to cover all the wires and canisters and make it matchup with the 240 black furniture and I'll end up doing black on the 560 too.

I'm thinking I'm gonna drain the 240 and do a few modifications to the tank itself while I have the opportunity to make it more efficient, and modify the w/d as well, at the very least drill a bottom drain and bulkhead for easy removal of all the bottom muck. Also, I'm gonna take the opportunity to polish the 240.

I have no doubt the Jag would love the 240 but me and Shelby are pretty much 100% on rehoming him.

 

[Jon M]

I was pondering some sort of larger active catfish (does active and catfish go together ever? ). I have a striped raph cat in one of the 55s and he's the most boring fish I've ever kept. I never see him and he hides under a log 24/7. I kinda gave up on the catfish idea after him but I've seen some folks with pretty active larger ones like maybe a tiger shovel nose, or this new one I've just recently heard of, vulture cat? Anyone have any input on active larger cats?

 

[Backfromthedead]

To go with your stock i think vulture cat would be a good choice.

 

[Jexnell]

Another Catfish to look at is Pimelodus ornatus, alias Ornate Pim. They grow out to the 1ft range. Can be kept solo of in a group. Yes at times will swim stationary in it hide. Yet it's very active as compared to most Catfish.

 

[Joshuakahan]

I was pondering some sort of larger active catfish (does active and catfish go together ever? ). I have a striped raph cat in one of the 55s and he's the most boring fish I've ever kept. I never see him and he hides under a log 24/7. I kinda gave up on the catfish idea after him but I've seen some folks with pretty active larger ones like maybe a tiger shovel nose, or this new one I've just recently heard of, vulture cat? Anyone have any input on active larger cats?

I recently picked up a species that was new to me called an aluminum catfish and while it turns out they’re tough to identify the exact species, they are very active and most types get 20-50”. One positive is they have a small mouth.