After two tanks crashing and losing all of my favorite fish, I took a few months off of fishkeeping, and I'm now getting ready to set up a new tank.
I'm setting up a 40 breeder with a sand and river stone (flat and anywhere from 2" to 6" across) bottom, and full of driftwood. I'm hoping to be able to come up with an almost "mangrove" like setup with driftwood in and out of the water, and I'm heavily planting the tank, but focusing on surface plants- floating plants and things growing up the driftwood and out of the water more than anything underwater. I'm thinking emersed anubias, mosses growing right up and out of the water, java fern on the logs underwater, and giant duckweed or patches of riccia floating at the surface. There are tons of options for me to look through. I'm hoping a brightly lit surface and partially shaded bottom (from all the floating plants) will make a cool effect in a tank with this much floor space.
Filtration will be an Eheim 2217 with a homemade sponge prefilter, and I have a couple powerheads with sponge prefilters to help out in any dead spots in the tank. I really don't think I'll need to, but I also have a 20g sump in the stand under the tank, if I do decide its necessary. Filtration definitely wont be a problem for anything I could fit in here.
For the focus of the tank, I'm thinking some combination of- peacock eel, senegal bichir, and/or dojo loach. I know the senegal has the potential to outgrow the tank, but I have an empty 60 and a 90 that it could go into at that point. I'm thinking maybe a couple peacock eels and a bichir, or few peacocks and a couple dojo loaches. Unfortunately, I think its too small to keep any combination of the three together, as Id rather house both peacock eels and dojo loaches in groups than singly. I really like the idea of at least something in the tank being a predatory fish, as Ive really grown to love watching fish hunt live food. The peacock eel and the bichir would both eat small fish, and I figure the surface plants and such will provide some cover, so maybe I could get a group of some guppies or platies to survive for at least a little while, maybe long enough to breed. Other options would be danios, or whiteclouds- either way, cheap fish that Im ok with losing. If I didnt do the small feeders, I would consider something large enough to not be food for the others- maybe a couple silver dollars, or something like that. Just something to add a little movement.
Any thoughts on these ideas? Suggestions? Alternate stocking ideas that would work well with the underwater forest setup? Id love suggestions of other predatory fish, as well, maybe something that would spend time at the surface in the vegetation.
Thanks!
I'm setting up a 40 breeder with a sand and river stone (flat and anywhere from 2" to 6" across) bottom, and full of driftwood. I'm hoping to be able to come up with an almost "mangrove" like setup with driftwood in and out of the water, and I'm heavily planting the tank, but focusing on surface plants- floating plants and things growing up the driftwood and out of the water more than anything underwater. I'm thinking emersed anubias, mosses growing right up and out of the water, java fern on the logs underwater, and giant duckweed or patches of riccia floating at the surface. There are tons of options for me to look through. I'm hoping a brightly lit surface and partially shaded bottom (from all the floating plants) will make a cool effect in a tank with this much floor space.
Filtration will be an Eheim 2217 with a homemade sponge prefilter, and I have a couple powerheads with sponge prefilters to help out in any dead spots in the tank. I really don't think I'll need to, but I also have a 20g sump in the stand under the tank, if I do decide its necessary. Filtration definitely wont be a problem for anything I could fit in here.
For the focus of the tank, I'm thinking some combination of- peacock eel, senegal bichir, and/or dojo loach. I know the senegal has the potential to outgrow the tank, but I have an empty 60 and a 90 that it could go into at that point. I'm thinking maybe a couple peacock eels and a bichir, or few peacocks and a couple dojo loaches. Unfortunately, I think its too small to keep any combination of the three together, as Id rather house both peacock eels and dojo loaches in groups than singly. I really like the idea of at least something in the tank being a predatory fish, as Ive really grown to love watching fish hunt live food. The peacock eel and the bichir would both eat small fish, and I figure the surface plants and such will provide some cover, so maybe I could get a group of some guppies or platies to survive for at least a little while, maybe long enough to breed. Other options would be danios, or whiteclouds- either way, cheap fish that Im ok with losing. If I didnt do the small feeders, I would consider something large enough to not be food for the others- maybe a couple silver dollars, or something like that. Just something to add a little movement.
Any thoughts on these ideas? Suggestions? Alternate stocking ideas that would work well with the underwater forest setup? Id love suggestions of other predatory fish, as well, maybe something that would spend time at the surface in the vegetation.
Thanks!
