tall tank vs regular

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Chago09

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jun 8, 2006
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Ontario
a standard 125 gallon is 6 feet long 18" deep and I think around 20-22" tall. A 150 is the same dimensions but its a little bit taller. Do these two tank really have any difference to a large cichlid at all???? like the footprint is the main thing right??? height only makes him swim higher for food???

What do you guys think??
 
Bigger is always better IMO. Taller mean more water so more ammonia dispersal and if you keep dithers/targets, it gives them more upper area to swim in.
 
If your options have the same footprint or base size, more volume is better. I also really like the look of taller tanks, but that is a personal preference. You can't go wrong with either.
 
I like the extra volume, but don't like having to reach down to clean it. 26" is the deepest I would go IMP.

Some fish like to hang out in the deco or just over it. My Oscar owns the top of my Beta tank, and never really goes into the caves or rock work The Frontosa hang out with the Channel cats in the rocks. I had a GT in there who also liked to hang out in the upper parts of the tank, but he was too trusting and got killed by my house cat. I also have some Pumpkinseed Sunfish in there as dithers and they like to hang out under some floating water lettuce, so they are at the very top of the tank.

The setup looks pretty active without being too chaotic. I have a mix of fish that cover all levels of the tank and if I went deeper it would probably look even better.

It seems kind of pointless to have a tall tank when all of your fish hang out at the bottom.
 
The only real problem with taller tanks...Usually called 'show' tanks or as us old timers used to call them... fish killers...is that you reduce the serface area in relation to the tank volume. This can create problems oxyginating the water properly. Yes...you CAN overcome this problem with increased water flow and even bubble wands to break the serface tention and increase gas exchange but all of this depends on the equipment working. In the case of a power outage or equipment failure the level of O2 drops VERY fast and the BB die off quickly...poisening the water.

If your going to go with a taller tank then make sure you have adiquate battery back up equipment in place in case of an emergancy. Our 150...(4x2 footprint 30") is set up with an automatic UPS for just this reason.

Some fish do well in this style of tank (Oscars RD's GT's ECT.)while others (Aro's most cats and bottom dwellers ECT.) basicly ignore the extra space.
 
my tank is 30" tall and is a pain t do any planting or redecorating. I have the surface agitation covered, And it's stocked with differant levels of fish. Just a pain on maintainence.
 
duke33;1290205; said:
my tank is 30" tall and is a pain t do any planting or redecorating. I have the surface agitation covered, And it's stocked with differant levels of fish. Just a pain on maintainence.
Click to expand...

After living with this 150 and the matching 30" corner tank...I have to agree with you. If at all possible I'll stick with 24" tanks.
 
The fish will not notice very much at all in terms of swimming space, but the extra 25 gallons will go along way in terms of water quality. I advise the 150 gallon to ease up on water changes.
 
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