Tank Preference

[Bubbles the clown knife!]

I'm trying to plan for the future. My tank size now is a 55 gallon. I have a clown knife fish(7 inches long), silver arowana (5 inches long), 3 rainbow tail sharks, common pleco, bristlenose pleco, clown loach and 2 peacock bass(2 inches long). I dont want a bunch of tanks laying around so I was thinking of a huge tank but I've only ever had glass tanks. When going bigger is acrylic a better idea? With my fish, should I get acrylic or stay glass? With my fish growing so fast, how big of a tank should I have?

 

[Thyroyalgeek]

200 gallon would keep you ok forever, but the only problem is you have peacock bass, which will most definitely eat you're bristlenose pleco, sharks, and anything else that he outgrows to quickly, considering clown knives have a slower growth rate. The clown loach might need water a bit chillier, but you'll probably be ok. The arowana, pbass, clown loach, clown knife, and common pleco will probably be all ok together, but watch that common pleco sucking slime off the slower moving fish (this isn't too common except with bichirs and stuff like that, just a precaution.) On the tank material topic, glass is usually better for large tanks. Anything else just ask .

 

[Thyroyalgeek]

Well 200 gallon would be ok for a certain species of pbass, what species do you have??

 

[Bubbles the clown knife!]

I have the monoculus peacock bass. And when I got them I was told to expect size so I would never underestimate the fish. I was told to expect a 25"-30" fish when full grown.

 

[duanes]

For those fish as adults, a 200 gal is a bit skimpy.

 

[Bubbles the clown knife!]

So more like 250-300 gallon?

 

[celebrist]

silver arro and knife will both exceed 24" as well. 8'x4' footprint would be adequate 8x3 at the very least

 

[nzafi]

Many people prefer acrylic over glass on larger tanks as they can be safer and are much lighter. However, I have never kept plecos but I thought I read somewhere that they ruin acrylic tanks and need to be kept in glass tanks.

 

[Thyroyalgeek]

They can scratch acrylic sometimes, but that's almost always with panaques.

 

[Drstrangelove]

I'm trying to plan for the future.

Unless you are planning for a 500 gallon or larger tank then this is a path to strongly reconsider.

These are huge fish in the wild, and they will be huge in an aquarium if they are properly cared for. Most people are simply unable to give them the proper conditions and so they never reach their proper size.

I would consider an 8x4x2 as probably the minimum for that group simply to accommodate the massive bio load. Smaller volume tanks that might work will simply increase the rapidity you will be forced into doing larger and more frequent water changes.

Unless you're prepared for the prospect of doing 75% water changes every day, avoid smaller tanks.