So with my 2000L up and running for a couple of months, the custom grow-out I had made to house my plecs while we relocated has been sitting empty in my office, and it is starting to drive me mad!! I was supposed to sell it to pay for the LEDs for the big tank, but the market is pretty flat at the moment and I'm not interested in dropping my pants on the price as it's only 18 months old and a great size/shape, at least IMO! It's 140x65x48cm LxWxH (or roughly 55x26x19" for those that haven't discovered the metric system), so a bit over 100g/400L, but with a good sized footprint. It's drilled for a sump, though given that it is right next door to my wifes office (and she works from home all day) she's not keen on me setting it up with a noisy sump again. I'm sure I can work something out! I've got a couple of spare canisters that I could run instead that should be able to keep up with the demands of one fish.
I've toyed with all sorts of ideas for it from a blackwater community tank, even considered African cichlids (gasp!), but after seeing Amphilophus88's 'Midas Castle' thread I think I'm pretty set on having a big solo male cichlid of some sorts in there. Not really keen on having a pair as getting rid of the fry would be too much hassle. Here in NZ we're fairly limited with choices when it comes to cichlids, basically I have three options;
- Midevil
- Texas
- Jag
Festae are almost impossible to find and I found my old pair to be fairly shy and boring (sadly), I'm not interested in oscars, not really a fan of flowerhorns, and we don't get trimac/umbee/haitiensis/beanii/grammodes/etcetcetcetc so don't even go there!
I'm picking the midevil will probably be the best option in terms of attitude/size etc, but I really like the colour of the texas (and might consider keeping a pair for a while as I'm interested in trying them in an outdoor pond here over summer, but that is another thread) I'm just not sure how they would go as a solo "wet pet" type fish. I've kept jags before and love them, but again not sure about their suitability as a solo fish, plus I feel a fish with the potential to reach 16" is a bit big for this tank.
As far as looks go, I'm leaning towards the texas. The LFS here used to have one in a 4' tank by itself that would constantly scare kids by charging at them through the glass, it was an absolute beast of a fish, but I'm sure they don't all turn out like that. I'd love hear thoughts/experiences on keeping any of the above in a set up like this.
I've toyed with all sorts of ideas for it from a blackwater community tank, even considered African cichlids (gasp!), but after seeing Amphilophus88's 'Midas Castle' thread I think I'm pretty set on having a big solo male cichlid of some sorts in there. Not really keen on having a pair as getting rid of the fry would be too much hassle. Here in NZ we're fairly limited with choices when it comes to cichlids, basically I have three options;
- Midevil
- Texas
- Jag
Festae are almost impossible to find and I found my old pair to be fairly shy and boring (sadly), I'm not interested in oscars, not really a fan of flowerhorns, and we don't get trimac/umbee/haitiensis/beanii/grammodes/etcetcetcetc so don't even go there!
I'm picking the midevil will probably be the best option in terms of attitude/size etc, but I really like the colour of the texas (and might consider keeping a pair for a while as I'm interested in trying them in an outdoor pond here over summer, but that is another thread) I'm just not sure how they would go as a solo "wet pet" type fish. I've kept jags before and love them, but again not sure about their suitability as a solo fish, plus I feel a fish with the potential to reach 16" is a bit big for this tank.
As far as looks go, I'm leaning towards the texas. The LFS here used to have one in a 4' tank by itself that would constantly scare kids by charging at them through the glass, it was an absolute beast of a fish, but I'm sure they don't all turn out like that. I'd love hear thoughts/experiences on keeping any of the above in a set up like this.
