I scored the deal of a lifetime on this magnificent beast of a centerpiece:
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I did not need it, as I have a (formerly thought of as "nice") 180 in my office, but just look at it. And it matches my cabinets too.
I would like to stock this with something that will occupy all levels of the tank, but am having a hard time thinking of what.
In my 180 I keep wild Discus and Geophagus. In the past (many years ago when this site was still easier to browse and search) I kept other SA fish like Altifrons, Arowanas, and Uaru in 7 and 8 foot tanks, Lake Malawi in standard 75s and 90s, and for a while Datnoids and other bigger guys (several distichoduses) in 125s. None of those tanks was nearly this tall/square. I don't feel like any of those populations would be an ideal fit for a tank with these dimensions. The Discus would be good with the full height, but I don't like limiting them to only 4 feet of width. Mbuna would be fine with that footprint, but the extra height would be wasted.
What do you suppose would be a good fit for this tank? I want it to really look amazing, like the way a professionally done planted tank might... but no, I am not at all interested in all the work of a planted tank, especially high tech. (Also, at 36" tall, even the tallest of swords would still not be enough, I think.) Other ideas I have:
1) Low-tech planted, tons of tetras and a pack of Altums (very difficult to maintain though)
2) Africans, but find some big big peacocks to occupy the top (such fish might not love a 4' width though)
3) just get one massive fish with some personality
4) let my roommate set it up as Saltwater (would take a while before it got show-worthy; would be expensive; I have ZERO experience with SW)
Low maintenance is key, because the top of the tank is 6' up and that canopy is NOT easy to move. So I'm not going to stock it full of monsters.
But would love some input on what would make good use of the entire 36" vertical space of the tank.