What to stock, what to stock?

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RcemeGuy289

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 17, 2019
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I made a post here regarding my situation, https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/...t-cant-pass-up-but-how-to-go-about-it.728248/
Basically I'm trying to start building a stand but I'm not sure what tank to build it for, so I'm going to see what everyone thinks i can stock in either tank and hopefully that will help me decide.

The tank options are
48Lx24Hx31W Approximately 155 gallons
or
72Lx18Hx24W Approximately 135 Gallons

I know that these aren't particularly monster tank sizes (its no 700 gallon behemoth), but I do want to try keeping some larger species of fish. I'm not stuck on any kind in particular, although I do of course want to keep an Asain Arowana and some stingrays in the future (I don't think either tank will work for either of these). Let me know what you think will work in these setups.
 
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RcemeGuy289 said:
I made a post here regarding my situation, https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/...t-cant-pass-up-but-how-to-go-about-it.728248/
Basically I'm trying to start building a stand but I'm not sure what tank to build it for, so I'm going to see what everyone thinks i can stock in either tank and hopefully that will help me decide.

The tank options are
48Lx24Hx31W Approximately 155 gallons
or
72Lx18Hx24W Approximately 135 Gallons

I know that these aren't particularly monster tank sizes (its no 700 gallon behemoth), but I do want to try keeping some larger species of fish. I'm not stuck on any kind in particular, although I do of course want to keep an Asain Arowana and some stingrays in the future (I don't think either tank will work for either of these). Let me know what you think will work in these setups.
Click to expand...

What other species of fish do you like besides the Asian Arowana and the Stingray?
 
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There's loads of fish out there that would be fine in those size tanks. What's important now though is that you wind in the urge to go bigger than your tanks will allow. This strategy will not be good long term.

So, forget arowanas and stingrays for now and get something more suitable. Further down the line you may be in a position to go big and fulfill your dreams of keeping aro and rays.
 
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esoxlucius said:
There's loads of fish out there that would be fine in those size tanks. What's important now though is that you wind in the urge to go bigger than your tanks will allow. This strategy will not be good long term.

So, forget arowanas and stingrays for now and get something more suitable. Further down the line you may be in a position to go big and fulfill your dreams of keeping aro and rays.
Click to expand...
Agreed. Unless you decide to double/triple that gallonage and at minimum go 8x3.5 (LxW) you’ll have to go with fish a bit smaller long term. However there are plenty of other great fish you could keep. While it takes the two fish you want off the table there’s still a great number of cool fish you could keep.

Consider cichlids or medium sized species of wolf fish. You could do butterfly fish which are smaller cousins of arowanas. You could also do polypterus AKA bichirs which are awesome prehistoric fish that feed like crocodiles and look very impressive. There’s plenty of other possibilities
 
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Sorry everyone, didn't mean to make it seem like I was planning on an aro or stingray for either tanks. I was more trying to convey my aspirations for bigger in the future.

I have already an Oscar (approx 9-10 inches), ornate bichir (about same as Oscar), an, I think, Indonesian datnoid (2-3 inches), an eclipse catfish (2 inches), and an albino chocolate pleco (2 inches). None of these fish are really near and dear to me, aside from the pleco and maybe the oscar. I had a tire track eel that I rescued a while back. He was super skinny when I got him, but after several weeks of good food (cut up shrimp, tilapia, and scallops) he got good and fat. Unfortunately he got stuck in the output (yes the output) of my FX6 and was dead when I got home from work. Kind of swore off eels after that, but I did really like the little guy.

I'm really interested in an active predatory tank (not necessarily aggressive), not particularly interested in many cichlids (although male Jaguar cichlids have always tickled my fancy). I would really like to see some movement happening even when it isn't feeding time. So far the Oscar has been a pretty big let down as far as personality goes, and is not a very aggressive eater.
 
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Also, is there any stocking suggestions that will work for one tank but not the other?
 
RcemeGuy289 said:
Also, is there any stocking suggestions that will work for one tank but not the other?
Click to expand...
I would go with the 72x18 because while the 4x2 is wider the length won’t allow you to take advantage of that width any more than you could with a 72x18. However, in a 72” your fish would have more swimming room and you’ll have more of a showpiece
 
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