Tropical Fish Keeping banner

75g plan

2K views 16 replies 5 participants last post by  Grimmjow 
#1 ·
So heres my plan, i want those tall fuzzy looking plants in the back and coming forward on the sides a little, 4 leaf clovers starting in the front corners of the of the tank in front of the fuzzy plants in like a semi-circle, then center of the tank left open to show some of the sand substrate, then a fake tree root thing with a plant growing off the top to look like a tree.

The picture is a horribly draw plan via paint. The spray paint green is the fuzzy plant (hornwort is what i think its called, been a bit since i checked em out), the green squares are the clovers, the light brown on the ground is the sand and the badly drawn mess in the center is the root thing with plant on top.

My plans as a far as fish are 5+ zebra danios, 10-15ish neon tetras, and 4ish kuhli loaches which im hoping will take under the tree as their hideout.
 

Attachments

See less See more
1
#2 ·
Is this the plant for the back you're talking about Sweet Aquatics
Ever considered giant Hairgrass for the back, just a thought cause its easier maintenance then Hornwort lol Giant Hairgrass (Eleocharis montevidensis)

This whole half circle there around the stump is gonna be dwarf clover? That's gonna be a LOT clover on a 75g lol

What plant are you gonna use in the stump?

May I make one suggestion.....pull the stump off to a rear corner or front corner, anything off dead center; otherwise any viewers focus will be stuck on the stump right away and not any of your fish.

Who else is living in the 75g??? Apart from what you said up top you wanna add I mean...
 
#6 ·
Ok ok im sure ill add more fish to the list, those are just the ones that i really like. Ill prolly add a betta and maybe some females. My dad had i think 2 pairs of angels in this 20 gallon i have and after a while they started breeding then died i think shortly after but they just arent my thing. Im dead set on neon tetras since theyve been my favorite fish since i was a kid. No discus since i have a fear of big fish, blue gouramis and ghost knifes being on my short list of exceptions.

The set up was just a plan, im not really sure how much i like having the center wide open. I am a big fan of the grasses but i like the hornwort cause itll look like a fuzzy forest. Its just a tough call on how much open space i want cause id like to see the neons schooling around in a big cloud but i do like the being being able to swim in and out of plants. I just kinda want to make this into more like a moving picture kinda thing instead of just a habitat if that makes sense.

One thing is for sure and that is that i need the clovers in there, im still skeptic on them being all four leafed clovers. Anybody know how neat the clovers stay? like if i plant them in a design of a celtic cross would it stay neat?

Still totally undecided on most things though, im not even positve on where in the room its going so ill get back to spending half my day brainstorming.
 
#7 ·
The clover grows slow, so what ever "design" you put it in, it'll stay like it provided the clover doesn't die on you.
 
#9 ·
I'll throw in a dissenting opinion - always the odd guy out. I too have purchased a 75 gallon over Xmas and am done all my supply purchases except for plant and fish. I'm waiting for my son to move out of his room on the 23 of Jan 2010 (he's joining the Canadian (Armed) Forces as a military police officer, then the tank goes into "his" room.

I've been in and out of the hobby three times, this is my fourth time back. As you can imagine, I've owned all kinds of community tanks, big fish, little fish, kinky fish, slithery fish, salamanders, frog, etc. What I am saying is really my own personal philosophy, I'm just throwing it out there to give you yet another alternative.

I now prefer tanks that aren't all "fins." I want a tank set up that is really a relatively "spacious" (as spacious as 75 gallons can be) home for my new residents. I have also found it isn't the fish that get all the attention from visitors. I've owned great looking tanks and the visitors hone in on the large apple snails. Or they love the eel hiding in the substrate. For my 75 gallon this time around, I'm thinking 4 Bolivian rams (yes I have changed my mind about the red line torpedo barbs, they grow to large for my taste in a 75 gallon tank - all fins).

Since these rams will live mostly at the bottom of the aquarium, I'm thinking maybe three to four angels for the mid tank. That's about all I will put in the tank, with maybe a few of the smaller loaches that love to hide (I like surprises when the appear). Oh and I will add some very large snails and shrimp, I know those items will entertain the visitors more than the rams and angles.

I'm in another hobby - model railroading - and (yes I know you're wondering what model railroading has to do with the tropical fish hobby) the latest trend in track planning is - less is more. As you can guess, when a newbie comes into the train hobby, they want track everywhere, with lots of turnouts, etc. But over time, visually and operationally, it has been discovered that less is visually more appetizing than track everywhere.

This is my philosophy with aquariums currently. Yes I can have 75 inches of fish in the tank, but why would I want to; if I keep the stock down to around 35 inches of fish (at full maturity) the tank will be easier to maintain, require less water changes and less risky to leave in the hands of a newbie when I go away to work in Whitehorse Yukon for two months every summer.

The nice thing with small cichlids is they have a big fish personality in little fish clothing (this means lots of entertainment).

Here's a video of two Bolivian rams sparing (not my fish or tank):

YouTube - Bolivian Ram males sparring!
 
#14 ·
My 2 cents: Decide for sure what you want to stock the tank with and then design the tank around it, doing it the other way around could easily lead to regrets later on.
 
#16 ·
Why not, you can add plants to cichlid tank, looks pretty cool with the rock & greenery I think :)
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top