100(110) Gallon stocking
 

Alright, this is a bit premature I guess, since I won't be putting water in it until start of the new year, but I guess it is useful to know what fish I want in there in order to put the right substrate and plants/etc. So, I just bought a used 100 gallon (measurements come up to 110 gallons, so which is it?) It's 72 x 18.5 x 19 3/8

So... lets talk. I'm thinking that I don't want to keep 100 little fish in this tank, I'd like no more then 10? fish. In my dense skull, I was thinking along the lines of 3-5 fish that are good size, but won't out grow this tank. I'm not buying a bigger one, so they have to fit and play well together.

Water is soft, 3 drops on an api test (in the 70s on ppm for both Gh and Kh).
Ph - 7.8 unless I change it

I'm going to buy a Rena XP4 after Christmas for filtration, and maybe throw in a sponge filter or two I have around.


So have fun with this...

Rainbows have been suggested, but I kinda wanted something a little more docile (slow moving)
Maybe a bigger gourami (Moonlight)?
I guess if I'm feeling really generous I could take the two gouramis (one is a dwarf) from my sister to help her situation, but I don't think that's gonna make me happy.

Thanks for the help in advance!

John

Woo hoo! 110 Gallon Tank, exciting. Fun to set up and stock!!

There are so many fish you can put in a six foot tank! I guess it's just a matter of which fish are best for your water conditions. I'm no expert on that.

Is it going to be a planted tank?

I have a Rena XP4, works great so far. Good water flow, stronger than I was expecting with that brand. People are always commenting on my strong flow. The XP4 will be plenty adequate for the 110. Some people will recommend a back up filter (I run two on most of my tanks). I run an HOB with the Rena, but I needed more filtration anyway, it's not just a backup. I also like that the HOB breaks the water surface for oxygenation, and I like the sound of an HOB. I know it drives some people crazy, but our whole house sounds like it. The last time we have a power outage it was eerily quiet.

I'd like to plant it, but it's just going to depend on the fish that get chosen...

I know I should get a second filter, I will eventually, but if the Rena goes down, I got plenty of filtration on the 75 that I could switch over, I also have a slew of smaller HOBs sitting around that I could put on there for emergency purposes.

I planted my big tank and it did limit the fish I could keep. That's why I was wondering.

I love it though, I'm glad I went that way. Sometimes I curse the plants when I see a fish that I can't keep because they're plants eaters, but the pros outweigh the cons, in my case anyway.

If you were willing to lower the Ph, you could get ~6 clown loaches, amazing fish that grow to around 10-12" and would be fine in your tank, and ~6 discus, great and more amazing fish.

You could then try and get 10-20 cardinal tetras and use those in order as dither fish, and cardinal tetras are some great fish in order to help your fish feel better.

Goodluck man!

I say I'd like to plant it, but that's a lie really, I don't care if it has live plants or not, as long as it doesn't look terrible.

I agree, plants do limit the various fish that you can keep, however, plants are very useful. Also, another thing is that plants help simulate the natural environment of the fish which is your goal in fish keeping.

I would recommend planting it, it looks a lot better if you focus on it, and is significantly better for your fish.

It specifically recomends not keeping discus with clown loaches in the clown loach profile. Discus are peaceful fish and clown loaches can be quite active. Also, clown loaches like more water flow than discus, I believe (I could be wrong on that).

They are both beautiful fish though. Personally, I think it's better to stock according to your water conditions, than to try and make your water conditions fit your stock. Well, maybe not better, but easier. Obviously if you really wanted a certain fish it would be worth it to you to make your water fit the species, when possible.

For the record, I just started with lives plants a few months ago. It was WAY easier than I thought it would be and now I wish I hadn't wasted all the money on fake plants in my tanks, as now I am in the process of switching them all to real plants. So I paid twice. With the exception of my silver dollar tank, I am going to go planted in all of them.

I have crappy (in some cases old) T8 lights or LEDs on my tanks. I use liquid ferts and tabs (the tabs last months I think), and tell the girl at the LFS to just show me low light plants (there are lots), they are growing great. As I said, I am shocked at how easy it has been. And I just use regular old aquarium gravel. I'm one of those guys.

Yea, I'd rather not go all drastic and try to change the water so much. Though I do like Discus, they are pretty fish, but that's a lot of water tampering to get it suitable for them. What else ya'll got?

P.S. Just got back from the pet store with new fish, was good timing on my part, I got them straight outta the packing boxes, he just bagged my fish in a new bag for me, they never touched their water at the store at all.