I need 75g. recommendations!

[MiamiE]

1. Tank size - 75 gallons
2. Current filtration (2) AquaClear 500's (Keeps tank MINTY fresh)
3. Type of substrate - Dont know what to go with yet, sand or gravel?
4. pH of your water - Tank is not cycled yet.
5. What type of fish you like the most - TROPICAL!

What are some recommendations for decorations and fish. 75 gallons is by far my biggest tank yet, and I can put a bunch of fish in this tank. I am looking for some advice on what tropicals and amount of them I can have in a 75 gallon. Thanks!

 

[black hills tj]

75 gallons is a lot of room to play with. did you have anything in mind that you were looking for?

 

[MiamiE]

I was thinking about a school of neons, some gourami's... I dont know much about tropical fish thats why I created the thread. I kept cichlids all my life. No tropicals though.

 

[JDogg]

a lot of little fish or a few big fish?


what kinds or fish do you like the most? Catfish, Cichlids (New or Old World?), Tetra, Labyrinth fish, ...?

here are some examples...

i have 3 75 gallons

1 is a lake Malawi Cichlid tank

1 is a planted S. American community tanks with Dwarf Cichlids, Angel fish, small tetras, cory cats, ...

and the third i am in the proccess of setting up as a Eartheater tanks with a school of some kind of yet to be determined tetra

 

[MiamiE]

NO cichlids in this tank. All South American tropicals. Basically a lot of little tropical fish.

Oh and that GBR in your avatar is beautiful. At least I think its a GBR!

 

[JDogg]

NO cichlids in this tank. All South American tropicals. Basically a lot of little tropical fish.

Oh and that GBR in your avatar is beautiful. At least I think its a GBR!

actualy he is a bolivian ram, bigger cousin to the GBR

 

[Blazeherd2306]

My recommendations (going for an Amazonian theme here):

Decorations
driftwood
sand as substrate
a few rocks
fake amazon swords and few other plastic plants (I'm assuming you don't want a planted tank)

Fish
Neons
Cories
Hatchetfish
Bristlenose plecos (or other small plecos or otos)
Rummynose tetras
Black Skirt tetras (or maybe some rainbowfish, even though they aren't South American)

 

[MiamiE]

That list looks nice. How about some angelfish? I want to stay away from driftwood. It tends to taint the water real nasty!

 

[theotheragentm]

I definitely like Corydora Catfish for the floor of the tank.

Harlequinn Rasboras are my fish of choice for a schooling group as they stay small.

 

[lyquidphyre]

My 75gal currently has:
1 Red Tailed Black Shark
4 rummynose tetras (my favs!!) I plan to get that school up to about 10 or 15
6 Harlequin Rasboras
5 Emerald Green cory cats

I used to have two angel fish but they passed away.. but I plan to get two more down the road. Also, I had golden barbs and serpae tetras at one point or another and I really like thosed as well.

I would like to add those two angels, more rummys, maybe a dwarf gourami and some GBRs.

I had hatchet fish before and the one thing I didn't like about them is, because they are top dwellers, I never saw them because my canopy went down over the front just enough to cover the top 1/2-1in of the tank (where they swim).

I think its important to figure out if you want a tank with lots of little fish, a few big fish or a little bit of both.

 

[MiamiE]

1 Red Tailed Black Shark
6 Harlequin Rasboras
8 Neon Tetras
4 Angelfish
5 Hatchets

What size fish would these be? I know the shark can get somewhat large and the angels also, but what about the hatchets?

Is this to many fish for my tank?

 

[Blazeherd2306]

That list looks nice. How about some angelfish? I want to stay away from driftwood. It tends to taint the water real nasty!

I completely forgot about angels.

In that case, replace the neons on my list with angels (neons are small and big enough angels will make snacks out of them), and that would make a nice setup.

Some driftwood will leach tannins, but even if that happens, frequent water changes and carbon would combat it. I've never had problems with driftwood bought from my LFS leaching tannin into my tanks.

You could add some more hatchets and angels onto your list and it still wouldn't be overcrowded.

You could add some cories as well (or loaches, preferably the smaller types).

 

[MiamiE]

How does this look?

1 Red Tailed Black Shark
6 Harlequin Rasboras
8 Cardinal Tetras
4 Angelfish
5 Hatchets
5 Ottos

Can I add anything else?

 

[Blazeherd2306]

It looks good, but I wouldn't mix neons and angelfish. One or the other.

You'd still have room either way.

 

[MiamiE]

What could I substitute in the neons place?

 

[black hills tj]

If you are looking for a substitute for the neons, I'd go with cherry barbs. I love cherry barbs. The males are gorgeous and the females are pretty too. If you want to see an example look at LandGhoti's pics in the photo forum.

 

[fish 'n' fries]

What could I substitute in the neons place?

Cardinal tetras look very similar to neons but are bigger. They'd be my vote.

 

[Jchillin]

no cichlids in this tank. All South American tropicals. Basically a lot of little tropical fish.

Since you've given in already (Angels are cichlids), why not toss in some nice Bolivians or GBR's? They are pretty small SA tropicals.

 

[MiamiE]

I think I will go with some cardinal tetras that are bigger and wont get munched on!

 

[nycfatcow]

depends on your budget... but....
decorations
driftwood, stone gravel perhaps for the natural look? and some fake plants or some easy real ones....you could add a nice bubbler.... i thought that looked nice when i had a large tank...
Fish
rainbows...VERY COLORFUL you can get a nice school of those
neon rainbows... smaller very easy to care for

the selection is pretty much your decision... i would walk about a fish store and write down the name of a particular fish that your interested in and research it at home.... Then when you know more about them... buy other fish that are compatible with them...

and a nice clean up crew