best tank set-ups

[limnologist]

So I was thinking of listing out a ton of good, compatable fish, plants, tanks, lights, ect for newbies and regulars who are looking for good ideas. Some input anyone? Im gonna stay along the lines of natives, crustaceans, and an angelfish tank.

Missouri Creeks tank:
-40 gallon wide tank
-bottom dwellers(Orange-throat darters, Black bullhead, golden crawfish)
-mid dwellers(bluegill, creek chubs, common shiner)
-top dweller(mosquito fish)
-Plants(Duckweed, Fanwort, canadian pondweed)
_substrate(large tan rocks, tan-brown gravel, sand)

Cherry shrimp Tank:
-10 gallon wide
-Bottom dwellers(cherry shrimp, Nerite snails)
-Mid dwellers(neon tetras)
-top dwellers(guppies, endlers guppies)
-plants(dwarf hair grass, melon sword plant, java moss)
-substrate(black sand, driftwood according to looks)

Bamboo shrimp tank:
-20 gallon long
-bottom dwellers(clown plecos, Ghost shrimp, Nerite snails, bamboo shrimp)
-mid dwellers(Dwarf gouramis, angel fish )
-top dwellers(platys, mollies, guppies)
-plants(Bamboo!! a forest of bamboo placed in front of the filter output, Dwarf Hair Grass, amazon swords)
-substrate(Black gravel, moss balls)

Angelfish tank:
-40 gallon tall
-bottom dwellers(cories, sailfin plecos, ghost shrimp, nerite snails)
-mid dwellers(angels)
-top dwellers(sword fish, guppies)
-plants(sword plants, corkscrew vallisneria, anubias)


These all worked pretty well for me and looked amazing when in their prime.

 

[Namar]

Funny my 20gal almost matches your suggestion and it is a good set up, mine just needs some tweaking but its close.

In my tank: 1 Dwarf Gourami, 10 neon tetras, 3 Otocinclus, 1 Bamboo shrimp and 2 Juli Corys. I'm currently trying to get rid of the corys so I can get more shrimp.

 

[sinibotia]

Problem with your 40 gallon Missouri Creeks tank: What if you live nowhere near a missouri creek? In general the problem with "cookie cutter" native tanks is that the availability of the fish is very limited. I could probably come up with a Maine "cookie cutter" native tank except that the laws on collection of native fish here are very strict, so no one without a permit could set it up. I do like the overall idea though.

 

[limnologist]

Problem with your 40 gallon Missouri Creeks tank: What if you live nowhere near a missouri creek? In general the problem with "cookie cutter" native tanks is that the availability of the fish is very limited. I could probably come up with a Maine "cookie cutter" native tank except that the laws on collection of native fish here are very strict, so no one without a permit could set it up. I do like the overall idea though.

I like the idea of aquarium keepers keeping mainly native fish whether you live in hawaii, missouri, texas or maine, ect. because it helps the aquarists grow a certain respect and love of the native animals and maybe it can help people understand how certain things they do (dumping pets, spreading plants, killing natives) can really mess up the system unless theyre careful.

 

[sinibotia]

Don't get me wrong, some of my favorite fish I've kept have been native fish. but in some places like maine it's insanely impractical due to strict regulations.

I had a pumpkinseed sunfish in a 55 for several years and he was my favorite fish while I had him. His passing was arguably one of the saddest moments of my life

 

[limnologist]

Don't get me wrong, some of my favorite fish I've kept have been native fish. but in some places like maine it's insanely impractical due to strict regulations.

I had a pumpkinseed sunfish in a 55 for several years and he was my favorite fish while I had him. His passing was arguably one of the saddest moments of my life

yea thats a shame, there are some really beautiful natives in maine waters.

why did he pass?

 

[sinibotia]

yea thats a shame, there are some really beautiful natives in maine waters.

why did he pass?

That particular fish was actually from CT when I still lived down there. But I've caught some GORGEOUS native fish up here. Trout in particular.

No idea what killed him but he was far too young and small, and the only fish in a 55 gallon tank, so it must have been some kind of disease that I missed. Water quality was fine. It was very sudden.

 

[limnologist]

That particular fish was actually from CT when I still lived down there. But I've caught some GORGEOUS native fish up here. Trout in particular.

No idea what killed him but he was far too young and small, and the only fish in a 55 gallon tank, so it must have been some kind of disease that I missed. Water quality was fine. It was very sudden.

Ive always wanted to keep trout.....never got around to it tho....

hmmm thats too bad. maybe it was just stress? usually when theyre small they like to school.

 

[sinibotia]

I doubt it was much stress, he was in part of the house where I was the only one who went there at all. And he was like a little puppy, he always looked very happy especially when someone would come see him.

Don't keep trout, they're too big and they need really fast, cold, clean water. Tons of oxygen. Really awful aquarium fish, I've had to do fishcare for them at the university.

 

[limnologist]

I doubt it was much stress, he was in part of the house where I was the only one who went there at all. And he was like a little puppy, he always looked very happy especially when someone would come see him.

Don't keep trout, they're too big and they need really fast, cold, clean water. Tons of oxygen. Really awful aquarium fish, I've had to do fishcare for them at the university.

darn, thats strange, random and unfortunate at the same time.

thats exactly why i want to keep them tho! imagine the challenge they will pose against me!

 

[sinibotia]

You will need a MASSIVE tank with a MASSIVE amount of flow. And a chiller. You realize how much that's gonna cost? The system our trout were in was flowthrough, so they were getting constant cold completely clean water, and they STILL died a lot.

I would feel bad putting trout in anything less than a 200 gallon tank with like 2500 gallons per hour water turnover.

 

[limnologist]

You will need a MASSIVE tank with a MASSIVE amount of flow. And a chiller. You realize how much that's gonna cost? The system our trout were in was flowthrough, so they were getting constant cold completely clean water, and they STILL died a lot.

I would feel bad putting trout in anything less than a 200 gallon tank with like 2500 gallons per hour water turnover.

EXACTLY B)

there's gotta be a loophole with their care tho.....every fish species has one.

 

[sinibotia]

Yeah but no loophole is gonna get you out of the tank size and flow rate you'll need. It would be AWESOME to keep them but I could never afford it. If you want to see an awesome trout tank, LL Bean has one.

 

[sinibotia]

Here it is!

 

[limnologist]

Yeah but no loophole is gonna get you out of the tank size and flow rate you'll need. It would be AWESOME to keep them but I could never afford it. If you want to see an awesome trout tank, LL Bean has one.

This makes me think of a famous scientist/pet hobbyist whose name (to my disliking) is not used enough on this forum. His name was Konrad. Z Lorenz.
I read one of his books and in the book he had a few chapters about advanced aquarium care, in those chapter he wrote about his methods of keeping aquariums and various methods his friends used. his general method of set-up and care was to use a wide, short tank filled with soil and plants with very few animals. he never used filtration or heating.....I forget what they call that method. Once, in his book, He referred to a man who owned a jewelry store and inside that jewelry store was a 20 gallon, 10 inch tall tank filled with vegetation and one fish. according to Lorenz, the fish was a rainbow trout and it happily lived in the tank for 26 years.....no idea how that worked tho.......anyways, im always up for a serious challenge (I was actually considering getting a baby paddle fish)