125 gal tank start over!

[zarmalar]

So... My friend has a 125 gal tank in his basement. Just sitting there. It was saltwater before. I'm trying to convince him to go fresh so he can afford to start up again.
I need help giving him a stock list and set up to get his mind going. He likes gobies... And of course anything colorful! To prove fresh can be just as cool as salt.

 

[zarmalar]

Anything? The tank is drilled

 

[tamtam]

It's hard to offer a stocking suggestion without an idea of what he likes but there are tons of lovely looking fresh water fish you could suggest.

Rainbows
angels
Discus - though these can get pretty pricey so may be out for him.
Swordtails
African Butterflyfish
Leopard Ctenopoma
Denison Barb

There are some striking cat fish I've seen. Yellow bumble bee cat, moth cat fish, spotted and striped Raphael Cats. Twig Cats.

He would probably love Cichlids, they are so vibrant and he could have a great cichlid tank with 125 gallons.

Not saying these can all go together of course, some of the listed above are rather aggressive fish but it's something you can present to him and see if anything spikes his interest.

 

[mohican]

As for colors, gourami's and cichlids are the first 2 species that come to mind, initially.

 

[Fedex3d]

As for colors, gourami's and cichlids are the first 2 species that come to mind, initially.

Im with Mohican. The gouramis have some good coloring. The gouramis have a GREAT assortment of colors from white, yellow, red, blues and IMO are the best usually on pricing if your watching your budget.

 

[zarmalar]

Yea, I have a paradise gourami, very colorful! It's just... Honestly how many could I do in that size tank? I know males are nasty towards each other.

 

[Fedex3d]

With a 125g you could stock about 20-25 gouramis easily. With most reaching 6" each, you could easily stock 20 or 21 based on the 1" per 10g rule of thumb. If you add dwarf gouramis, you could add more with them only reaching 2-2 1/2" each. Right now I have a 125 stocked with 3 blue, 3 golden, 3 red dwarf, & picking up 3 moonlight today. I actually have a few males out of the mix, and they do well together for now (they are about 4"). With a tank that size with plenty of plants or hiding places, they seem to do pretty well together. Good luck with thw new tank. Keep us informed.

 

[emerald76]

With a 125g you could stock about 20-25 gouramis easily. With most reaching 6" each, you could easily stock 20 or 21 based on the 1" per 10g rule of thumb. If you add dwarf gouramis, you could add more with them only reaching 2-2 1/2" each. Right now I have a 125 stocked with 3 blue, 3 golden, 3 red dwarf, & picking up 3 moonlight today. I actually have a few males out of the mix, and they do well together for now (they are about 4"). With a tank that size with plenty of plants or hiding places, they seem to do pretty well together. Good luck with thw new tank. Keep us informed.

25 gouramis would fight to the death. 1-3 per tank is as much as any tank should have unless it is over 180 gals imo

 

[zarmalar]

That's what I thought... He says he likes Angel fish... So I'm gonna look into that too now. I'm bound and determined to convince him it needs set up!

 

[tamtam]

yea I def wouldn't do more than a handful of them. Female gourami are also very hard to find in most cases because they don't have the same stunning colors as the males.

If he likes angels you could do a really nice angel tank or mix it up some. There are lots of nice colorful fish that would go great with angels in a community. The larger tetras(none of the known nippers of course). He could do some dwarf cichlids with them.

Or again a total cichlid tank.

A few big schools of fish would be awesome in a tank that size.