180 Gallon Tank - No Idea What to Stock With!

[bribo12]

You'd be fine mixing the Angels and dwarfs like apistos with African river fish like Congo tetras.


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[Scottyhorse]

Sounds good, what about catfish? Never kept anything other than Cory Cats, so would like to try a different type of catfish (though I do want a shoal of Panda's )

 

[bribo12]

Hoplo catfish would be cool! Or one of the smaller synodontis species


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[bud29]

Sounds good, what about catfish? Never kept anything other than Cory Cats, so would like to try a different type of catfish (though I do want a shoal of Panda's )

A shoal of pandas would be neat in a 180g.....you would need a lot though

I am a huge fan of boesemani rainbows, but they are on the more expensive side of things. Honestly though, I think you will probably end up spending quite a bit of money either way you go, just because of volume. Tetras aren't too expensive, until you buy 80 of them I do think something like angels/cardinals/rummies/apistos/corys would be cool on a large scale.

 

[Scottyhorse]

A shoal of pandas would be neat in a 180g.....you would need a lot though

I am a huge fan of boesemani rainbows, but they are on the more expensive side of things. Honestly though, I think you will probably end up spending quite a bit of money either way you go, just because of volume. Tetras aren't too expensive, until you buy 80 of them I do think something like angels/cardinals/rummies/apistos/corys would be cool on a large scale.

I would imagine I would need a lot, how many are we talking here? 40? That would be awesome... I'd just need to buy them in smaller groups at a time I think.

Bosemani rainbows are cool, but at $11 a fish, it's expensive. I know I will spend a lot either way I go, but I would like to stay on the lower side of a lot

How many apisto's could I keep in this tank? Depending on type, I can get juvies pretty cheap on aquabid, but multiple types would be fun. Same with angels... I think the tetras, cory cats, and whatever else I add will be the most expensive part.

I also need to decide if I want this tank planted or not- so far almost all of my planted tanks have been failures. I'm afraid of spending all the money on plants, etc. for them to die.

 

[bettaowner]

Another bottom feeding option would be emerald cories better known as brochis splendens. They're bigger than most cories but aren't that attractive in my opinion. If you were willing to pay a lot of money, I'd say go with a group of weitzman corydoras.

 

[ScaryFatKidGT]

I wouldn't go with the bala sharks. A planted rainbowfish tank would be nice.


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Why not? in a 180 they should be fine.

Just looked up the price of rainbow's... Oh boy, they are expensive. I don't think i could afford to fill a tank with those.

How much? My LFS wants $11 or $12.99, I got 2 then 3 more, will probably get a few more when I get my big tank.

Would it be possible to mix South American and African fish species?

Yeah just not cichlids haha

 

[Ynotony]

When u go to buy try liveaquaria that's where I buy from the most

 

[bettaowner]

Bala sharks are really skittish I wouldn't keep them in a tank of that size. They're like pelagic fish in the sense that they are constantly moving.


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[bud29]

I would imagine I would need a lot, how many are we talking here? 40? That would be awesome... I'd just need to buy them in smaller groups at a time I think.

Well, you can keep 6 in a 10 gallon, so I would say you could easily do 60-70 in a 180g.

I think you could maybe do some type of low light stuff, like crypts, java ferns, and anubias. Easy to keep and hard to kill I think a community tank like you're planning would seem a bit odd without plants.

I would say you probably could do 8 apistos or so, possibly even more.

Why not? in a 180 they should be fine.

Even if they do fit, having big fish like that really decrease your other stocking options.

When u go to buy try liveaquaria that's where I buy from the most

I've heard good things about the quality of liveaquaria fish, but their mandatory $35 overnight shipping is a turn-off to some people. Many freshwater fish can be shipped via priority (which is around $10-$15). I like buying from wetspot, they have very good selection like liveaquaria but cheaper shipping options.

 

[bribo12]

School of 150+ celestial pearl danios !


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[Scottyhorse]

Well, you can keep 6 in a 10 gallon, so I would say you could easily do 60-70 in a 180g.

I think you could maybe do some type of low light stuff, like crypts, java ferns, and anubias. Easy to keep and hard to kill I think a community tank like you're planning would seem a bit odd without plants.

I would say you probably could do 8 apistos or so, possibly even more.

I've heard good things about the quality of liveaquaria fish, but their mandatory $35 overnight shipping is a turn-off to some people. Many freshwater fish can be shipped via priority (which is around $10-$15). I like buying from wetspot, they have very good selection like liveaquaria but cheaper shipping options.

Well if I can keep 60-70 panda cories (which would be AWESOME) I just ought to buy a group of 6-10 and breed them myself No way will I buy that many cories Plus, breeding would be fun

Alex you are mistaken, I have killed java fern, crypts, and brought anubias to the brink of death

 

[Fishfanboy]

Maybe try hornwort and duckweed

 

[Scottyhorse]

Never again will I put duckweed in an aquarium..... It takes over too fast

 

[bud29]

Well if I can keep 60-70 panda cories (which would be AWESOME) I just ought to buy a group of 6-10 and breed them myself No way will I buy that many cories Plus, breeding would be fun

Alex you are mistaken, I have killed java fern, crypts, and brought anubias to the brink of death

I think breeding them would be fun (not to mention more cost effective). Sure beats paying $300-$350 for a big shoal.

It takes skill to kill an anubias I think the closest I came was overdosing N in my emersed tub, to the point where NO3 levels were around 300 ppm and all the plants were getting burns. But, it still pulled through very well

 

[Scottyhorse]

I think breeding them would be fun (not to mention more cost effective). Sure beats paying $300-$350 for a big shoal.

It takes skill to kill an anubias I think the closest I came was overdosing N in my emersed tub, to the point where NO3 levels were around 300 ppm and all the plants were getting burns. But, it still pulled through very well

Plus, when breeding them, I could always sell some juvies as well.

As you know, I am very skillful I do reeeally want a successful planted tank.

 

[fishenthusiast]

A school of 20+ Threadfin Rainbowfish would be stunning! You could get some small fish and have huge schools of them. That'd be cool looking if you're going to plant it up ?


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[Scottyhorse]

So, I can't decide if I want to do a lose South American biotope (lightly planted, not super scaped) or a more heavily planted and scaped tank with mixed region fish and plants.

 

[Zactheninja]

No one has said south American chiclids? I saw angles but you could go the bigger fish route and get red hooks, sevs, geos, festivums, and chiclids of that nature.

Or no one said arowana...

 

[Scottyhorse]

I've been thinking about those as well, but I also want angels and some apistos/rams, and you can't keep all of those together as far as I know..