Suggestions for Starting up my FW Collection

[Herps and fish]

Hi guys! New here, but certainly not to the exotic hobby! I've kept animals since I was 2 years old and don't plan to stop any time soon.

I'm currently at college right now, and once I am completed with school and have a steady business going (planning on starting a law firm), I want to have a big boom in my collection. I currently have a pufferfish and a pair of leopard geckos living with me, and a rabbit/dog/3 cats living back at home. However, before this I had TONS of animals - birds, monitors, snakes, racks upon racks of FW aquariums, a few reef tanks, a shark tank, and eventually I had to slim it down to my leopard geckos and then the puffer tank I set up last Christmas for myself, as money got tight and my parents didn't want to care for all of them. So don't flame me for wanting to get a bunch of animals at once, lol.

I am looking for suggestions of animals to add to my collection once I have the money and space - mostly cool-sounding tanks, biotopes, some cool fish (FW and salt) - everything. I had a huge list planned out, but eventually I toned it down a bit so that it would be a bit more simple. I'll list those for you guys, and I have pictures of what I would like them to resemble if anyone wants to see those.

First up is a 75 gallon, probably for a pair of oscars (I used to keep a breeding pair and can't wait to get new ones)
Next up would be a 29 gallon, with live plants and a bunch of community fish - I can elaborate if necessary
Next on my list is a species I've never had before - piranhas. I want to set up 2 75 gallon tanks, one with 5 or so caribe piranhas (cooler than RB's imo) and one with a black piranha
Next would be another 75 gallon, this one housing a flowerhorn cichlid
Next would be a tank for some sort of aquascape, with mainly tetras and some rasboras mixed in
Next would be a 20 long for breeding IDPs (indian dwarf puffers)
I would have to have a 5 gallon with a betta in it, just because these guys are amazing

Onto some monster tanks...

First would be a 180 for a lungfish - I used to keep one of these in an indoor pond, but never really got to see them from the side - it would be interesting to be able to regularly watch one from the side
Next would be a 300 gallon custom build (I used to have a few big plywood builds) with a mbu puffer in it - I actually used to have one of these in my African cichlid tank, but it obviously outgrew it quickly and he found a good home
Next would be a 1,200 gallon custom tank (10x4x30) for a bunch of south american cichlids as well as a few catfish
Last but not least would be my dream tank - all big monster fish in a 5,000 gallon tank. It would probably be concrete for the sake of structural soundness, but possibly fiberglass/plywood.

If anyone can think of another cool tank idea, I'm open to them! After all, with becoming a lawyer, I'll be making big bucks so I can get some big tanks

Keep an eye out for posts in the SW and reptiles sections too later, probably tomorrow because it's late.

 

[Pseudomugil]

OMG that is the craziest collection of fish I have EVER heard of! That's amazing that you're interested so much in these animals.

You should do a huge brackish tank with mangroves in it. For fish you could do dragon gobies, mono argentus, mono sebae, scats, hogchokers, mudskippers, archerfish...
So basically like a big mangrove swamp tank. Idk if the mudskippers and hogchokers are all totally compatible with the other fish (I'm not a brackish expert) but with research I'm sure this would be an awesome tank.

Also, Mbu puffers are brackish fish in case you didn't know .


You should also totally keep an octopus. They're are awesome but I don't have the skills or money for keeping one .

 

[Herps and fish]

OMG that is the craziest collection of fish I have EVER heard of! That's amazing that you're interested so much in these animals.

You should do a huge brackish tank with mangroves in it. For fish you could do dragon gobies, mono argentus, mono sebae, scats, hogchokers, mudskippers, archerfish...
So basically like a big mangrove swamp tank. Idk if the mudskippers and hogchokers are all totally compatible with the other fish (I'm not a brackish expert) but with research I'm sure this would be an awesome tank.

Also, Mbu puffers are brackish fish in case you didn't know .


You should also totally keep an octopus. They're are awesome but I don't have the skills or money for keeping one .

The brackish tank sounds like a great idea! I'm pretty sure mudskippers will be fine with other fish, as will hogchokers. Maybe something like a 210 would be a nice size.

Mbus can handle freshwater and brackish water - I believe they are best kept in fresh, but I may have to check. Thanks for the heads up though

I haven't done my post in the saltwater thread yet, but there will be something on there that's a 210 gallon for a giant pacific octopus. I used to have an "assorted octopus" back when nobody really knew how to keep them, but it died within a few weeks. Now, people know lots more about keeping them though, however they are still hard!

 

[ImACoolguy]

Wowzers what a list....

I do believe if I recall correctly that Mbu are indeed freshwater.

I'd also suggest a 6 foot 125g+ for the Flowerhorn and Oscars. Both those tanks got some big fish and Oscars especially make tons of waste. Many keep one Oscar alone in a 75g solely because of its large waste production. Adding sumps to these tanks will provide extra water volume as well as great filtration.


Caleb

 

[Pseudomugil]

You should also do a round jellyfish tank. Jellyfish are so cool! Maybe do freshwater ones since they don't sting...

I hope you post pictures of these tanks in the future. I would love to see them.

 

[Herps and fish]

There are as of now, 2 more freshwater aquariums that I am interested in setting up. One is a planted discus tank, maybe a 65 gallon - they've got a nice shape to them. Either the 65 or the 75 gallon. Can anybody suggest some cool-looking discus?

Aside from that tank, I want to set up a nano tank. Sort of. More like a 33 long (that's got 4 feet of swimming space!) with nano fish inside of it. I love most of the colorful little nanos, and I would probably have a mix of scarlet badis, pygmy sunfish (maybe), chili rasboras, neon blue rasboras, ruby red tetras, sumatran blue neon gobies, red cherry shrimp, maybe some CPDs, some red-lined killifish, crystal red shrimp, and blue tiger shrimp. This may require a larger tank, another 40 long might be better suited to house these guys if I decide to go with larger schools.

There is actually a third idea I've had, and that's a tank for ropefish. This tank would probably be another 75 gallon (I could've easily gone with a 55 gallon but there's not too much of a difference in price for an extra 20 gallons, so why not?). The 75 will allow me to keep around 5 ropefish if I'm not mistaken, and if i heavily filter I may even be able to get some African banded barbs for the tank, along with an African butterflyfish. There's going to be lots of fake plants and lots of bogwood in here, with a large open center section.

 

[Herps and fish]

Wowzers what a list....

I do believe if I recall correctly that Mbu are indeed freshwater.

I'd also suggest a 6 foot 125g+ for the Flowerhorn and Oscars. Both those tanks got some big fish and Oscars especially make tons of waste. Many keep one Oscar alone in a 75g solely because of its large waste production. Adding sumps to these tanks will provide extra water volume as well as great filtration.


Caleb

I agree on the larger tanks for the cichlids. 125 gallons are probably better choices, because I used to have an oscar in a 72 bow, and he was pretty well off, however 2 may have been a bit much. 125 gallons gives 6 feet which is 2 more than a 75, so they'd probably be much better off.

I am planning to have all of the tanks that don't have CO2 injections running with dual sponge filters in each, and they will all be drilled and running on a single air system. There will also be a mixing station to dechlorinate large amounts of water, and they are all going to be drilled (well at least the big ones) so that at the turn of a ball valve, I can drain 12-15% of the tank. I'll have to use a python for any more than that, but to do water changes all I will have to do is turn a switch, give it a few minutes, and all of my tanks will have been drained and can be refilled.

They're also all going to have glass lids to keep humidity levels down in the room, all of the drains in the tank will lead outside to a garden, and there will be heavy insulation in the tanks so that there is barely a need for any kind of heaters, or anything too massive that is. If they are all hooked up together, that means the big ones will have about 950 gallons of water all connected, and that doesn't include the 1,200 gallon, the 5,000 gallon, nor the planted/aquascaping/nano tanks - those will probably run on AquaClears for versatility. If they are all run on a sump, the 950 gallon system will have a 210 gallon turned into a sump bringing the volume up to nearly 1,200 gallons, there will be no sumps for the planted tanks, the 5,000 gallon will probably have lots of large-volume external filters along with a 360 gallon sump, and the 1,200 will probably have a 180 turned into a sump for it. The SW tanks will all have sumps as well.

I'm really aiming for a wide variety of cool species (with an even mix of predators and colorful fish), a simple somewhat automated system, and a cost effective system as well as some nice-looking tanks.

 

[Herps and fish]

You should also do a round jellyfish tank. Jellyfish are so cool! Maybe do freshwater ones since they don't sting...

I hope you post pictures of these tanks in the future. I would love to see them.

I'm not sure about doing jellies or not. I have definitely thought about them, maybe something like sea nettles or even box jellies if I could get my hands on them (there's a guy for everything ) but the only thing I don't like is the bare tanks. Once the fish room is established, I might look further into them but for now I'm going to pass with them.

 

[Herps and fish]

I almost forgot the pond!

It will be 6,750 gallons, which is going to be an above-ground pond, constructed of a thick cinder block frame with a liner, and a sunshade over it and netting around it to keep inhabitants in and anything else out (it won't last long if it gets in!). The fish in here will be an arapaima, a RTC, a RTC/TSN hybrid, as well as a few species of schooling fish for dithers. It will be 20 feet long by 10 feet wide, and half of it will be 4 feet deep with the other half reaching 5 feet. Hopefully this is big enough but I can make it bigger if it's too cramped. Keep in mind that most arapaima don't get over 5 or 6 feet in captivity.

There will also be 200 gallon preformed ponds off to the side for live plants that will help filter the water.

 

[Herps and fish]

Last post for now, I promise

For the brackish tank, a 180 gallon with a large water section and small island/mangrove section would be pretty awesome. I'm thinking 6 fiddlers and 6 mudskippers for this area. The rest of the tank can have 3 mollies, 5 glassfish, 10 celebes rainbowfish, 6 knight gobies, 8 bumblebee gobies, and 2 orange chromides. That would actually be a cool tank.. to the drawing board!

 

[CowMoo]

You should get a manatee tank XD

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[Herps and fish]

You should get a manatee tank XD

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For real though... don't tempt me!

Manatees are awesome!

 

[Pseudomugil]

Yeeees I love manatees!

You should do a kelp forest tank with leafy sea dragons and sea stars.

 

[CowMoo]

A California tidepool tank.

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[Nils]

Hey! Bit late to the party but just wanted to say that this is one of the most impressive and assorted lists I've ever seen! What kind of puffers did you have beside the mbu puffer? I've got 2 dwarfs and I love them! A cool puff that you could get is a fahaka puffer, get huge and are completely freshwater too.

 

[Herps and fish]

Yeeees I love manatees!

You should do a kelp forest tank with leafy sea dragons and sea stars.

I tried getting leafy sea dragons once, thousands of gallons and thousands of dollars and probably thousands of hours to get a license for them doesn't sound fun

 

[Herps and fish]

A California tidepool tank.

Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Aquarium Advice mobile app

Sounds like a nice idea... any stocking suggestions? I'm in NC, so maybe I'll do a NC one but cool idea nonetheless

 

[Herps and fish]

Hey! Bit late to the party but just wanted to say that this is one of the most impressive and assorted lists I've ever seen! What kind of puffers did you have beside the mbu puffer? I've got 2 dwarfs and I love them! A cool puff that you could get is a fahaka puffer, get huge and are completely freshwater too.

Thank you! I currently have a figure 8 puffer in a 2.5 gallon (he's freaking tiny, and the 10 gallon he was in crashed a few days ago so I've gotta start it back up). On the stock list, I have a 20 long for a colony of 1 male and 4 female Indian dwarves, along with a 300 gallon (probably a plywood tank) for a mbu puffer. I've looked at the fahaka, but I'm not sure how many big puffers I can handle

 

[Pseudomugil]

I tried getting leafy sea dragons once, thousands of gallons and thousands of dollars and probably thousands of hours to get a license for them doesn't sound fun

How about sea horses then?

For the tide pool tank you should do bat sea stars, azure damsels, sergeant majors, long spine urchins...

 

[Herps and fish]

How about sea horses then?

For the tide pool tank you should do bat sea stars, azure damsels, sergeant majors, long spine urchins...

That'd be awesome. I've got a post in the SW section as well. Go ahead and check it out.

I was planning on a seahorse tank, probably like 40 gallons but I think it'd just get boring eventually - no real activity, and they don't do too well with very active fish.