Thoughts on a bottom dweller species tank?

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icydeath

icydeath

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Hey guys it's been a while! Schools been keepin me down... XD

Anyways, I was thinking of setting up a decent size fish tank once I move, been saving up for a while. Probably going to be a 40B, 75, or if I have the room something bigger.

I've been watching a lot of King of DIY (Aquariums) for a while now and I've been liking the way his rays are looking in grow out 240 he has set up. I know I won't be able to house anything large enough for rays (well maybe not.. what size tank could the smallest specie of ray THRIVE in?) but I have really started to like bottom feeding species over the others in general.

What are some medium to large (reasonably for a 40B or 75; so no RTC lol) bottom feeders that would like a relatively barren or completley bare bare bottom? I was thinking 2-3 senegal bichir. Or possibly some dojo loaches. Maybe a pleco tank? Personally I am really enjoying the way species tanks look and would like to keep it to one species.

Thoughts?
 
I'm no expert, but you could probably have plecos and Bichers in a 75
But that's my 2 cents, and that and a dollar will buy you a cup of coffee
 
I would go with loaches, personally. I have a 75 community that includes 6 botia kubotai and 5 kuhli loaches. I would love to have clown loaches as well but I don't want to have to give them up once they outgrow the tank. Most loaches are energetic, playful and fun to watch, in my opinion.
 
Hmm alright I will look into it. Thanks for the idea man. :)

I bet they would enjoy eating the pond snails I plan on breeding for a Dwarf Puffer.

From what I've seen I am really enjoying looks of the botia type loaches.
 
Take a look at geophagus or shell dweller cichlids. They could be entertaining options as well. I second the loaches suggestion as well, my loaches are complete clowns :)
 
I am always on board with loaches. I used to keep cories, but now that I have loaches, I don't think i will ever go back to cories in any new tanks.
For a loach that looks cool but doesn't grow to the size of a monster, check out botia striata (aka zebra loach). Also, the yoyo is another. Let us also not forget the pictus, the hoplo, or syno cats. :)
I cannot help you with the ray suggestion. I have never kept any. I am not sure if they pose any threat to worm shaped bottom dwellers like a dojo loach or not.
For a pleco, I suggest looking into the rhino pleco or the green phantom They are both spendy, but also both amazing. That is just personal preference though.
 
I thought the big one was a chunk of wood!


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That must be a huge tank. He says that big fish is over 2ft long in the comments. All those Panaque in one place will insane once they start to get bigger.
 
Hmmm, obviously don't have all the details on the pleco tank so witholding judgement, but from what I can tell in that video it seems extremely overstocked. That 2ft pleco could really use more space to stretch it's fins, and that many plecos have a HUGE bioload... I hope they have a massive sump/filtration system backing the tank up.
 
If the 2 footer has managed to get to that size the owner must be doing something right.


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CCXGT said:
If the 2 footer has managed to get to that size the owner must be doing something right.


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Click to expand...

Not saying they're doing anything wrong.. just looks daffy. . Many people have managed to grow a 16" common pleco in a 10 gal tank.. many....

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CCXGT said:
If the 2 footer has managed to get to that size the owner must be doing something right.
Click to expand...
Because the fish is alive?

The real problem I see here is that most of those currently small fish are not full size and I saw at least 6-8 that will reach 2ft each. TO be fair, there is no way to tell from the video if the owner has a plan for this eventuality. He may.
 
dalto said:
Because the fish is alive?

The real problem I see here is that most of those currently small fish are not full size and I saw at least 6-8 that will reach 2ft each. TO be fair, there is no way to tell from the video if the owner has a plan for this eventuality. He may.
Click to expand...

Exactly... Back when I was young and had no clue what I was doing with fish, I had a common pleco in my 29g tank... I had to rehome at 3 or so plecos within the span of 2 years because they kept outgrowing my tank (pet store was happy to sell a common pleco to a kid). I only changed the water when it got green usually every 6 months, rarely did very much gravel vacuuming, and didn't even know what nitrates were nor how to test them. Knowing what I know now, I can almost guarantee I wasn't caring for that pleco properly, but it still grew plenty big without any problem. The fact that a fish is not dead and is growing is not necessarily a sign of health and proper care.
 
Luananeko said:
Exactly... Back when I was young and had no clue what I was doing with fish, I had a common pleco in my 29g tank... I had to rehome at 3 or so plecos within the span of 2 years because they kept outgrowing my tank (pet store was happy to sell a common pleco to a kid). I only changed the water when it got green usually every 6 months, rarely did very much gravel vacuuming, and didn't even know what nitrates were nor how to test them. Knowing what I know now, I can almost guarantee I wasn't caring for that pleco properly, but it still grew plenty big without any problem. The fact that a fish is not dead and is growing is not necessarily a sign of health and proper care.
Click to expand...


Does this guy seem like the kind of guy that cleans his tank every 6 months?

Look at it, it's spotless, he's got a couple grand worth of fish in there and if you look at his other videos it seems he has multiple tanks.

I'm not saying that it's a conventional way of doing things but it's working for him and whatever he's doing appears to be going well.

To add to this... I'm sure it says somewhere that he's Chinese, you know for a fact that their fish-keeping culture is different over there.


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CCXGT said:
Does this guy seem like the kind of guy that cleans his tank every 6 months?

Look at it, it's spotless, he's got a couple grand worth of fish in there and if you look at his other videos it seems he has multiple tanks.

I'm not saying that it's a conventional way of doing things but it's working for him and whatever he's doing appears to be going well.

To add to this... I'm sure it says somewhere that he's Chinese, you know for a fact that their fish-keeping culture is different over there.


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Click to expand...

As I said earlier, I'm withholding judgement as I don't know all the details about his setup. My example about the water changes every 6 months was simply to make the point that just the fact that a fish is growing is not proof alone that they're doing something right.

From the fact that his tank is spotless, I'm more than willing to hope that he's got a massive sump/filtration setup going to help balance the bioload he's got going on in there. If not, it's possible that this is not a permanent tank and is a short term setup only. Either way, I don't have all the details, and I'm willing to hope for the best.
 
Let us try to make sure to stay on topic on of the OP's tank and not stray too far into the overstocked pleco box please. Everybody is just doing fine, just a preemptive warning that we don't want to clog the OPs thread too much.
 
Last edited:
Haha thanks absolutangel

That pleco tank was interesting, but I definitely would feel bad for a 2ft fish in that large of a tank even if it was well taken care of. Specially with the amount of fish that are still growing in there.

Anyways, I think I will look into a loach tank for sure. Maybe one of the species of botia, I like those.

Any other ideas?
 
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