Questions about my 75 gal tank.

[Mustangman11224]

Hey all... I'm getting a 75 gallon tank hopefully Tuesday in one piece the first one which came Saturday was broken :/ but I have a common pleco and a rainbow shark which will be in this tank. My first question is. What is a good home for my
Pleco that he can have for a while and not outgrow. Would it b something like a big peice of driftwood because I have a small
Log for him now in my current tank but I feel like he's going to out grow it soon... He loves going underneath and staying there.. Also is there another fish I could Put with a rainbow shark l, or are those the only two I should keep in there.... The rainbow shark Seems to only get aggressive around feeding time but thts why I'm moving him out of my 36 gal my guppies and tetra and constantly chased when they go
To eat. And lastly I am doing a black sand for the bottom of my tank after I add the water and should I let the sand settle for a day befor turning on my filter... I have seen many people do sand in there tanks and how cloudy it is at first. But I never new if they turned the filter on while it was like that... I don't wanna clog my filter. Lastly. Should I but a chunk of that cycle media so that I can cycle my tank quickly... What's the fastest way to cycle this tank... My 36 gal took a couple months.
Thanks for all the help
Dan

 

[henningc]

Dan,

I'm taking it you're asking can you put any other fish in the 75 with the pleco and rainbow shark? The answer is yes you can add additional tank mates. You did not say how large the two fish are, but if you have a large group of guppys and tetras in the smaller tank the shark is likely fighting to get any food at all. All the motion in the water doesn't help either. I have never had a rainbow shark act aggressively in a tank, but then again I always matched tank mates that were as large as the rainbow shark.

I would think there are a number of fish combos you could add to the pleco and shark. First of all there is nobody home at the surface level so you could go with a couple of angels, a nice gourami or two, large swords, ect.......... In the middle, nobody home there either, you could go with some larger tetras, rasboras, danios (Celestrial Danios) odessa barbs, ect....... The top and the middle fish need to be compatable, so just make up a list and ask here for guidance. On the bottom, there are a number of things you can do. First, shrimp and crayfish are OUT due to the shark. Corys of the larger variety would work and so would an additional shark. Loaches or eels would be a good beat if you stick with types that get large enough.

Plecos love to hide and people love to see them, do you see the issue here? You may wish to get some all natural flat landscape stones and form some structures that allow the fish to hide and you to see at the same time. You could also add drift wood, but I would do a DIY and take the time to find the right pieces to add to the stones. It makes for great aquascaping and the fish will love it. The pleco also need wood to digest properly. The shark will actually act like a rainbow shark should. As for sand, don't use substrate so I couldn't tell you.

 

[Mustangman11224]

Wow thanks so much... I will make a list for stocking and post it up. I saw some slate kits on amazon, I'll probably get that and I'll look around for the right piece of driftwood. I have to look for a better lfs around me because I currently have a small petco like 15 mikes from me and they have a very small aquatic section. Thanks for all this help!!!