50g tall tank - Flowerhorn cichlid or Oscar?

[mosdurf]

After moving my tropical community to a 75g standard tank, I have an empty 50g tall. It is 32'' tall by 18" wide and 18'' deep.

I wanted to get one, centerpiece fish for the tank and was thinking of a Flowerhorn cichlid or an Oscar.

Are those tank dimensions suitable for either fish?

 

[Mebbid]

is that 32" tall or wide? If the 32" is the height of the aquarium then no, neither of those will come close to fitting in there.

Otherwise, if it's 32" wide it would work for an oscar for about a year at the very most, I'd say no to a flowerhorn.

 

[mosdurf]

32'' tall and 18'' wide. It's a column type of aquarium.

Thanks. I thought so, but wanted to confirm. Any thoughts on stock for a tank like that?

 

[Mebbid]

I wouldn't stock it any heavier than a 30g aquarium at max. Angels would work well in there. Other than that small schooling fish.

 

[enrgizerbunny]

I'd pay attention closely to regions top/middle/bottom dwellers if you want to maximize your stocking, but a light stocking means easy cleaning.

 

[UABsleeperSRNA]

Yeah i agree your tank would probably not be a good fit for the oscar or fowler I have a 40 gallon tall similar dimensions just not quite as wide and i have a couple of angels which i think are beautiful.. angelicas botia loach, dwarf gourami, Neon tetra's and plan on getting a german blue ram and i love the setup.. with your size tank you may could get a couple of discus.. 2 or 3 but the experts recommended keeping 5.. but that's up to you! good luck!

 

[Mebbid]

Yeah i agree your tank would probably not be a good fit for the oscar or fowler I have a 40 gallon tall similar dimensions just not quite as wide and i have a couple of angels which i think are beautiful.. angelicas botia loach, dwarf gourami, Neon tetra's and plan on getting a german blue ram and i love the setup.. with your size tank you may could get a couple of discus.. 2 or 3 but the experts recommended keeping 5.. but that's up to you! good luck!

All good ideas, except for the discus. There's nowhere near enough room for them.

 

[UABsleeperSRNA]

Mebbid I agree that it may would be a little tight for 5 or 6 discus but most places that i have read recommend a tank of about 9-12 gallons of water per 6 inch discus so if one was to get 2 or maybe 3 that would mean your tank would need to be at least 24-36 gallons.. i do agree bigger is always better and you may run into aggression issues with a 50 but with good filtration and close attention to water parameters i think one could be successful but again this is just my opinion probably not worth a ton as i have never kept discus

 

[Mebbid]

Mebbid I agree that it may would be a little tight for 5 or 6 discus but most places that i have read recommend a tank of about 9-12 gallons of water per 6 inch discus so if one was to get 2 or maybe 3 that would mean your tank would need to be at least 24-36 gallons.. i do agree bigger is always better and you may run into aggression issues with a 50 but with good filtration and close attention to water parameters i think one could be successful but again this is just my opinion probably not worth a ton as i have never kept discus

It really has nothing to do with tank volume. The reason that its not a good tank for discus is the dimensions. Fish don't care about vertical swimming room but instead need lateral swimming space or side to side room. The tank that we are talking about has the same amount of floor space as a 15 gallon tank which is unacceptable for a sensitive semi aggressive large fish like a discus. A tank that size is also very limiting in the number of fish it can hold as the oxygen exchange is very poor.

Stocking guidelines of gallons per fish really only applies to standard shaped tanks.

 

[UABsleeperSRNA]

True True I guess I completely looked over the fact that is tank is only 18 inches long

 

[Luananeko]

You could go with fish that are better suited for lower oxygen environments. Gourami and cory cats all gulp supplemental oxygen from the surface, so they would handle the odd dimensions better than more oxygen dependent dwellers. Otherwise, Angels do well in tall tanks like that.

 

[Mebbid]

You could go with fish that are better suited for lower oxygen environments. Gourami and cory cats all gulp supplemental oxygen from the surface, so they would handle the odd dimensions better than more oxygen dependent dwellers. Otherwise, Angels do well in tall tanks like that.

The only problem I see with that is that 32" is a lot of water to swim though to get to a gulp of air. The gourami wouldn't be an issue necessarily but corys are bottom dwellers.

 

[Luananeko]

The only problem I see with that is that 32" is a lot of water to swim though to get to a gulp of air. The gourami wouldn't be an issue necessarily but corys are bottom dwellers.

True. Corys are pretty good swimmers though, so as long as you don't have a lot of overhangs and such for them to get stuck on along the way up then they may be ok. I wouldn't do frogs or any clumsy bottom dweller for sure though. Might be best to stick to gourami and angels just in case.

A bubble wall and HOB filter will assist in aerating the water for other fish too. Even so, understocking would be best.