80 gallon octagon tank

[Slurgee]

Hey! I'm new to the site, but am loving it already. I have an 80 gallon circular/octagon shaped tank. No fish as of yet, but am eager to get started. I want to keep it freshwater, with schools of colorful fish. Does anybody have any suggestions as to what fish would mix well, etc. My other dilemma is that because my tank is octagon shaped, it's very tall. I want to have some fish that swim at the top, some in the middle, and some at the bottom.
Any advice would be helpful...
Thanx!

 

[dskidmore]

Welcome to Aquarium Advice!!!

Do you have any previous experience with aquariums?
What equiptment do you have so far?

First, with a tall tank like that, you want to stick with smaller fish that won't mind having to turn around frequently, and you're going to need really good circulation or areation to keep the oxygen levels up to the point of being able to fully stock the tank.

If you're new to aquariums, or have been away from it for awhile, I recomend studying up on the fishless cycle. This may be a bit boring for starters, but it will allow your first fish to be the healthiest it can be, and broaden your choices for first fish.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/showquestion.php?faq=2&fldAuto=15

 

[dskidmore]

P.S. That link talks about saltwater, but the same method works with freshwater.

 

[SpaceButler]

This is a very lay-person answer to the 'swim position of the fish' question, but it's often reliable to correlate the position of the fishes mouth with its swimming preference. If it looks like it has an overbite, and the mouth points up, it will likely spend more time around the surface. Looks like an underbite with a mouth pointing down? -- it will swim lower more often. Fish with centered mouths normally run the gamut, and will populate the middle a good portion of the time.

PS, I've been out of this for a while, so if my info is mistaken, someone should set me straight.

 

[dskidmore]

True for downward pointers, catfish, etc. If it has a sucker mouth, it will spend time on the bottom. There are not that many species that have up-pointing mouths though, are there? I thought that was mostly behavioral prefrance.

 

[SpaceButler]

You're right. I don't think what I mentioned was all-inclusive. I was thinking of guarmi's (sp?), and a couple other tiny ones when I said it. Arowana's too, but that's probably too big to be in the tank even by itself I'd wager.

 

[crazycat]

(in my tank) the white clouds and blue tetras are top swimmers--white clouds stay small. hatchet fish are also top swimmers. my rummynose, glowlight, glass bloodfin, and red phantom tetras are middle swimmers as well as the praecox rainbows (which are nice b/c they only get to about 3"). loaches and plecos will stay at the bottom--although my kuhli loaches like to swim up and down the walls of the aquarium for fun. the denisonii barbs are all over swimmers.

hth

 

[Toirtis]

You say its tall, but what are the actual height/width dimensions of the tank?

 

[TomK2]

Welcome to AA!

I have had octagon and hexagon tanks like that before! Very attractive. However, since the surface area at the top of the water is small compared to the volume of the tank, aeration is a good thing as your stocking level increases. Also, I sure hope you like wet elbows! You probably will need to go in up to your armpit if you ever want to manipulate anything on the bottom.

First off, you have to establish a biologic filter, commonly known as cycling the tank. This can be done using bottled ammonia as an ammonia source, or using fish as an ammonia source. Using fish requires lots of time and patience, and very few fish. Not recommended if you are not patient. But if you want to read about it, check out:

http://home.comcast.net/~tomstank/tomstank_files/page0017.htm

Please also read the articles section of AA, and any other cycle links you run into. This is the most critical aspect of starting up a new tank.

 

[dskidmore]

First off, you have to establish a biologic filter, commonly known as cycling the tank. This can be done using bottled ammonia as an ammonia source, or using fish as an ammonia source.

There's also the raw shrimp starter and the fish food starter if you can't get your hands on lab grade ammonia for your fishless cycle. Using fish is not recommended, especially if you have small children that will not take it well if their first fish dies.

 

[TomK2]

dskidmore-

check out my link above. a child would also not derive much pleasure from a giant lifeless test tube for a month. I am not against fishless cycling, but I am not against doing it responsibly with fish either. If your bioload is low, using an amount of fish that generate ammonia slower than bacteria grow, you can acheive the same results - establishing a biofilter without subjecting fish to ammoni or nitrite. I actually find bottled ammonia more scientifically interesting, but I have done it with fish more often. But I have been VERY patient when doing so.

 

[dskidmore]

I won't say it's impossible, but I think it's just as difficult and patience requiring as the fishless method, with more drastic consequences for doing it wrong. I think someone who has run fish tanks for a long time and is familiar with the ins and outs of the nitrogen cycle can do this. My last tank was in fact done this way. (75 gallon tank, one fish transferred in per day, lots of fast-growth plants to take up excess nitrogen compounds. Ammonia and nitrite remained at 0 throughout.) I just don't think it's good advice for beginners.

Another method of handling cycling with fish is the prime/aquamel method, where you test for free ammonia instead of total ammonia, and add an ammonia binder to reduce free ammonia to 0. Again, this takes decent knowlege of chemistry to get the correct dosages of ammonia binder. I would not advise this for beginners either.