How many in a 180 gal tank.

[lazybug]

I have one tiger oscar now whos no more than an inch and a half id say but is growing pretty fast .

i want to buy 5 more oscars roughly the same size and maybe 4 blood parrots.

Both species as i understand can get pretty agressive, so would a 180 gallon tank give enough space for all of them to get along as the grow and mature, and ensure a happy comunity through out their life spans?? or should i just go for something bigger? i know that bigger is better but id rather have the 180 gallon instead. should i reduce the number to 4 oscars and 2 blood parrots?

any help at all would be really awesome!!

Bug

 

[Sombunya]

I've never kept Oscars but I have a 100 gallon tank (60" long, 24" tall, 16" wide) and it is the minimum size needed for my 4 six inch Bluegill, in my opinion. A 150 or 180 would be better. They need space.

 

[Mudfrog]

You could probably squeek by with 4 O's and 2 BP's in a 180 if you have a TON of filtration. Why not got with 2 O's and 4 BP's since BP's do not get as large as O's?

Secondly, what size tank do you have now? O's grow very very fast.

 

[lazybug]

i love O's, i really do, i saw one full grown in my grand mothers house and just fell inlove . My O Bashful is in a 55 gal now, and growing real fast and has easily come to being hand fed.

BP's on the other hand, since i got Jaws i dont really want more .. i have 2 BPs in another 55 gal tank .. a pink and very shy one i call Patience, and a real mean yellow one i call Jaws.. i got Jaws and Bashful on the same day about a month ago and i put them in one tank together,
Jaws inturn chased Bashful behind a fixture in the tank and wouldnt let him get out, even to eat . the poor thing was still tiny then and got so stressed out. so i had to seperate them.

then i got Patience and hes in the tank now with jaws, and i actually have to put my hand in between the both of them so Patience will get a chance to eat without Jaws bullying him out of his share and Jaws in the smaller one out of the two of them

thats why i want more Os and less BPs.

 

[lazybug]

i have a "plan" for the filtration, and it should cover biological machanical as well as chemical.

lets say i did cover it all.. would 4 Os and 2 BPs be ok? cause i dont want to look into the tank one day and find one of my sweetys dead due to lack of space

 

[Mudfrog]

There really isn't a cut and dry answer. It will ultimately come down to the personality of each fish. O's can be aggressive but I see them as a community fish, I would think 4 O's and 2 BP's would be ok in a 180g or larger, of course larger is better. How soon would you move up to the 180?

What is your idea on filtration?

 

[lazybug]

hmm... indeed, the personalities do play a part. and i have a feeling even if i got an aquarium as big as my villa, my BP Jaws would still bully everyone in it.

so i think im going to super size, maybe 200 gallons, and if i get real brave 600 gallons (though i doubt it) and keep the number of fish to a minimum.
ill have the tank made from acrylic, cause they mostly sell glass in this country and since just thinking about the weight of a 200 gallon glass tank gives me cramps.

and my so called "plan" for filtration is for one, if i dont find the size i need, ill fit 2 canister filters and maybe a matching bio wheel system depending on the type of canister. with the proper filtarte, i should cover all the filtartion precosses with the canisters alone and not need the bio wheel.

on the other hand i was aslo thinking maybe id just do a RUGF for the bio filtartion and a plain canister for machanical and chemical only. but i dont want the extra hassle that comes with any type of UGF

come to think of it.i might end up paying more for the filtration than for the tank.. but my fishies are worth it. think it will work?

 

[Mudfrog]

A 200g acrylic tank is going to be expensive so I don't think you'd spend more on filtration.

If it were me and I couldn't run a sump I'd run two FX5 canister filters and call it a day. Skip the UGF, they do more harm then good.

 

[lazybug]

i googled sump filters (didnt know about them till you mentioned them) and wow, they are really handy arnt they? ill try looking for one around here, if i dont find one ill stick to the canisters, might even give myself a project and try and make the sump myself since ill be getting the tank in about a month and i can have the tank modified for the piping. oh im so excited! (big idiotic smile on my face)

 

[Mudfrog]

Here is a sump I built for my 120g. This was my first sump so it was a learning experience. There are things I would definitely do differently and some things I still like. But it does an excellent job with my 120g. I'm using a Pondmaster 2400gph pump with it.

 

[Mudfrog]

Yes, I made this out of a spare 29g tank that I had.

Noise is the downside of sumps. They can be quite noisy and mine is a little loud although you get used to it. But for the filtering a large tank you can't beat them. There are ways to quiet them down and I plan on redesigning the next sump I do. It will be much quieter, easier to clean and I'll have a growout area for fry that will be planted so that will also help with nitrates.

As for the tank I have built in overflows. You can add overflow boxes or pipes but if you can get your hands on a tank with build in overflows that would be ideal. I have an overflow in each back corner and Durso Standpipes behind those.

You can see the overflows in this pic..

This pic shows the durso standpipes behind the overflows..

This pic shows the concept I used for my sump..

 

[Mudfrog]

It can get noisy, it depends on how well your sump is designed. This was my first attempt so I learned a lot and yes it is a little loud.

I didn't have to drill through the glass, it came with built in overflows, when a tank has built in overflows there are two holes drilled behind the overflow from the factory.

 

[lazybug]

ever expirence a flooding? i read they can happen... if i have four chambers ima need a small pump to get the water moving from one end to the other then another pump to get it back into the tank right. so from how i understand it, water goes over the overflow, down into the sump, filters out, gets sucked back into the tank, water level raises again and goes into the over flow, and so on and so forth. thus the continues water movement. interesting.
you think a sump made from my current 55g tank would be efficeint for my soon to be 200g? or should i make a sump out of a 95g instead?
ill do a little more research and get a design together for the sump and post it here to get some feed backs as soon as i can.

and everyone always told me fish were boring. seriously.

 

[Mudfrog]

Nope, some people have flooding because they use standard stand pipes. The durso stand pipes like I have will not allow the sump to flood, even under loss of power.

You only need one pump. To go from the sump to the display tank.

A 55g sump would be fine for a 200g with the stock list that you have specified.

 

[lazybug]

im going to have the over flow made, simple pipes put into the main tank at a certain level to garantee continous water flow. ill have shut of leavers in these pipes in case i need to stop the pump to avoid on over fill.

however i am curious, how does the water receive oxygen, is it because it is constantly moving, or will i need to consider throwing in an air pump, i originally wanted to add plants but i dont know, im not very keen on that. and one more thing im really curious about, where do i fill the water when i start to fill the tank to get it cycled? into the tank or into the sump??

i have a very rough scketch i made about how i want my sump to work, ill post it here when im done with it. let me know what you think.

 

[Mudfrog]

The water will receive oxygen as it drips down through the drip tray. In my pic the blue lines going over the pot scrubies is the drip part.

As for filling the tank add water to both the tank and sump. When I do water changes I turn the pump off and drain water out of the main tank, then fill the main tank.

 

[lazybug]

so basically.. it recieves oxygen as it goes through the bio medium, the whole trickle wet/dry effect correct?..

thank you so much Mudfrog.. you have been a real help.. hope i havent given you a bordom stroke from my endless questions...

bug

 

[Mudfrog]

so basically.. it recieves oxygen as it goes through the bio medium, the whole trickle wet/dry effect correct?..

thank you so much Mudfrog.. you have been a real help.. hope i havent given you a bordom stroke from my endless questions...

bug

Exactly, the water will oxygenate as it goes through the drip tray. This is much more efficient in oxygenating the water then a air pump or any other kind of filter.

No problem, I was in your shoes about 6 months ago so it's fine