I'm Back Baby!!

[baron1282]

Hey guys, as maybe some of you know I was into Saltwater, unfortunately life caught up to me and I had to take my 120 gallon saltwater down. I'm not ever going to go that big again, but someday I am going back to salt.

So I had a problem. I have a 120 gallon tank just sitting there collecting dust. What to do?

I have all the equipment so I decided to throw together a big freshwater tank! Right now I got two filters on with one more filter being added. I got two Marineland filters. The Emperor 400 and the Penguin 350 which puts me at 120 gallons of filtration. They say they can do 160 gallons (90 for the 400 and 70 for the 350), but I am cutting 30 off. I am also going to add Fluval 206 canister for extra filtration power. Being I want to put big fish in, I need the filtration!

So what do I plan on adding into my tank? Nothing much really.

2 Silver Dollars (I already have in my 29)
1 High Fin Pleco (Again, already have in my 29)

I am going to let them go for a few months to get big, before I put in four more fish that I want.

2 Tiger Oscars
2 Texas Cichlids (Last in the tank, so I hope that will curb their aggression).

I am not worried about the Silver Dollars and the Oscars being I have seen it done many times before, but the Texas Cichlids do make me worry. They are just good looking fish thou, and I heard good and bad with the type of tank I am setting up.

My tank is going to be ALL rocks and maybe a fake plant or two, but for the most part it's all rocks and the bottom is Qickrete sand. The sand looks nice because it's more natural looking for a bottom than just play sand! I also like the Big rocks I had. I already cleaned and belched them and let them sit out in the sun! They have not been used for a long time being I was going to use them for my reptile set up, but they were just to big for what I had in mind.

I know cichlids like rocky environments, so I hope they will like my tank! I will have pictures up soon! Just glad to be back with a project! I don't plan on putting any fish in for a week. Just letting it cycle and than I will add a bottle bacteria and some seeding from my 29 gallon.

 

[Pseudomugil]

Sounds like a nice, big, aggressive tank! There are so many options with such a large tank.

Sorry you had to take down your salt tank

 

[baron1282]

It's ok, my Salt took forever to put up and take down. This tank literately only took me thirty minutes to set up.

So it's much easier, and it will be a cool looking tank! So I am looking forward to it!

 

[Freakgecko91]

Truthfully, a 120 is barely big enough for a pair of oscars due to their high bioload.

Also, South American cichlids (Texas aren't south American, but the oscars are) tend to prefer driftwood and plants (depending on the species, oscars will rip them out) rather than rocks. I like to use rocks as accents, but driftwood is always the centerpiece.




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[baron1282]

Thanks for the advice. I am going to drop the Texas cichlids all together as I think they will cause too much trouble for my tank. I'm buying two more Silver Dollars instead.

I got a lot of rock caves, and I'm going to add even more caves for the fish.

I disagree that a 120 is too small for two adult Oscars. My tank is 120 long, not tall. It's not a guarantee that two adults can live together in a bigger tank, but many people say a 75 is minimal for two adults. I disagree with the 75 for two adults, but I have seen it work out many times without issue. As far as stunting a fish growth in a 120 long, there is no way that can happen. Both fish can get to adult size and have plenty of space to swim and be happy.

 

[RackinRocky]

i have to agree with Freakgecko that a 120 is still too small for a pair of Oscars. I personally would not do it. For a fish that gets that big, and has that big of a bio-load, I would feel sorry for them, as they wouldn't be able to really swim the way they were meant to, and water quality would deteriorate quickly if you didn't do FREQUENT water changes. Everyone has different opinions, but I couldn't stand to see them in anything smaller than a 200 gallon.