46gal bowfront tropical semi-aggressive community

bassbonediva

bassbonediva

Superstar Fish
#1
Oct 15, 2009
2,010
0
0
Northern Arizona
#1
Well, this tank has undergone some major renovations recently. Since June or July of 2010, it had housed my coldwater community which consisted of one male ryukin goldfish, six white cloud mountain minnows, six gold barbs and six leopard danios. I finally got tired of it and decided to downsize my coldwater community a bit (moved it into my 29gal). So, I decided to have some fun with this tank. This tank isn't even anywhere near stocked or fully-planted yet. So, here it is.

Equipment:
-46gal bowfront tank
-46gal bowfront stand (woot woot! Found one for $25 at the LFS!)
-60W dual bulb T8 fixture (stock)
-AquaTech 30-60 filter (blah)
-200W submersible adjustable heater (no idea the manufacturer...I was lucky to find the wattage on it!)

Decor:
-Two 20lbs bags of CaribSea Tahitian Moon sand (LOVE this stuff!)
-Four skull decorations (jaguar, triceratops, crocodile and human)
-Wild-collected rocks and driftwood
-An orange/white/red rock my friend gave me for Christmas (long story)

Plants:
-Corkscrew val
-Cabomba carloliniana
-Frill/Foxtail
-Anacharis
(Many many more plants to be added as I have the funds)

Livestock:
-10 tiger barbs (don't have yet)
-2 kribs (coming in the spring)
-1 horseface loach (have)
-1 clown pleco (have)
-1 South American bumblebee catfish (don't have yet)
-1 zebra nerite snail (have)

I will be running DIY CO2 on this tank, as well (if it turns out I need it).

Anywho...here it is!



 

AquaticTim

AquaticTim

Medium Fish
#3
Nov 30, 2010
87
0
0
Wisconsin, USA
#3
I would upgrade the filter, OR keep the one you have and add another one.

The heater sounds big enough, but would get a decent thermometer in there and check to make sure it's at the ideal temp

Substrate looks great, I would try to make the drift wood and rocks and such into somewhat of a pyramid in the middle, leaving caves and whatnot and spread the skulls around it.. (but that's just me) What you have works just as well.

I like the plants, as long as they can stay healthy, I think any aquarium plants look good. I'm not big into plant maintence, so I like a low light, low maintence, yet healthy, slow growing planted aquarium. I just would prefer not to tinker with CO2.. But to each his own.

The clown loach (if still small) should be ok in there for a while, but eventually will outgrow even that tank. (I had one in my 55 when I first set it up, but believe me, someone on here will jump on you about that lol)

Kribs sound great! (but if they start mating, can be aggressive- though with these tank mates, probably not a problem.. just keep on eye on them.... if you see any fins nipped, these are the first guys I would watch)

Horseface loach, I know nothing about.. but look like they are really cool looking fish

SA Bumblebee catfish- know nothing about, but sounds interesting

nerite snail- it's a snail, what can I say.


(After reading through this, I just noticed who posted it! Am sure you probably have more experience than I do, so take these comments with a grain of salt.. Just throwing a bit of my experience/knowledge/what I've read out there as suggestions. But otherwise, sounds like a very interesting set up.. Mostly interesting species that not everyone has. I might try to add some type of small schooling fish (am sure you know many, but danios and tetras come to mind) just to add a little spice to the tank...)
 

bassbonediva

bassbonediva

Superstar Fish
#4
Oct 15, 2009
2,010
0
0
Northern Arizona
#4
unwritten law said:
bumblebee cat sounds boring... rest sounds fine besides that filter which sounds sucky...
Click to expand...
Yes, the filter is a POS, but it's what I have until I can get a canister for this tank (or get the one I have running).

As far as the SA bumblebee cat...I have had one and he was the most adorable thing EVER!

AquaticTim said:
I would upgrade the filter, OR keep the one you have and add another one.

The heater sounds big enough, but would get a decent thermometer in there and check to make sure it's at the ideal temp

Substrate looks great, I would try to make the drift wood and rocks and such into somewhat of a pyramid in the middle, leaving caves and whatnot and spread the skulls around it.. (but that's just me) What you have works just as well.

I like the plants, as long as they can stay healthy, I think any aquarium plants look good. I'm not big into plant maintence, so I like a low light, low maintence, yet healthy, slow growing planted aquarium. I just would prefer not to tinker with CO2.. But to each his own.

The clown loach (if still small) should be ok in there for a while, but eventually will outgrow even that tank. (I had one in my 55 when I first set it up, but believe me, someone on here will jump on you about that lol)

Kribs sound great! (but if they start mating, can be aggressive- though with these tank mates, probably not a problem.. just keep on eye on them.... if you see any fins nipped, these are the first guys I would watch)

Horseface loach, I know nothing about.. but look like they are really cool looking fish

SA Bumblebee catfish- know nothing about, but sounds interesting

nerite snail- it's a snail, what can I say.


(After reading through this, I just noticed who posted it! Am sure you probably have more experience than I do, so take these comments with a grain of salt.. Just throwing a bit of my experience/knowledge/what I've read out there as suggestions. But otherwise, sounds like a very interesting set up.. Mostly interesting species that not everyone has. I might try to add some type of small schooling fish (am sure you know many, but danios and tetras come to mind) just to add a little spice to the tank...)
Click to expand...
Just one point, Tim...I don't have a clown LOACH, I have a clown PLECO. lol BIG difference (clown pleco only reaches about 4" and mine is about 3" now).

As for adding a small schooling fish, I thought about putting my black neon tetras in there (that are in the 55gal now), but I kind of want it to be very minimal on the stocking. The tiger barbs are really the focal point of the tank, with the kribs being there to add a dash of color.

Oh, and all the plants I have are low light and low maintenance, so we're good there. I will be adding more plants to the tank, though. Especially some more anacharis and maybe some java fern.
 

bassbonediva

bassbonediva

Superstar Fish
#5
Oct 15, 2009
2,010
0
0
Northern Arizona
#5
Some pics of the fish that are in the tank. So far my horseface loach, clown pleco, SA bumblebee cat and nerite snail are in the tank. I got the SA bumblebee cat yesterday and he's absolutely TINY!! He's maybe 3/4" long. Sooooo adorable!

Kyron, the horseface loach:


Vidar, the clown pleco:


Nitro, the zebra nerite snail:

Grover, the SA bumblebee catfish:

 

AquaticTim

AquaticTim

Medium Fish
#6
Nov 30, 2010
87
0
0
Wisconsin, USA
#6
OH.. misread the clown thing! sorry lol. Otherwise everything seems great! When it comes to tanks and what to stock them with- everyone has their own ideas and opinions. I'm half hoping my guppies and platys stop reproducing and die off, or I can pawn them off on someone else and try something a bit more interesting.
 

bassbonediva

bassbonediva

Superstar Fish
#11
Oct 15, 2009
2,010
0
0
Northern Arizona
#11
Yep, that's Grover, my SA bumblebee cat. Haven't seen him since the day I put him in the tank...which is typical of the bumblebees. :p

Here's a pic of my previous bumblebee cat, also named Grover (yeah, he's the striped thing you can barely see lol):


I finally got the tiger barbs. I got ten, but two didn't make it through the night. The other eight are doing well, though. They're SO tiny!


 

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