Newbie here first time 150 gallon tank

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pogoforeman

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May 23, 2012
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I just started back with my fish. I used to have a 30 gallon and we just purchased a new home so we bought a 150 gallon for the living room and a 55 gallon for the master bed room. I set up the 150 about two weeks ago. I seeded the tank with mollies and platties for one week also some chemicals to add my bactiria to the tank. My bottom is sand and I placed large bolders for attraction. I have two heaters running to keep the water temp at 78 degrees. I have a aquaclear 110 and 70 running with bio filters added to them and also a power head. The fist I put in theis wekk are: 1 Freashwater Dolphin, 1 Moray eel, 2 bala shartks, 1 green spotted puffer, 2 spotted catfish, long nose sucker sturgin, 2 freshwater flonders, and the 9 mollies and platties. I am looking for something to add color to the tank any suggestions? Here is the tank with out the canopy on it.

IMG-20120521-00161.jpg
 
Unfortunately I don't know enough about those fish to recommend what to keep with them. Very interesting stock though. I hadn't even heard of a freshwater dolphin. Very cool man and congratulations on getting going again and the very nice tank
 
If you want to add color you can always get more breeds of Molly. Like a dreamsicle, Dalmatian, maybe even add some endlers. Now that I noticed you have mollies and platies I would assume other tropical fish would work so that's why I suggest the endlers. There's someone in the classifieds of this forum selling a pure strain of them right now. If you didn't know they are some form of pure guppy and recommended not to be kept with guppies to preserve their pure bloodline. They were recommended to me at one point and are very colorful
 
Nepherael said:
Unfortunately I don't know enough about those fish to recommend what to keep with them. Very interesting stock though. I hadn't even heard of a freshwater dolphin. Very cool man and congratulations on getting going again and the very nice tank
Click to expand...

The only freshwater dolphin I know is the African cichlid Malawi blue dolphin (Moori). LOL
 
I think I would hold off on color for the immediate future and watch the parameters. Even with seeding from a bottle (which, in my experience, is hit or miss), going from zero to that level of stocking is going to put a strain on your bio filtration. I also think, for that size of tank, you will find you a underfiltered. That is about box label filtration and I think you will find that most people are going to tell you to shoot for 3-4 times filtration level, depending on stocking. For example, I have an AC 50 on my 10 gal and the flow isn't too much for the fish.

You are also pretty much across the board on water conditions. That moray, the green spot, and even the mollies are brackish while the rest are true fresh. If the "dolphin" is really a Moori, then you are also dealing with hard water lovers vs some softer water species.

And is that a true sturgeon? If so, I'm worried that even a 150 wouldn't be big enough for the balas and sturgeon.

My honest advice is to take a bit of a breather. Get a good liquid test kit and monitor your parameters for a couple weeks, make sure you are truely cycled. Ask questions on here, dig in some of the interwebs, look at some pictures, even cruise aquabid...get a feel for the direction you want the tank to take. You can get tons of color whatever direction you go, but it will be easier with a plan rather than a random pull from columns A, B,and C.

Personally, if I had a blank canvas of a 150, I would go with rainbows or african cichlids, just in terms of color options and scale.
 
I'm curious, you said you have prior experience in the 30g range. I've never kept anything bigger than a 40 breeder. Have you noticed any considerable differences, other than just scale between the 30/40 range and 150?
 
Thaks for all the info.

I do find it more of a challenge due to the type of fish we have dicided to raise and a little harder to complete water changes.

I will try and get a few pictures of the freswater dolphin, moray eel, and flounders tomorrow
 
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