72gal Bowfront Suggestions

[ltldrgn13]

Hello,

I'm not really a beginner but would like others thoughts on this set-up. I have a 72gal bowfront that has been runing for about 3 months. Cycle has completed. We have tons and tons of caves and natural decor.. so there are at least 18+ different hiding places that I can come up with.. the tank also is heavy planted (fake plants). The current fish have been added only a few at every other week.

Right now we have 2 (2 inch) bala sharks, 2 (.75 inch) red-tail sharks, 1 (2 inch) rainbow shark, 1 (2 inch) cat fish shark, 4 (1.5 inch) zebra danios, 1 chinese algae eater and 5 (0.5 inch) white clouds. Yes I know that the bala sharks and cat fish shark will out grow this tank in time, when this happens they will be moved to my friends 500 gal tank.

I have been thinking about adding some more zebra danios and white clouds, some barbs, gouramis, and maybe some mollies, swordtails and some tetras. I know in time I will need to add either a plecos or another chinese algae eater to help control any algue growth.

What are your thoughts, suggestions, comments, etc??

Thanks.
Venus

 

[Paccula]

from what I hear, when CAE get big they loose their taste for algea, and become boisterous and agressive and knock decorations over and stuff. I'd go with a pleco
I'd get a few more white clouds and zebra danios, definately

 

[snakeskinner]

the pleco holds the reputation for knocking things over but the chinese algae eaters (in my opinion) shouldn't even be sold. I can't think of a more worthless fish because not only do they not clean algae well at all, they become extremely aggressive towards any other fish in the tank. Any docile or slow fish will have holes on their sides before long from the CAE chewing on them and sucking off the slimecoat. they especially love goldfish if you were to mix the bunch. I'm not real sure what a catfish shark is but most catfish when larger become good predators so don't bother with any smaller fish like small tetras, rasboras, etc. The danio's and whiteclouds might be ok due to their speed and where they hang out but you'll find out in time if they start disappearing. the red tails could also become aggressive after awhile so keep an eye out. I recently tried some skunk botia's which are a very similar fish and they would attack my rainbows, congo tetras and angelfish in a planted 65 gallon. They even ripped the nose off my corydoras. The bala's won't necessarily outgrow the tank as long as you keep the stocking levels low. they grow to about a foot long, the trouble is that they are an extremely timid fish unlike their shark name implies and like to be in groups. This is where your 72 becomes somewhat of a hinderence since a large group would definitely outgrow the tank. If your friend has a 500 and is willing to take them, check and see how many he'll take. If possible, try to add 4-5 more small bala's and pawn them off once they reach a little over 6" in my opinion. Since you have fake plants, a regular pleco will be fine as long as you don't mind re-burying plants and straightening any decorations that aren't really tough. The tanks I keep regular pleco's in are the only tanks that are prettymuch algaefree other than hair algae. Bristlenose will take care of brown algae but no taste for green. In my opinion, I would take the CAE back, get a regular pleco (be sure to feed the pleco veggies because they're not just cleaners), some more bala's if your friend agrees with the plan I mentioned, and keep an eye on the other "sharks". If you start to see them chasing the danio's/whiteclouds then I wouldn't bother with the tetras, mollies, gourami's etc. See if you can get a scientific name for the catfish shark and someone can give better advice as to what's gonna happen. Most "sharks" are basically a carp, others might be a loach/botia. The only catfish I can think of that is referred to as a shark is the irredescent shark, Pangius (not sure how to spell it) shark,among other names. They remind me of a hammerhead shark without the extensions on the head. If so, these get very, very, very big and will eat everything in your tank before long. Another fish that has no business in the trade unless you've got a 500+ gallon. good luck, Kyle

 

[ltldrgn13]

Update

Well first the cat-fish shark is also known as the Columbian Shark if that helps.

Second I added a few more fish... here is what we added 3 (0.5 inch) green Barbs, 3 (0.5 inch) Tigar Barbs, 3 (0.5 inch)Gold Barbs and 2 (0.25 inch) freshwater Drawf Puffer fish. In the next round or two starting in about 2-4 weeks we plan to add 3 albino tigar barbs, 3 cherry barbs, some more zebra danios, and maybe some swordtails to add more color. (small groups at a time of course) Oh ya sometime this week I think we will be getting a plecos because small amounts of algae are showing up. We are goign to be very picky for here on out because we don't want to over stock to fish tank, as all of these guys grow up and become their max size and the bala and cat-fish sharks move to a new home. lol

SO right now the total count is:

2 (2 inch) Bala Sharks
2 (0.75 inch) Red-tail Sharks
1 (2 inch) Rainbow Shark
1 (2 inch) Cat Fish Shark
4 (1.5 inch) Zebra Danios
1 (2.0 inch) Chinese Algae Eater
5 (0.5 inch) White Clouds
3 (0.5 inch) Green Barbs
3 (0.5 inch) Tigar Barbs
3 (0.5 inch) Gold Barbs
2 (0.25 inch) freshwater Drawf Puffer fish

Everyone is getting along great.