Considering an 80 gallon ...

Best literature you can find on bows in the rml -- Rainbowfish Mailing List. That's where the bowhead pros like Gary Lange, Adrian Tappin (Rainbowfish Home), Harro Hieronimus (author of several bow books), Peter Unmack (who is currently working on rainbowfish DNA), Christophe Mailliet, Dave Wilson (President of ANGFA) and a zillion others.

Here's the mailing list, but I don't know if you can view posts without joining:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/r_m_l/

Here's a link to the archives:

http://www.peter.unmack.net/archive/rml/index.html

HTH
Roan
 
Roan Art said:
Best literature you can find on bows in the rml -- Rainbowfish Mailing List. That's where the bowhead pros like Gary Lange, Adrian Tappin (Rainbowfish Home), Harro Hieronimus (author of several bow books), Peter Unmack (who is currently working on rainbowfish DNA), Christophe Mailliet, Dave Wilson (President of ANGFA) and a zillion others.

Here's the mailing list, but I don't know if you can view posts without joining:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/r_m_l/

Here's a link to the archives:

http://www.peter.unmack.net/archive/rml/index.html

HTH
Roan
Click to expand...

Thanks,
One more question ...

How many bows can i fit in my 80 gallon? >>;
Should I mix species?
 
twig said:
Thanks,
One more question ...

How many bows can i fit in my 80 gallon? >>;
Click to expand...
Depends on the size of the bows ;)

What footprint are we talking about here? 80 isn't exactly a "standard" size. In my 75gs 48x18x20 I have:

Tank 1: 14 Boesemani. 7 Adults 6 sub adult and 1 unsexed fry. These guys can grow to 5" if they live to 5+ years.
Tank 2: 14 Melanotaenia affinis, Pagwi Local, Goo obo Falls. Not sure of male/female ratio. I haven't really counted yet. They are sub adults. Will grow to 5"+
Tank 3: 9 Glossolepis wanamensis, three or four males, five or six females. Juvies. They will grow to about 4", probably bigger if they live long enough.

Bows are a little like clown loaches. They will take a year to get to "adult" size, but they do not stop growing. So that size you see on the web of "3 inches max" is only for SOME year old Boesemani. They will continue to grow as long as they live.

Julie Zeppieri, on the rainbow list, has been keeping Boesemani for 10 years and she had a 9 year old bow that she called "Evil Old Man". He was almost 6" in size. He also killed anything she put in his tank, so he had to live alone. She lost him recently in a move, so he didn't even die from "natural causes".

FWIW my Boesemani adults are 3.5" and not quite a year old yet.

Should I mix species?
Click to expand...
NO! :D

I am not a big advocate of mixing bow species. I've kept bows mixed and with community fish and IMO and IME they do much better and behave more "naturally" if they are in large schools with their own species.

You may also have some aggression factors if they are mixed. It really depends on the individual fish you get because you usually, unless you buy from a reputable breeder, have no idea where they come from.

Roan
 
Last edited:
Roan Art said:
Depends on the size of the bows ;)

What footprint are we talking about here? 80 isn't exactly a "standard" size. In my 75gs 48x18x20 I have:

Tank 1: 14 Boesemani. 7 Adults 6 sub adult and 1 unsexed fry. These guys can grow to 5" if they live to 5+ years.
Tank 2: 14 Melanotaenia affinis, Pagwi Local, Goo obo Falls. Not sure of male/female ratio. I haven't really counted yet. They are sub adults. Will grow to 5"+
Tank 3: 9 Glossolepis wanamensis, three or four males, five or six females. Juvies. They will grow to about 4", probably bigger if they live long enough.

Bows are a little like clown loaches. They will take a year to get to "adult" size, but they do not stop growing. So that size you see on the web of "3 inches max" is only for SOME year old Boesemani. They will continue to grow as long as they live.

Julie Zeppieri, on the rainbow list, has been keeping Boesemani for 10 years and she had a 9 year old bow that she called "Evil Old Man". He was almost 6" in size. He also killed anything she put in his tank, so he had to live alone. She lost him recently in a move, so he didn't even die from "natural causes".

FWIW my Boesemani adults are 3.5" and not quite a year old yet.

NO! :D

I am not a big advocate of mixing bow species. I've kept bows mixed and with community fish and IMO and IME they do much better and behave more "naturally" if they are in large schools with their own species.

You may also have some aggression factors if they are mixed. It really depends on the individual fish you get because you usually, unless you buy from a reputable breeder, have no idea where they come from.

Roan
Click to expand...

Alright.
I'll keep you updated on what I do.
 
iam going to be getting a similar setup hopefully a minimum 75gal-90gal depending on what kinda deal I can get on the tank, I will build the stand and lighting fixture myself, I hope to get the tank used, and then buy my filters, and accesories separatley, keep me updated on what your final product is and let me know how it works out, mainly on what filter you use and how it works out, thats the most trouble Iam having right now.
 
Just an FYI on the weight thing...a US gallon and an imperial gallon are not the same thing. A US gallon is 8.33 lbs, an Imperial gallon is 10 lbs...I thought that was pretty clear from the link you gave twig. 1 US gallon = 0.832673844 Imperial gallons per Google conversions, which works out correctly for the weight as well.

Anyway, back on topic. If I were to do a tank that size in anything but a basement, I'd definitely try to get it along a supporting wall to minimize floor sag over a long period of time, as well as reduce stress on the tank seams.
 
Hmmm ...
That really doesn't make sense to me sploke.

The American system of measuring is called the "Imperial" system. The metric gallon is smaller than that of a US gallon thus, in my opinion, the smaller weight of a gallon in my link and the higher weight of an Imperial Gallon.

I know what you mean about a supporting wall. I'm going to put it in a corner for extra support. I haven't gotten hold of the house builders as of yet but I suspect that, because it's distributed over the length, it won't be a BIG problem >.>;
 
Thank you Roan. No, the US system is not called the Imperial system, thats what they use in Great Britain/UK/whatever. The US system is, well, just the US system. Also, there is no such thing as a "metric gallon". There are liters, but 4 liters is not a metric gallon.... not in any official capacity, anyway. I wish we could start using the metric system like the rest of the world, it would make life a lot easier IMO.
 
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