[Lyle]

Ok, so my 180 that will be up and running the day I move into my new house (Feb 15).

Originally, I was planning on a P tank.....caribe, terns, piraya, standard stuff. Then, I got bored and wandered into Dats, Rays, P Bass territory. I love each of these fish individually but it kinda seems to me that all of them together just looks wierd. Especially when you throw and Aro into the tank.

But anyways, what variation would you personally do? I was thinking:

2 rays, Motoro due to combination of price and hardiness and liking to be together.
3 dats, combination of widebar and thinbar, 3 to keep agression down between themselves.
2 P bass, preferably female to not get that ugly ass hump.
5 or so of those fei feng.

Anybody else think these fish don't look good together? Maybe I'm just retarded, who knows.

*sigh I'm just rambling, maybe I'll just go to the lake and catch some crappie, bluegill and bass and call it good.

Oh, any plecos that historically do ok with rays? No slime coat eating?

 

[Sheppard]

in my opinion you should stick with P's.
that tank would be amazing if you had 9 Piraya's

 

[acestro]

Out of your choices I'd say Fei Fang are the nicest choice. It does seem hodge-podge with that mixture, I'm in agreement there. You can at least grow the Fei Fang up well in that tank and they should have nice re-sale value if you change your mind.

 

[elTwitcho]

To be perfectly honest, I don't think the peacock bass are a great choice for that tank and I wouldn't personally go with arros just because of the issues associated with how difficult it is to prevent them from getting drop eye and looking ugly as a result. That's a personal thing though, I can't say there's anything wrong with arros beyond that I wouldn't personally want them, if you're willing to deal with all that stuff then go right ahead.

I would personally substitute the arrowana for maybe one or two of the shorter growing gars or even the false gars that will stay around the right size for your tank. The gars hanging around the top and the rays on the bottom will give your tank a great rounded out look and the two groups of fish should stay out of each other's way. Then lastly I would see about going with something more exotic than datnoids, personally I'd love to own a few leopard climbing perch

 

[elTwitcho]

I enjoy my piranhas more than I did my gourami let alone that I have no interest in a mangled freak mutant cichlid like a blood parrot. Be respectful of other people's interest in fish and don't assume people only keep piranhas because they haven't tried other fish. I have, and my rhom is still the best fish I've ever owned.

 

[Lyle]

Yeah I'm not a huge fan of Aro's, but if I got one it would be one that does not get drop eye, ie the more expensive ones. I really don't have any interest in Gars, they just don't appeal to me. The Fei Feng I like, need to do a bit more research on them.

Any pics of these Leopard Climbing Perch?

Oh and yes, I've owned just about every type of fish common to the hobby, and actually just bought some tetras and gouramis...for my girlfriends tank. Never owned a blood parrot though, although I've thought about buying one and running it over in the parking lot.

But hey, I did ask for opinions and I appreciate all of them. What would you put in the 180 syd? You're gonna be like my roommate and say "get 500 neon tetras and lots of plants" lol.

 

[Brendan]

get piranhas there not garbage

 

[elTwitcho]

Here's a whole article on them. They're also called "spotted bush fish" and are sort of reminiscent of datnoids. Having seen them hunt before is probably the reason I like them so much as they are very patient and will creep around the tank in cover before springing on their prey, but I'm also a huge fan of their looks.

Alot of places recommend heavy cover but the zoo specimens I saw had just a few pieces of driftwood that they hid under (not "under" like between it and the substrate but "under" in open water just in the shadow of the wood). I would think you should be able to balance a little bit of cover and a corner with some floating plants with the need to have open space for the rays, but you might not want to take that step. Just wanted to throw something unique out as I'm sure you've already considered the more common choices like cichlids et al.

http://www.plantedtank.net/fishprofiles/109/

 

[Bawb2u]

Get a pair of any of the parachromis species, awesome fish.

 

[lemmywinks]

Youre first choice is eventualy going to get wat to crowded. it might work if you take out the arrowana and the cichlas. and motoros can also get very large so they may eventually cause problems as well.

but if it were my tank... I would set up a badass cichlid comunity

Id stock it with some of the smaller geos, some of the smaller acaras, some thorichthys, and perhaps even a few diffrent cryptoheros and some archocentrus

 

[Lyle]

Nice, Napoleon Dynamite. That movie was a waste of time, except for the last 5 minutes..."I caught you a delicious bass"

Twitch is that a leaf fish? looks like the one in the vid on waterwolves. Those things are pretty cool.

I've thought about doing a cichlid tank with medium max sizes so I could keep a higher number in there. Or a hundred or so dwarfs. lol.

 

[Lyle]

Hey syd, quit derailing my thread please thanks.

Twitch, I think I'm just going to go with a pygo tank. There are 2 sellers in my area that have 5"ers that I want to pick up. Hopefully they are still around when I have the tank set up and ready.

I also am getting a 75 extra extra tall that I'm going to fill up half way and do archer fish...that should help satisfy my non-p craving.

 

[elTwitcho]

Twitch, I think I'm just going to go with a pygo tank. There are 2 sellers in my area that have 5"ers that I want to pick up. Hopefully they are still around when I have the tank set up and ready.

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Cool dude, maybe try a planted tank if you're up to it. It's not that hard if you go with low light plants and fertilizer is cheap as hell if you mix your own (it's easier than you think since you can order ingredients from one source and it's only 3 things you need to mix). I planted my rhoms 20 gallon and it adds a whole new dimension to fish keeping, when I put him in his 40 breeder in the next few weeks I'm actually looking forward to being able to use even more plants

 

[Lyle]

Yeah I thought about plants...would require a TON of plants for the 180 though and a lot of upkeep at first. I used to have lots of live plants in a 55 with discus, and it looked really nice. I am planning on going all out with plants on that archerfish tank though. Probably some mangrove trees on each side and then live plants in the middle-back area, then a carpet grass on most of the bottom.

And syd, why are you at this site if you don't like Piranhas. Just go somewhere else....say waterwolves.com, aquaticpredators,com, cichlidmadness.com...any of the above seems like they'd fit you better...

 

[lemmywinks]

his ass isnt gettin on to CM thats for damn sure. I know drew will ban his ass the second he sees him join

and good luck with the pygo tank

 

[Lahot]

Closed

Lyle, feel free to open another thread

 

[Ms_Nattereri]

Syd- Stay the f*ck out of this thread or Im deleting your posts.

Lyle- Sorry for the utter disrespect you received when trying to get advice

Proceed.

No need to worry about him getting on CM...just wait until he feels the wrath of Mark :laugh:

 

[elTwitcho]

Lyle, archers are brackish, can plants survive in that?

 

[MR.FREEZ]

Lyle, archers are brackish, can plants survive in that?

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mangroves can but i dont know about other plants

 

[Lyle]

Yeah I know mangroves are fine, will need to do some research on other plants. I'm sure I can find something that'll work. I'm also looking into plants for above the water, something hanging from the top area.

Oh btw, thanks for the smackdown.