Stocking A Larger Tank

[AASPBY]

Okay...My dad is opening up his own restruant here soon and he wants to put an aquarium...somewhere from 75 gallons to 100...and I have no idea what to do with it. He wants medium to larger fish...No small ones. I was thinking cichlids because of their size and colors. What do ya'll think?

[lloyd berg]

nobody wants to see dirty or dead fish in a restaurant.ever. so keep it simple with open spaces and hardy, fancy goldfish.

[polarc]

Why not a lightly planted tank with Angels?

[AASPBY]

Well Lloyd, any fish that die I will send to your home for your viewing pleasure.

I was thinking something peaceful involving angels because they are so beautiful. Maybe some angels and rams??

[lloyd berg]

i wasn't trying to be smart. just practical. :cool:

[betaboi]

I'm with lloyd on that. Don't have ANY carnivores or aggressive fish. Personally i wouldn't want to see a torn up fish that some pirhana didn't finish while haveing my haddock. :p Ask if you could get a large group of schooling fish (e.g. neons, cardinals, or silvertip tetras). Then you could have some SA dwarves and possibly an angel (single). Or how about discus? They get fairly large. Good fish if you think you're up to the challenge.

Most cichlids are very aggressive and breed often, again, not something you'd want little Bobby to see while sipping his chocolate milk. There's a restaurant here with a couple 90 gallon tanks. One is SW though. I haven't been there in a while and i didn't really pay them much attention so i couldn't tell you what was in them.

Now there may be a few.....
Frontosa do get fairly large and require to be in shoals of 6 or more i believe. I've seen them at three in a tank. Just looks better with more. These are African cichlids from lake Tanganyika. They are some of the slower brutes and don't require feeders for food. It would be better to have a tank of your own first before trying this though, you know, just so you get the feel of Africans. BTW, you will most likely have to start with a group of juvies since adults for sale are not that common (these are considered "prize" fish) and if they are for sale they aren't cheap (about $40+ each).

Goldfish. Red cap orandas, loinheads, ryunkins, red & white fanitails, black moores, all of these fish are very fancy (mostly finnage) and look excellent when full-grown in a large tank. Again, i personally haven't seen, many of these full-grown but the ones i have seen large are beautiful, and not cheap (about $30 +).

Rainbows are another option. Not large but look nice in groups or alone.

Again, don't try anything you don't think will work out. Keep it simple, no toughies.

BTW, you may want to looking into canisters or even a sump to place filters in. This way the filters and heaters are out of site. Visible heaters and HOB filters can be unsightly in a restaurant. Good luck! :D

[AASPBY]

Ooh! Neat ideas! Thanks!

[GirlieGirl8519]

I think a planted tank with angels and rainbows would look nice! Or angels and tetras...I know they are small but a large school of rummynose tetras would be amazing!

Or if you are up to the challenge, and costs...a planted tank with Discus. They would be a real eye-catcher.

Cichlids are nice, but I like planted tanks with big schools of fish better. Or Discus...I eventually want a big Discus tank when I am more experienced.

Show us some pictures once its finished!

[angle fish]

I agree, I suggested
A planted tank with a school of neons of about 15-20
german blue and bolivian rams
a school of cory's, prefurablly (sp) panda corry's
and a school of discus
that would be AWSOME cause the discus are so peacfull and the neons have the schooling (I LOVE schools) and the rams bring in... um... something diff. cause as I recall, I have never actually seen a ram in a aquarium or anything. only in petstores and home aquariums
just my 2 cents or another thing is like a school of large tetra like beunos tetra (sp) and corys and rainbows or something in that area. just a thought though
but no one will take this seriously, cause I am just a kid ....

[AASPBY]

Well, we went down to the awesome LFS and they helped us with everything! It was amazing! They started showing us all the different fish that we could use. And I think we've gone ahead with a 180 gallon aquarium with I think there called, sump filters. It was so cool! They helped so much!

[betaboi]

Let us know how it all goes and don't forget to take pics whenever you can! ;)

[angle fish]

LOl ya, I havnt even seen it yet :eek:

[AASPBY]

That's because we haven't even bought it yet.

[angle fish]

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: I know :D