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What is Your Dream Tank?
12 years ago
A lot of people out there have some sort of ultimate goal when it comes to fishkeeping. Some of us just can't quite reach it due to money or size constraints and the like, and then people like myself achieve our dream tank and then strive for something else 3 days later like a never ending battle
Ultimately, though, one tank that I've been really wanting is a 6'x2'x2' aquarium dedicated to a group of Tropheus moorii. Obviously I don't have a tank quite that large, but there's a further constraint than just the tank size.
Tropheus as a species make very complex hierarchies, the males hate eachother, and there is more behind just throwing a bunch of them together, it's creating a complex social structure in a small space. Oftentimes people aim for a group of at least 30 of these fish, with only 2 or 3 males in the tank. they aren't the easiest to gender, but it digs deeper than that.
Removing any member of the tank causes all hell to break loose as you remove a member of the hierarchy. You'll go from a peaceful school of them swimming about the tank, grazing on the algae around and about, to them being at each others throats from the removal of somebody in the structure, suddenly somebody has to take their place.
The fish, like any tanganyikan cichlids, are on the more fragile side, but their biggest issue is being prone to malawi bloat, which is easily avoided by not feeding them any meats. A regular maintenance schedule would be a must, but since I've always done strict water changes every wednesday, that's not of my bigger concern.
In the long run, getting a group of T. moorii (or any Tropheus species, at that) could prove pretty tough, given the size of the tank as well as the complexity of getting one going, but a school of these fish is truly an amazing sight to me.
Regardless, what have you always considered your dream tank? Something you've always wanted to have?
-onidrase
Ultimately, though, one tank that I've been really wanting is a 6'x2'x2' aquarium dedicated to a group of Tropheus moorii. Obviously I don't have a tank quite that large, but there's a further constraint than just the tank size.
Tropheus as a species make very complex hierarchies, the males hate eachother, and there is more behind just throwing a bunch of them together, it's creating a complex social structure in a small space. Oftentimes people aim for a group of at least 30 of these fish, with only 2 or 3 males in the tank. they aren't the easiest to gender, but it digs deeper than that.
Removing any member of the tank causes all hell to break loose as you remove a member of the hierarchy. You'll go from a peaceful school of them swimming about the tank, grazing on the algae around and about, to them being at each others throats from the removal of somebody in the structure, suddenly somebody has to take their place.
The fish, like any tanganyikan cichlids, are on the more fragile side, but their biggest issue is being prone to malawi bloat, which is easily avoided by not feeding them any meats. A regular maintenance schedule would be a must, but since I've always done strict water changes every wednesday, that's not of my bigger concern.
In the long run, getting a group of T. moorii (or any Tropheus species, at that) could prove pretty tough, given the size of the tank as well as the complexity of getting one going, but a school of these fish is truly an amazing sight to me.
Regardless, what have you always considered your dream tank? Something you've always wanted to have?
-onidrase
My more realistic dream tank (right now) is to repurpose my extra 10 gallon into an aquascape with a sculpted or driftwood "bonsai tree" in the middle and fill the tank with colorful shrimp
next thing he knew his entire school of tiger barbs and one of his sharks disappeared
I'd be wary of putting one with the glass cats in particular since they're so nervous and slow. I used to have a good school of them and my tetras loved to nip at their whiskers.
-onidrase
Sure, I wouldn't mind if it was a little bigger and I had more, but sane fish keepers would never put two male bettas together in the same tank, not without a divider and several gallons for both fish. :b
But I definitely wouldn't mind a large female betta sorority of dragonscales. Maybe with some neons as well, and a pleco.
I would love to own a salt water tank and keep a couple of seahorses, but salt water is, from what I've heard, expensive and somewhat difficult to maintain.