Building My 50,000 Gallon Monster Mega Tank
- Thread starter arapaimag
- Start date
Cichlidgirl91;1650182; said:
Sorry for the delay I've been busy on my basketball tournament.
WOW
I thought this would be easy. When I was finished listing all the foods I feed my various fish I and my friends visiting were amazed
I can not really separate how much I feed just the 52k or 15k. Here is list of what I feed my 100 or so tanks
It is hard to figure how much a month it costs or how much is used except for the fresh fruit. I try and buy on sale and on quantity discount as needed. Some items I buy in larger quantities than I might need at the time because they are seasonal.
Multiple freezers and fridges are needed. The various trout pellets are bought in quantities of up to 20 bags at a time which gets me free freight as well.
I no longer have space to park my vans in the garage anymore.
The dog food I often get from local pet stores free and in return give them some of my cichlids and bristlenose catfish I have breed for me. I once received two skid loads free from one store (Over 2,500 lbs in all) all at one time.
When you asked I started looking around my house and my 3 freezers and 3 fridges. I listed everything I had today.
Note: the mealworms and crickets I normally feed once every 2 weeks and use up almost at once. Sometimes I do freeze some of both for feeding between purchases to avoid them escaping into the house. Superworms can eat wood so you do not want them to get into your house structure. The dew worms I only buy on sale $25 a box of 500 occasionally as a treat for my rays, puffers, lungfish etc. I have not bought any since November because they are out season and high priced now. They must be stored in the fridge just above freezing as they die in a few days if kept at house temperature.
My pet african hornbill shares some of the insects.
The largest amounts of food used are the Wardleys Flakes and the various frozen smelt, trout, mackerel and salmon and huge amounts of Martins trout pellets. I also go through a lot of Martin Koi pellets which my fussy asian arrowanas and Boulengerchromis microlepis will even eat. I feed the herring a little less often because of the amount of fish oil in them. However the pool skimmers really help get rid of it into out door ponds where it disappears over a 24 hour period.
The cateloupe skins I feed to my bristlenose and they really breed well with that diet and pellets. The banana skins I composte.
The 100 or so tanks outside of the 15k and 52k can be fed 11lbs of smelt in an evening. Both the 15 k and 52k can be fed an 11lb box of smelt each in an evening. Both big tanks can be fed 25lb each of either mackerel, trout or salmon in a meal. I feed the 2 big tanks approx once a week the thawed out frozen fish mentioned. They do get pellets and flakes once a week also. The 15k gets 12 one pound margarine sized containers of various mixed flake foods and pellets in a meal. The 52 k gets 8 one pound margarine sized containers of various mixed flake foods and pellets in a meal.
The 100 or so smaller tanks get feed sometimes as often as twice a day (discus, bettas, babies, breeding cichlids etc) or less often more like once a week (piranhas, large stingrays etc).
So here is the list and usual size of containers or amounts I buy at a time.
Fish Flake
Wardley's (25lb boxes)
Tetramin pro tropical crisps 6.35 oz
Tetramin Granules (color bits) 10.58 oz
Tetramin Cichlid sticks 11.3 oz
Tetramin Marine Flakes largest size available
Tetra Color Flakes 7.06oz
Aquarian Flakes generally 5lb buckets
NutriFin Complete flake food(various sizes)
Nutrifin max Goldfish (various sizes)
Avant combopack 1.6 oz
Fish Pellets
Martins 2.5 mm semi floating trout (20kg - 44lb bags)
Martins 3 mm sinking trout (20kg - 44lb bags)
Martins 5 mm floating (20kg - 44lb bags)
Martins 6 mm floating (20kg - 44lb bags)
Martins 7 mm sinking (20kg - 44lb bags)
Martins 9 mm broodstock (20kg - 44lb bags)
Martins Premium Koi & Goldfish (5kg-11lb bags)
Purina trout chow 4mm floating (20kg - 44lb bags)
Hikari Cichlid Gold 12 oz
Hikari Discus 80g
Hikari Betta 20g
Hikari Carnivore food sticks (Arrowana) 250g
Hagen Betta 20g
Wardley Spectra max cichlid
Dainichi cichlid color fx
HBH supersoft spirulina 3.5 oz
Freeze Dried
Hikari Tubifix worms .78 oz
Hikari Blood worms .42 oz
Hikari Plancton .42 oz
Hikari Krill .71 oz
FD Small shrimp3oz and 1lb sizes (Buy at a oriental store has no brand name)
Argent Cyclopeeze largest can
Nutrifin white shrimp
Live Food
Crickets large (100 to 1,000 at a time)
Super worms (100 to 1,000 at a time)
Earthworms 500 dew worms per boxe
Goldfish/minnows breed myself in outdoor ponds
Guppies/swordtails/cichlids breed in house
Snails I raise in most of my tanks and feed to my australian lungfish, puffers and stingrays
NOTE I try to get my fish off live food as much as possible.
Dog/Cat Pellets
Various brands and sizes (I use about 200 lbs a month at present)
Fresh Fruit
Canteloupes 4 to 8 a month
bananas 30 lbs a month
apples 25 lbs a month
seedless grapes 25 to 40 lb per month
Frozen Foods
Green Giant peas 3 lb per month
Green Giant mixed veggies 3 to 6 lbs per month
Fish King Brine Shrimp 32 oz ( I buy 20 to 100 packages at a time)
Fish King Glass worms 4 oz (I buy 10 packages at a time)
Fish King Reef Green 4 oz (I buy 10 packages at a time)
Hikari Blood Worms 16 oz (I buy 20 to 50 packages at a time)
Hikari Krill 16 oz (I buy 10 packages at a time)
Hikari Mysis shrimp 8 oz (I buy 10 packages at a time)
Hikari Brine Shrimp 32 oz (I buy 10 packages at a time)
Hikari Plankton 16 oz (I buy 10 packages at a time)
Hikari Mega Marine cubed 3.5 oz (I buy 5 packages at a time)
Hikari Mega marine angel 3.5 oz (I buy 5 packages at a time)
Jaco Fish Co. smelts 5kg 11lb ( I buy 10 to 12 boxes at a time)
Jaco Fish Co. mackeral 25lb (I buy 8 to 12 at a time)
Jaco Fish Co. herring 25lb ( I buy 4 at a time)
Dap Bloodworms 1 kg (Must buy 100 packages at a time for best price)
Smartie Boy frozen silversides 300g Buy at a oriental store. sometimes different brands and larger sizes are available. I buy several packages at a time to save on the gas to come back again.
Fresh Water Shrimp 400g (Buy at a oriental store has no brand name)
Shrimp (We eat) various size packages normally 1lb to 2lb sizes I only buy on sale and get as many as 20lbs at a time.
Trout and Pink Salmon I buy on sale at $1 a pound and either buy by the fish at grocers or at Jako fish Co. In 50 lb boxes ( 4 boxes at a time)
I occasionally get free samples of products at conventions/fish clubs to try also.
I keep bettas and angelfish right up to the monsters and have and use so many varieties of food in an attempt to give them all the best diet I can.
Welcome to MFKDirk;1660097; said:
The Arapaimas are doing well thanks. Rating well and really putting on the weight.
I did add a redtail golden arrowana into their tank on the weekend. He was in an 800g with a peacock bass and they started fighting.
What fish do you keep?
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.every time i come across this article i get more and more amazed! i had no idea that someone would put this much dedication into personal fish keeping. im glad i saw it because i opened my eyes to so much possibilities! thank you for writing it down and taking all the pictures more people need to come see this!
Hey! I can finally afford like a tenth of the water you have in there! Now all I need is the tank! And the fish.... wow I'm far away.
