Building My 50,000 Gallon Monster Mega Tank

[arapaimag]

In the 1500 I've got a 20" giant goramy, a 22" pacu, four different synodontis species, a ton of CA/SA cichlids and a 20" leopard sailfin catfish. Most of the fish in the tank are rescues (figured I'd start it off for you )

Thanks Jonathan,

Great getting the phone call from you yesterday buddy. I have had success with GE1200 silicone and hope your friend you mentioned does also with his tank.

Thanks for the update on your list of 20" plus fish. Which when considering you also have a 480 gallon or larger tank does give official monster fish keeper status. The hundreds of pictures and videos you have placed on the many sites have confirmed everything you have said about your fish and the size of your tank.

I would really appreciate it if you would place a few pics of your 1500 on this thread and also a link to the best of your 1500 videos.

Since you are a Cichlid enthusiast the questions are:

Are you going to raise any of the 5 big cichlids genus (Capable of achieving 20" plus) in your 1500 gallon tank? Not rescued that size but actually raise them to that size

Now the next question is what 5 am I thinking about?

Please give me your idea of the 5 I am thinking about. (I have raised 4 of the genus to 20" or more myself and have failed miserably on the 5th but have seen one at an ACA at a tl of 24".

Please get back to me with your answer.

I also request and welcome any viewers so inclined to please also give me your idea of the 5 cichlid genus/species I am thinking of or other genus/species you feel belong in the 20" cichlid monster club. Also please mention which ones you have raised to 20". Also we are going with Total Length not Standard Length.

This is not the scientific method but the size method 99% of the people on this site appear to use, myself included.

I will give my list of five only after my friend Jonathan answers with his list to see how close we are. Jonathan is a very accomplished cichlid keeper and breeder and a very active member on cichlid and catfish sites. He has built an 800 gallon plywood tank and then expanded it to a 1500 gallon tank. The fact that he is a carpenter by trade and built like an NFL middle linebacker sure helps.

 

[arapaimag]

Thanks for the welcome ...

That cool that both the tank as his health is good.

On fish Brazilians, already created Oscar (Astronotus ocellatus), Pirarara (Phractocephalus hemioliopterus), Tucunaré (Cichla sp) and Aruana (Osteoglossum bicirrhosum). But now to get some of these species is difficult because the IBAMA (Brazilian Institute of Environment) is due to monitoring problems of extinction. Including Pirarucu (Arapaima gigas) that you have some there is also prohibited.

But is good can we go to the rivers and fish for these species, but dropping right after taking some photos.

HUAHUAHUA

Go take some pictures of the exchange waters...

Thanks for the reply and list if your fish.

I am interested in the size of the tank(s) you keep and the size of the fish that you keep. What species of Cichla do you have? I also appreciate you using the Brazilian common names to remind us.

The Arapaima we get in the hobby come from Peru and most often from breeding farms. The large farms in Malaysia might also produce fish for the trade but if so possibly for their areas.

 

[BioG]

I am inspired

 

[AFelony]

Best thing i have ever seen great job

 

[DRECA]

My tanks were approximately 1000 - 1500 liters in "oval shape" so that the good swimmers as Cichla were not stressed. ​

Created the fish in tanks like these, without the division between them...

Here in Brazil, the farms for breeding of fish such as Pirarucu (Arapaima gigas) and Aruana (Osteoglossum bicirrhosum), has as main objective the repopulation of the rivers, to have our water back to the normal native ichthyofauna.​

The trade of these species is prohibited and is federal crime to keep these animals without permission. But the Oscars (Astronotus ocellatus) or Tucunares (Cichla sp) are created for both the aquarium and for human consumption.

Barbecue for Tucunaré is a delicious!!!

HUAHUAHUA

Was not prohibited, created the Tucunaré-Açú (Cichla temensis)...​

What we have achieved quite easily is the Clown Fish breeding (Amphiprion ocellaris, Amphiprion percula, Amphiprion frenatus, Amphiprion sebae, Premnas biaculeatus...). Virtually no import more species such as the brazilian Aquarium have already developed their creations to meet domestic demand.​

 

[arapaimag]

Wow!!!!!!

I like your tank design.

Your Cichla looks really great. I got a C. temensis from Neoprodigy 3 years ago but it had more of a 3 stripe pattern. Yours looks more colourful but different.

Thank you for your pictures and also for joining MFK. You are a very knowledgeable and responsible hobbyist. Are you a biologist?

 

[DRECA]

The tanks are too good.​

This picture is that tank keep my turtles: Snakehead Turtle (Hydromedusa tectifera), Red-eared sliders (Trachemys scripta elegans) and Brazilian sliders (Trachemys dorbignyi). Another side is the fish tank. ​

The photo that Cichla is not mine, just got in the Web, because I dont have any photos of these fish. Unfortunately. ​

But the standard of color was much like that. ​

Maybe your Cichla 3 stripe was not one of those?​

Cichla orinocensis​

Cichla mirianae​

Cichla monoculus

Cichla ocellaris

Who knows?!

HUAHUAHUA​

I'm a Zoologist and I have aquariums since of 5 years-old...​

Thanks for the welcome of all the MFK. Already I'm feeling at home!!!​

 

[arapaimag]

Thanks for the great pictures.

My Cichla died about 5 weeks ago. It was a measured 24 1/2" total length. I got no pictures that day....too bad. It had been in a 807g tank and had a series of tangles with a similar size red tail golden arowana. It received a bite on its tail that never healed right and over a year period developed a bacterial infection that I was unable to cure. I had moved it to a 225g quarantine tank and treated it for a few months. It ate well right up to the day it died.

You have a profession that many of us envy. Your passion for animals is revealed in your posts.

Do you keep fish at home, work or both places?

 

[DRECA]

Sorry for your loss.

To take care of problems like this you could put a little "Barbecue Salt",

these salts used for prepare the meat before a barbecue. Sorry, but I dont know the correct name in English. It is an excellent remedy against bacteria and fungi. Always use this salt in my aquas. The only problem is that we can not use in tanks with fish from small scale (like a Panaque nigrolineatus) or fish-leather (like a Pseuplatystoma coruscan), or plants, because the salt just killing these animals.

What type of food you offer? Live food or granules?​

I love all animals and really like to stay in their company. I have a reef at home and an aqua with Rainbowfish (Poecilia reticulata) at work.

I am to build a tank for the reproduction of Bichir de Cuvier (Polypterus senegalus) at home, but must decide the location with my wife, who is also biologist. When I start the assembly of approximately 300 liters for a couple, put the photos here.

But now...

This is my first Bichir, who died in the swim bladder problems. I bought it very small, and stayed with me for 5 years.​

 

[DRECA]

Sorry for your loss.

To take care of problems like this you could put a little "Barbecue Salt",

these salts used for prepare the meat before a barbecue. Sorry, but I dont know the correct name in English. It is an excellent remedy against bacteria and fungi. Always use this salt in my aquas. The only problem is that we can not use in tanks with fish from small scale (like a Panaque nigrolineatus) or fish-leather (like a Pseuplatystoma coruscan), or plants, because the salt just killing these animals.

What type of food you offer? Live food or granules?​

I love all animals and really like to stay in their company. I have a reef at home and an aqua with Rainbowfish (Poecilia reticulata) at work.

I am to build a tank for the reproduction of Bichir de Cuvier (Polypterus senegalus) at home, but must decide the location with my wife, who is also biologist. When I start the assembly of approximately 300 liters for a couple, put the photos here.

But now...

This is my first Bichir, who died in the swim bladder problems. I bought it very small, and stayed with me for 5 years.​