Building My 50,000 Gallon Monster Mega Tank

[arapaimag]

Gar Fish - How big is that? Whats the growth rate like?

There are 2 gars in the big tank and 3 in the 15,000.

Lepisosteus osseus the Longnosed gar I got through The Tropical Fish Room in Brantford (Jerry Draper) in 2000 at 11". Very slow grower. Kept in 15,000 till Feb 2010. He was 34 1/2" in feb 2010 but now put a spurt on and is at least 37" and possibly 38".

He hunts african cichlids and catches quite a few. Hard to get food (chunks of mackerel etc) to him with the big cats and Arapaima coming to the surface to eat.

 

[mqktandy]

Awesome long nose. Def the biggest I have seen!

 

[arapaimag]

The other gar in the 52k is the alligator gar Atractosteus spatula. I got it in 2001 from The Fish Place (Jake) in Tonawanda NY at 4" for $8.99.

It also is a slow grower. Started in a 180 then the 15,000 but it almost choked to death on a 12" Clarias batrachus. The gar was about 22" at the time. I had to sit near an open window in the tank and wait for the gar to swim by in order to catch him and remove the catfish. It took the catfish about 6 months to recover.

Then I put the gar in a 480 and a 520 in the winters and outside in a 18x8 pond in the summers. In september 2009 it measured 36" coming out of the pond. It probably is about 37 to 38" long now.

Here are couple of pics taken in the smaller tanks when it was about 24"

 

[arapaimag]

Here is a pic catching him out of the ponds outside and bringing him into the 52K

The second pic are a couple of brycons. A 24" Brycon guatemalensis and a 22" brycon heleri. Both had grown up in the 15,000 spent the summer in outdoor ponds and then in Sept 2009 went into the big tank.

The Brycon guatemalensis I bought in 1998 from Oliver Lucanus when he was Biotope Imports Inc with his partner Sean. They were 2" and cost $3.50. I had ordered Brycon melanopterus and got only one the other 35 were B. guatemalensis by mistake. The largest B. guatemalensis are 26" tl.

The Brycon heleri came either from Biotope in 1998 at 2 1/2" for $6.00 each or from Pets Plus (Fred & John) in Lockport NY at 3" for $7.00 each. Since two groups were raised together over the years I can not tell them apart.

 

[Tilton53]

That is an awesome setup. I can't even imagine affording the water changes.

 

[Danny Cannon]

I have a jack dempsey too

 

[Danny Cannon]

River monsters rule

 

[arapaimag]

I have a jack dempsey too

Hello and a warm welcome to MFK.

Jack Dempsey's are great fish. My first cichlid when I was a kid. Took it to fish shows and it won a lot of ribbons. Still have more than a dozen of them in 2 180's and both the 15,000 and the 52k.

 

[arapaimag]

Gar Fish - How big is that? Whats the growth rate like?

I also keep gars that are too small for the 52k in the 15,000.

I have one cuban gar Atractosteus tristoechus which I got from Aquarium Services in London, Ontario in 2001 for $50.00 at 6 inches.

It has been a very slow grower and probably is about 20 inches long.

I have 2 Spotted gars Lepisosteus oculatus.

One I got free from Judith Irwin of Orillia she had gotten it from a hobbyist in Detroit in 2001. It was 11" then and is only about 16" now.

The other I got from Aquarium Services Mississauga Ontario also in 2001. It was 5" long 19.99. It is now 16" and too small for the big tank.

Here are a couple of pics of the cuban taken 4 years ago when it was in a grow up 810 gallon tank. The cichlid is a 23" Boulengerchromis microlepis I bought from Pets Plus Lockpost NY in 2000 at 3" for $9.99. it sadly passed away in 2007 after which it was measured.

 

[Csababá]

Thanks, but I have actually always been disappointed that mine where so small.

I've seen them at 36"tl and always wanted to raise mine that big but 28" is the max so far.

You should get a bigger tank!
(sorry, I could leave it)
Is it possible that they get more food and grow larger in a smaller tank without threat?