Building My 50,000 Gallon Monster Mega Tank

[NotoriousSway]

The 3rd picture is a malawi Aulonacara living in a 120g. I show you this picture because he was in an unidentified species bag of 1/2" fish I bought at a Kitchener Aquarium Society annual auction for 4 for a dollar. I raised it up and was lucky to have such an attractive fish for 25 cents.

This hobby has many rewards and not always do the prizes have to be "monster".

A gamble but a great deal! Looks like you got a Protomelas sp. "Steveni Taiwan" (Taiwan Reef)

 

[undead_goldfish]

how much did it all cost??

 

[arapaimag]

arapaimag, the color on that fish, hybrid or not, is out of this world.

NightStorm I agree with you it is a nice fish and to see it swimming at times among the 3 to 6 foot fishes is amazing.

 

[arapaimag]

I love this thread those have got to be some of beastliest fish on this entire thread

Thank you and I am glad you enjoy this thread that my friend Neoprodigy the MFK founder persuaded me to put together in 2005.

 

[arapaimag]

Elvis is the turtles name, we had two and kept the one that seemed to care less about the fish.!

Unique name for the turtle.

I have a bird (Alisterus scapularis) that has the same name. I named him Elvis because the common name for the bird is the Australian King Parrot. The mark on his head is from getting too close to another bird in the aviary. It healed.

 

[kamikaziechameleon]

ok let me prefice this by saying I've only read about 25 percent of the thread its so long but I have to know. Does anyone ever go "swimming" With the fishes or are there some fish to big and to predatory to get in there with? If someone could go swimming they could take a camera in there with them and get some wicked shots!!

 

[arapaimag]

Amazing streamers on that girl ( I think ) thanks for sharing

I agree the streamers, filaments, extensions are very nice. I am sorry we could not get the bright colouration of the red in his fins.

When sexing this fish. The fish with the hook anal fin are females. The ones with the lobe are males. Most males also exhibit the filaments and brighter red colour when they have breeding intentions. This one has the lobed anal fin, extensions and brighter red fins so is a male.

 

[arapaimag]

you are an amazing person

Thank you very much Jacob and welcome to MFK.

We keep a lot of fish in common.
I also keep

Common Pleco, Firemouth Cichlid, Red Belly Pacu, Jack Dempsey, Jaguar Cichlid, Jewel Cichlid, black skirt tetra.

I am sure you know the Piaractus brachypomus will get very large and need a larger tank in the future. Although they don't get as big as Colossoma macroponum they are capable of getting to the 35-36" range and living24 years at least. I built an indoor pond as a cheaper alternative in the past to provide them with a large body of water to live in.

I am not sure if you realize but the red breast disappears in age and becomes quite dark at times. This is a female who had a very red breast at about 3 inches. I had bought her in 1993 at 1". I raised her in a 50g initially to monitor her growth vs sibling in a 180g. She grew 1/3rd as fast receiving 1/2 the amount of food. However when given similar conditions she caught back up. She now weighs 55 lbs and 35" total length.

 

[arapaimag]

If you dont mind me asking how much does it cost to make and then maintain a 50,000gallon tank?

Was just having a debate with my friend and It would be cool if you can give us an idea of how much it would be.

The cost to build the tank varies depending on the building skills of the owner, the access to good pricing of the materials and labour in doing the job. Since I am not physically able to do much except design and get in the way, my costs would be greater than most peoples on the forum. I did not keep track of everything related to the tank because It was 2 dimensional with birds (and the cost of aviaries, lighting, waterers etc.) being kept in the 980 square feet above the tank. So I can not give you a number.

The costs for all my tanks run between $600 to $1200 a month for hydro. $300 to $1200 a month for natural gas. Also $1,000 a year for oil. Friends owning small pet shops spend about the same amounts. Food runs in the $300 to $400 range a month. Filter upkeep, light bulbs general supplies are additional.

 

[arapaimag]

I am so glad this thread is still going.For obvious reasons.
I'll never forget reading the whole build back when I reg'd.
Floored me.

And to see things still well, warms my heart.

Thank You.

Horiyoshi thanks for the kind words and other you posted earlier. There is only one king on this forum and that is my friend Neoprodigy who built this incredibly active site.

Are you of Japanese origin?

I have the Japanese Paralympic wheelchair basketball men's team coming at the end of July 2011 for a basketball tournament I organize. I've also hosted them in 2007 and had the women's national team in 2004.

I see you enjoy spiny eels (Mastacembelidae). I love fire eels and unfortunately just lost a 26" tire track that I owned for 10 years.