Building My 50,000 Gallon Monster Mega Tank

[ewurm]

Amazingfish A-G, those look very healthy. You are an inspiration.

 

[KenyanSandBoa]

Love the AGs. Such gorgeous beasts.

 

[Alex8711]

Just joined and saw this article this is so awsome!!!!!!!!!!

 

[arapaimag]

Just joined and saw this article this is so awsome!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks and welcome to MFK

What monsters do you keep?

 

[Ardeus]

Hi and congratulations.

One thing I notice about big tanks in general... is that they have big fish. Big fish make big tanks look small.

Your tank is huge but I bet every fish in your tank has seen every other fish in the tank and knows each corner, inch by inch.

Did it ever cross your mind to have only small territorial fish in that tank and maybe 2 or 3 large groups of school forming fish?

 

[Hopliasman]

What kind of fish do you have in the tank? What is the fish pictured in the net?
Great job!

 

[arapaimag]

Hi and congratulations.

One thing I notice about big tanks in general... is that they have big fish. Big fish make big tanks look small.

Your tank is huge but I bet every fish in your tank has seen every other fish in the tank and knows each corner, inch by inch.

Did it ever cross your mind to have only small territorial fish in that tank and maybe 2 or 3 large groups of school forming fish?

I actually built the tank to house my large fish.

Several of them I have had over 10 years and a few like the Wallego and 3 of the Collasoma are more than 20 years old. I actually have hundreds if not thousands of small fish in the tank who utilize the lava rock and their street smarts to survive and reproduce. This week I noticed a small shoal of baby Filamentosa barbs in the driftwood. There is a shoal of about 10 adult Filamentosa barbs who have been in the tank for several years.

 

[Ardeus]

I see... 10 years -> they're family.

So, the small fish population is simply controlled by the food chain.

I have a tiny 252 gallon tank and I watch this rythms of life and death in a much more discreet way. The first fry to be born in a tank of adults have a large survival rate. They hide in small places and the adults quickly forget about them. Fry that are born a few months later have a very low survival rate because they are hunted by the older generation fry, who hunt in groups and chase them out of their hide outs.

But in your tank you have predators that eat adult small fish, so you probably reach some kind of balance without many ups and downs in the smaller fish population? Do you think you have some kind of stable population of smaller fish?

 

[arapaimag]

I see... 10 years -> they're family.

So, the small fish population is simply controlled by the food chain.

I have a tiny 252 gallon tank and I watch this rythms of life and death in a much more discreet way. The first fry to be born in a tank of adults have a large survival rate. They hide in small places and the adults quickly forget about them. Fry that are born a few months later have a very low survival rate because they are hunted by the older generation fry, who hunt in groups and chase them out of their hide outs.

But in your tank you have predators that eat adult small fish, so you probably reach some kind of balance without many ups and downs in the smaller fish population? Do you think you have some kind of stable population of smaller fish?

Yes they are family and yes the smaller species breed, grow and are eaten just like in nature. I have individual small cichlid, barbs and characins that have been in the tank since it was first populated. Yesterday I saw a small shoal of guppies in the driftwood who are descendants of guppies placed in the tank in the 1994/5 period when I was first cycling the tank. It is exciting to see things like this.

I have attached a couple of pretty poor pictures showing some of the smaller fish including some barbs (Hampala macrolepidota) , characins, monos (Monoductulus sebae) , scat (Scatophagus argus), assorted cichlids and even a few goldfish.

The Colossoma brachypomum is one of my fish I have had for 2 decades. The panel of glass is 3 feet wide so you can get an idea of his size.

 

[arapaimag]

What kind of fish do you have in the tank? What is the fish pictured in the net?
Great job!

Here is a list of most of the fish. Scientic names as given to me at the time the fish were acquired. Common names that most of my friends know them as.

Psuedotropheus aurora
Pseudothropheus Sp. callianos
Abramites solari(hypselontus) abramite
Anostomus trimaculatus anostomus
Cichlasoma argentea argent
astato neon blue
Melanchromis auratus auratus
Clarotes laticeps blue nile catfish
Ancistrus lineolatus bushy nosed pleco
Perrunichthys perruno chocolate sailfin
Colossoma brachypomum colossoma
Herichthys nigrofasciatus convict cichlid
Mystus wyckii crystal eyed cat
Herichthys dovii dovii
Melanochromis johanni(chisumulu) electric blue johanni
Cyphotilipia frontosa frontosa
Labeotropheus fuelleborni fuelleborni
Triportheus angulatus giant hatchetfish
Hampala macrolepidota hampala barbs
Panagasius sanitswongi imperial or emperor shark
Herichthys octofasciatus jack dempsy
Aulonocara jacobfreibergi jacobfreibergi
Herichthys managuense jaguar cichlid
Julidochromis regani julies
Species 14 lake victorian species 14
Leporinus arcus leporinus
???????? martini red
Haplochromis mloto mloto
Mono Mono sebae
Cichlasoma nicaraguense nicaraguense
Pseudodoras niger niger catfish
Astatotilapia obliquidens (zebra) obliquiden
Barbodes pinnauratus(barbus orphoides) orange gill barb
Psuedotropheus zebra orange top zebras
Sorubimichthys planiceps planiceps
Hypostomus plecostomus pleco
Labeo erythrurus (frenatus??) rainbow sharks
Protomelas sp. spilonotus tanzania red empress
Scatophagus argus red scat
Phractocephalus hemioliopterus red tail catfish
Aulonocara korneliae regal peacock
Osteoglossum bicirrhosum silver arowana
?????? silver crest peacock
Alunocara baenschi sunshine peacock
Pseudoplatystoma fasciatum tiger shovelnose
julidochromis transcriptus transcriptus juli
Walago leerii walago
Theraps wesseli wesseli cichlid
Psuedotropheus zebra zebra cichlids


The catfish you asked about was a planiceps (Sorubimichthys planiceps). The one in the picture I obtained in 1992 and it died in 2004 (54 inches, 135 cm). I have a younger one (36 inches, 90 cm)in the tank now.

The gentleman holding the dead planiceps is Bill Gibbons of monster fish growing fame in Canada. Bill is well over 6 feet tall and 230 lbs. Bill is standing on a 6" high scale in the picture. Height of Bill head is 6'8" from the ground.

Bill raised a certified 24 inch long datnoid. picture also attached.
The datnoid is in two different 120 gallon tanks for the picture shoot and you can see Bill's monster hand in one of the pictures to get an idea of the size of this datnoid.