Prepping 8' Tank w/ teak wood stand for new Arowana

[islandguy11]

Well this (minus rocks and likely gravel) is going to be the home of my new 9" Golden Crossback that's waiting in Bangkok for us to move to our new house in about 2 weeks. I'll use this thread to kinda document the tank's make-over, and likewise hopefully get the opinions/advice of experienced Arowana keepers on this helpful forum.



So here's some details:
-- It's an 8ft x 30" X 30" glass tank (375 gallons) housed in a teak wood stand (that's worth quite a bit more than the tank itself, even if it does need some tender love and care).
-- I was considering that a 9" Aro might feel a bit uncomfortable in a 8 ft tank, so thought maybe to install a divider, but both the breeder and a guy at my LFS who's very experienced with Aros were of the opinion it wasn't necessary.
-- The teak wood top is quite heavy but completely removable -- or likewise the main portion/frame can be kept on, with or without 3 sections that can be removed individually or tilted up if the hinges on the back are screwed in (currently not).
-- The very top part itself already has screen on it but I'll change that, and cover the wooden side slits also, as a juvi Arowana could easily jump out through those. Teak wood has some weight to it, so each of the top sections is quite heavy. I'll probably put some extra weights on top just to be safe, but strong as they are, I think it would take a pretty huge Aro to even partially dislodge any of the pieces, even without additional weight.
-- I'll also be putting cut pieces of new yoga mat around the 3 glass cross braces to help protect the fish a bit from possible jumping injuries.



-- In the next day or two the handy man who takes care of the house is going to give the stand and top a bit of a makeover with some new sealant and lacquer.
--Before he does that I'll be taking out the big rocks, gravel and corner filter media and give it a cleaning.
-- After the stand has completely dried and isn't throwing off any fumes, I'll take out all the water, clean the tank again and then re-fill the tank and re-build the internal corner filter with new bio media plus a bunch from another well established tank. I'll keep that BB going with either pellets or (possibly) some tank mate(s) until my GB moves in about 2 weeks.
-- I'll also be installing additional filtration, likely in the form of a canister filter and UV Sterilizer under the tank, plus a couple of new power head filters in the tank for flow and some extra mechanical filtration.
-- For background I'm leaning toward black, but have ordered both black and blue Oyama stickers and can decide later. Unfortunately I cannot put any stickers on the sides of the tank, as there's no space between the glass and wood frame. Instead I will probably just cover the sides with black future board.



The 3 things I am most undecided on at this point (and would love any input on) are:
1) Bare bottom OR a bit of substrate (smoothly rounded rocks), no deco that could injure my fish. I'm leaning toward BB because of ease of cleaning and overall less problems, but I already run a bare bottom MP Kamfa tank, so for some variety in the fish rooms am also considering at a 'minimally natural' look with the Aro tank.
2) Lighting: I'll be hanging some new LED's from the ceiling, but not sure yet if I'll go with just some cheap Beamworks type jobbies with regular white + multiple colors and remote control, or something more Arowana dedicated, like these Miracle Arowana Lighting units -- anyone use(d) similar?:



3) Solo or with a couple of tank mates? -- my GB is definitely going to be the showpiece/focus of this tank, and I have no super desire at this point to keep anything else with her (esp. anything there's even a small chance of damaging her -- I saw Joey King of DIY's results after adding Red Hook Silver Dollars...).

That said I am considering maybe a smallish, juvi albino senegel bichir, LFS has some nice ones in stock now, and/or maybe some cooler looking pleco (as long as it's not likely to try and suck off my GB's slime coat when sleeping). But then I think I read somewhere if you have bottom dwellers it might increase the chance of drop eye, though I'm not sure if this is true.

Tank mate suggestions? Do Aros do equally well solo or do they usually prefer at least a few tank mates for company?

So would love to get any opinions/advice on these points or the tank itself, thanks for reading thru my long post!

 

[bruceotb]

Bare bottom; put 5 asian aros and a school of discus in there. Theyll be fine.

 

[Bertie07]

I would do substrate with low rocks or wood and plants, they can’t really injur themselves on plants and makes the tank look better, I would do a single Asian with some other monster fish like dats and peacock bass or a school of discus or large silver dollars like wide bars, I know you mentioned joeys aro and silver dollars but I think that was exception and depends on the fish. That was his opinion on ideal tankmates for aros so there must have been some logic to it

 

[MariaS]

Stunning tank @islandguy11

I would not bother dividing the tank, for now, my Super Red went straight into a 9ft and was fine and so did my son's RTG
This being said, their temperament was stable and they started eating about a week after they arrived.
My Chilli Red was extremely skittish when I got her
She had been at the importers warehouse for a while before I bought her and I dont know what could have happened there but she was really scared of everything and we battled for weeks to get her to eat
We then put her in a smaller tank so that we had better control on dropping food near her and she couldnt run away from us
Once she settled, we moved her across to the big tank and now she is fine.

Tank mates that have worked for us in a peaceful way have been stingrays, clown loaches, flagtails, Geos, Severums,electric blue acaras, tinfoil barbs and Datnoids

Again this being said, it will depend on the Arowana's character
My two are very chilled with other fish. My son's is a little terror
It doesnt mind the rays, clowns and tinfoils and generally smaller fish that you would expect her to eat but once the fish get bigger it tends to take a dislike for some fish and she will eventually land up killing the fish if you dont remove it.

So.... if you go for tank mates, chose generally non aggressive fish.
The end result will most likely depend on the Arowana's temperament

As for decor... personally, I like some sand (pool filter sand) and some wood and rocks
as I like a natural look.
My wave makers keep the sand very clean
Arowanas are not messy eaters, theyusually swallow their food and dont chew it that you have a big mess in your tank.
Make sure the wood doesnt have long sharp pieces high up to the top of the tank and if there are no fish that are aggressive and frighten the Arowana, you will be ok

All the best with your new baby!

 

[Matteus]

Wow Great tank Sir. I’m excited to watch this all unfold, your place is beautiful as well. Wouldn’t really expect much else from Phuket- most beautiful place in the world imo.

 

[narayanang76]

Wow! Thats a great looking big tank comfortable home for your XB.

Couple of suggestions:
Ensure the top cover is heavy and can be secured properly without any gaps.
The Power/Electric points from the top, ensure that its secure and doesnt cause any leak/accidental fall inside tank.
Reg lights, for Gold Arowana, you really dont need anything fancy. Try with Warm White (yellow) lights, it enhances the gold color more. If you still want to go for the miracle lights (its only for viewing effects), ask the dealer to show you the lights in working before buying, buy only if you like the looks of your fish with the lighting.

I would suggest go for Sand bottom, also with rocks, this will help in case you are going for Bichirs and other tank mates, it will provide some cover and hiding space. With a good wave maker, its not difficult to maintain the bottom sand. To your concern on the bottom dwellers causing drop eye, I was told a bare bottom can also do this since they will see their reflection from bare bottom tanks.

And lastly, I feel such a huge tank will ask for a sump filtration. See if its possible.

 

[islandguy11]

Stunning tank @islandguy11

I would not bother dividing the tank, for now, my Super Red went straight into a 9ft and was fine and so did my son's RTG...All the best with your new baby!

Wow thanks for all the great info/advice Maria -- guess I'll just have to wait and see what kind of 'fishonality' she has, will certainly try my hardest to make her happy and show her best.

I'll announce her newly chosen name after she's arrived and in her new home

 

[islandguy11]

Wow! Thats a great looking big tank comfortable home for your XB...

Really appreciate all the great advice! I think my new Aro will like her new home too, esp. as it'll mostly be all hers except for a couple of tank mates.

Of course it's hard to tell in a photo but those top covers are really quite heavy; it's a bit of a strain for me to lift one piece all the way off. In fact I'm now getting a bit worried my Aro could hurt her head if she jumped into the thick crossbars (which will also be covered with plastic screening). I might consider taking those off and having a local guy make a custom lid that incorporated a more forgiving block, e.g. just the plastic screen in a wooden frame with no crossbars.

I read that too about reflection from bottom possibly contributing to DE, so as you suggest am currently leaning toward sand at the moment (questions are what color/size), esp. as I just picked up a beautiful little Bichir (now in a quarantine tank) that will move into the 375 a few days before the Aro.

And yeah I was also surprised such a large tank didn't incorporate a sump! I might eventually try externally rigging one up, but for now it has a pretty good sized corner overflow filter, which I've always found to be very effective in tanks of many sizes. I'll supplement that with a larger size canister filter (and in any case will try to keep bio load relatively low, with only a few fish) so am confident that should be enough filtration at least for a while.

 

[islandguy11]

Stage 1 -- Cleaning -- finished:


Was a lot of work getting all the sand out then removing those huge dragon stone rocks -- a couple were heavy as heck, took 3 of us to get them out.

Glass has some scratches on it here and there, esp. near top left corner where somebody scrubbed too hard with the wrong thing, but overall it's in pretty good shape.

Stage 2 -- Stand Restoration -- to begin tomorrow. Won't be a major make-over but should look a lot better.

 

[Matteus]

Oooh. What kind of poly did you get?...