ideal clown tank : The LOACHOTROPE

[michael]

Hello all,

Our downstairs is finally getting refinished and the stone floor (over concrete) should be ready for a fish tank sometime in late August. It's my intention to rehouse my tribe of clowns at that point in a better tank, the Loachotrope. The room is ground level of the house, has a bathroom with faucet close by, opens to the backyard (both flower garden/lawn and a outside drain nearby) so water changes will be easy.

Currently I have a 90 gallon tank with 14 clowns, some silver dollar tetras, bosemani rainbow fish, and a few other fish. The largest of the loaches is between 5-6inches in length, with most being around 3-4inches. While the current tank might be ok, I'd like to get them into a more long term, larger tank.

So... where to begin? It's my understanding that depth of the water is the least important factor. The room where they'll live has a full 13 foot of clear wallspace (again stone over concrete, so the weight of a large tank shouldn't be such a problem). I've seen several tanks in the 150-180 gallon range that are 96 inches in length (for reasonable prices). Do there exist larger tanks (or more importantly perhaps, longer) still come in reasonable prices or am I looking at custom made for anything over 96 inches? Would it be possible to find something say 10-12 foot long?

filtration... those picky loaches seem to enjoy quality water, with plenty of movement. Right now my 90 gallon has a fluval 405 canister along with a fluval U3 filter (in addition to an air bubbler and a second misc powerhead in the tank for circulation/air). Let's say I get a 150-180 gallon tank that's 8ft long (96inches). Would 2 of the 405 canisters be enough (along with perhaps a couple of powerheads for circulation) or will I need to "graduate" to either a bigger/different pump or just break down and get a "sump"? I like my filter setup at the moment as it lets me clean one or the other of the filters without disturbing the other (less chance of disruption of the biofilter/bacteria).

Again, assuming the same tank, how much circulation is enough? And will I need to run pipes under the substrate for water return (as in the "hillstream" tank) or will having the supply/returns for the main filters on opposite ends be enough?

For "decor" : sand, some rocks, plenty of wood, and whatever plants I have that are overgrowing my other tanks.

We've got plenty of fish and active filters at home already. Cycling the tank should be relatively easy. However, how long after the water parameters stablize should I wait before moving the loaches? 1-2 weeks after the last non-zero nitrite reading?

Lastly companions... I'd like to have probably the silver dollars and/or the rainbow fish accompany the loaches in the tank as well. I'd have no problem with just increasing their numbers a little bit as well (currently 7 silver dollars and 10 rainbows) and adding 2-3 bristlenose plecos. However, would it be possible to get some other loaches for this tank that will exist well with the clown loach tribe? Currently my rainbows breed regularly and the loaches then consume the eggs within 30-45 seconds, but it would be easy to toss a male and a few females in a breeder tank to make more.

Another option for companions might be trying to mix them with an appropriate combination of soft water cichlids. Well, does such a combination exist? Perhaps mouthbrooders so that territory isn't such an issue, but to be honest I've not really looked at south/central american cichlids enough to know if that's an option or not (well, some combinations are certainly not right, but maybe some are). We've got 2 African cichlid tanks, so we're accustomed to their behavior, but I'd prefer this tank to be built around the loaches.

Lastly I apologize to all the international readers for my use of English units. sigh...

I'll try to make some updates with text and photos as I go along with the project. Perhaps I will thusly not be such a "lurker" on the forum.

cheers,

Michael

[anchovy]

Sounds exciting, Michael. I don't have much advice, being rather new to loaches myself. However, it sounds like you have a good set-up. As to cichlids--I think parrot cichlids do pretty well in a semi-aggressive tank. I'll probably get lambasted for saying that, though. If you like plecos, you could also try some of the larger varieties. (Royal plecos, for instance, are pretty nice.)

[chefkeith]

A Loachotrope!!! Great plan!

Yes, the footprint is most important for loaches. You must also consider that tanks over 6ft long are very difficult to move. The only way I could get my 8ft tank into my fishroom was through a window. I build the stand for it in the fishroom.

Tanks over 8 ft long are usually custom built.

You might get lucky and find a large tank on Ebay or Creiglist for local pick-up.

Glasscages.com has some large tanks also. They sell a 130" x 24" x 25" Tall 340 gallon tank for $1200
http://www.glasscages.com/?sAction=ViewCat&lCatID=2

Filtration depends on several things, such as stocking level, how often you plan to maintain the filters, but also your very own skills and abilities. A well designed sump can add to the total volume of the aquarium system and make maintenance much easier and less time consuming. Canisters are wonderful too and are much less complicated to set-up than a sump. A combination of canisters and sumps is what I use.

Stocking the tank might be most challenging aspect. Disease prevention is tough with large systems especially if you like getting new fish. You'll need to save some space for quarantine tanks if you do plan to buy new fish often.

[michael]

hehe, Anchovy would be my other half lobbying for some of her favorites. She loves the plecos and hybrid parrotfish (sins against nature?). Despite being hybrids, I'll be the first to admit those 2 parrots are among the most social, spirited, and "self-important" fish we've got.

It sounds like some variation on a 96inch tank will be what we end up with. I'm also in favor of redundancy. ie smaller things working in tandem such that when one fails then entire system doesn't go down. We'll see, but for now there's plenty of time.

We've got a couple of small tanks for new arrivals which should help. Plus it's not so much about getting new fish (well, of course part of it is!), but mostly I want the fish we've got to have plenty of room as they grow.

thanks,

Michael

[mickthefish]

Hi Michael and welcome, the tanks size you mentioned at 10 to 12 fott would have to be made in situ as the weight would be to heavy and cumbersome to carry.
i have a mate called coldwater John who has a 13x21/2x2 that was made in his living room, it looks spectacular.

mick