Tank Stocking Ideas

**Mallenco** · 01-31-2013, 07:54 PM

I recently bought a tank that is about 190 gallons, 3' cubed. Still trying to decide what to stock it with. I have mostly done african cichlids in the past. Looking for suggestions.

**Hardy85** · 01-31-2013, 07:56 PM

Your possibilities are endless. And I am jealous of that tank

Personally if I were you I'd do something like Natures Chaos

**Mallenco** · 01-31-2013, 08:06 PM

Also, it has a center post overflow to a sump below.

**fishmommie** · 01-31-2013, 08:08 PM

You could have a great variety of peaceful (relatively speaking LOL) south american cichlids in a tank that size. Blood Parrots, Severums, Geos, Angels ... it would be gorgeous

I recently saw a 200 gal Tin Foil Barb tank. It was stunning. Lots of driftwood and about 5 barbs - all upwards of 6 - 8 inches each.

You'll have to let us know what you come up with and pictures are a must.
How do you plan to cycle this tank?

**ddavis1979** · 01-31-2013, 08:09 PM

3' cubed! That is huge and deep. Have fun vacuuming that gravel.

Are you planning on a natural looking planted tank with rocks and driftwood?

Are you looking for huge variety of fish? Bigger Fish? or lots of smaller fish?

I am such a big fan of Cyprinidae Barbinae (barbs) I always recommend large schools of barbs. You could do some really impressive stocking with a mix of Tiger barbs, Odessa Barbs, Golden Barbs, Cherry Barbs, Denisons Barbs, Then do some Rainbow Sharks and Cory Cats in the bottom with a few exotic plecos, and up the schools of fish to the 20s and 30s and you could have a relaly impressive community tank.

**Mallenco** · 01-31-2013, 08:21 PM

I want to do a natural looking tank. I have never done live plants, but have always wanted to. I have a 400w MH light with a couple PC lights as well. Filtering right now is in the sump through several layers of filter pads - carbon, poly, etc.. Right now I am working on refinishing the cabinet to match my office a little better.

**Mallenco** · 01-31-2013, 08:38 PM

Here is a picture of me sitting in the tank, fixing a leak in the center post overflow.
Cube.jpg

**Hardy85** · 01-31-2013, 08:56 PM

Carbon is a long argument waiting to happen,

but my god that tank is awesome. Try to find a few nice pieces of Malaysian driftwood, nice rough looking rocks and determine what substrate you want.

The nice thing is the the footprint isn't too big, so substrate won't cost too much. You can build up the driftwood around the center piece, so it looks like a tree with unwater roots..

Just an idea

**Mallenco** · 01-31-2013, 09:00 PM

Originally Posted by Hardy85

Carbon is a long argument waiting to happen

I honestly haven't looked much at the filtration yet. I wanted to decide on fish and plants and build the filtration to fit. The carbon filter pad was part of the original setup and the guy at my LFS told me it was the most helpful. Is it a bad idea?

**Hardy85** · 01-31-2013, 09:05 PM

Its not bad (in my opinion), specially at first. But it really isn't as good as they claim. Biomax ceramic rings or plastic pot scrubbers will provide the best bio filtration.

Carbon will help with the smell from driftwood when you first set up (at least it did for me). So I'd say use it, but plan to remove it once everything gets going.

They're are a bunch of ppl on here that are pros at Sump set up, so there will be plenty of help on that