Badger's 150g Rainbow Tank

[WhistlingBadger]

So here's a rather fun development: We had dentist appointments the other day. (Badgerling needs braces, but that's another story. Oy.) They have a big tank, a 110 or 125, that has been steadily deteriorating and moving through various poorly conceived stocking schemes the past few years. While waiting to pay my bill, I overheard the office manager talking about the tank. "I wish I knew somebody who knows about these things..." Well... The Badgerling actually brought it up that I had a couple very nice fish tanks. Before long I was chatting with the office manager about water chemistry, compatible species, planted tanks, and so on, just a quick conversation, dropping a few bits of advice that I hoped (but didn't really expect) would be followed.

Well...

Upshot is, they're offering me $25/hour to tear the thing apart and set it up for them (I'm on summer break, so no big time problem there), then $100/month to come in and maintain it. And they'll fork out all the additional money for plants, fish, and equipment. Hmmmmm, twist my arm...

So, I've never done a tank this big before, but I feel like all the problems I've worked through with my home tanks have sort of prepared me for anything. The hardest part is, yes, all the computer research I'm having to do. Man, can't I EVER get away from these things?

Here's what I'm looking at. Going for colorful, peacefully active, low-maintenance stocking. To me that means a moderately planted tank with rainbow fish and barbs. Let me know what you think and any good alternatives.

6 Banded rainbows (M. trifasciata)
6 Boesemani Rainbows
6 Red Iryans (G. incisus)
6 Dwarf Neon Rainbows (M. praecox) OR turquoise
10 Gold Barbs
10 Bushynose Plecos
1-2 Clown or high-fin synodontis

Plants: Amazon swords, blyxa japonica, floating frogbit, and Alternanthera reineckii, lots of java fern and java moss.

Not sure about that choice of bottom feeders. Would prefer medium to large loaches (I've always wanted to try clowns or red-tailed blues--hard to beat a school of those for visual impact) but they all need to be kept in groups, and I don't want to overstock. Alternatives? How tough are those synodontis?

Please advise! I don't want to screw this up!

I'm going in today to talk with this gal and have her show me in more detail how their setup works, what kind of equipment they have, and so on. This is crazy. We'll see how it goes.

[Rocksor]

Test their source water first, - ph, gh, kh, and TDS. Then run a comparison for their water report.

Determine the temperature range of the room, which will determine the water temperature range that best suites it.

Stock fish and plants according to said above. Do not stock at 100% for fish. It's better to have more schooling fish (let owner pick show case fish based on adult pics), then small amounts of different schools. Personally, 16 boesemani with 8 red. Maybe 10 gold barbs. You can get a similar effect with a cooler water tank using rosy barbs, make sure you get 1 m per 3 female.

I would skip the clown loaches....a bit delicate, and get way too large. Large emerald green cores (Brochis) are a good middle ground for small cories and large loaches. You want bottom feeder they will see all the time. The bottom feeders must be able to compete with the schools above. Synodontis can get large, and may eat smaller fish.

Pic easy plants (fast) to grow....might think about floating plants for 1/3 of the aquarium. Amazon swords are relatively easy.

[SueD]

Why 10 BNP? Lot of potential for fighting going on there. These are not schooling fish. One, maybe two OK (2 males may fight), but they're rarely seen if they can find places to hide.

Large school of cories would be great. While rainbows aren't my cup of tea, I know they can make a stunning display. If you add in some barbs, also look at Odessa Barbs.

For plants, crypts, crypts and more crypts - many varieties. Some taller hygros in the back.

[Bigalofpa]

Nice job offer there. Hope it goes well.

[Boundava]

I agree 100% with the BN comment, I would go with the emerald green corys instead-in the right numbers they will be out and about and they are nice big corys. Their color will work well with the rainbows and barbs.

For your plants; in my experience the blyxa can take a bit to get established and will float a lot if the substrate isn't fine enough to hold it down. Alternanthera reineckii can be problematic if you don't have enough light and will need a bit of maintenance once it starts going. I would skip the java moss, a tank like that will have a good current and the moss will go everywhere. I think a few larger swords in the back and some smaller crypts for the mid/front of the tank would work great.Nothing too fussy or demanding-just get the root tabs in the substrate after you plant to get them off to a good start.

BTW How fun for you!

[Rocksor]

If the tank has 2 heaters, I would advise a heater controller.

If you are not ordering fish, I would go with something readily available... Any chance you can quarantine the fish for the boss while in fishless cycle? Nothing like a bunch of sick fish during the first week of a cycled tank to turn people off..

[RiversGirl]

just piping in to say
Congrats on this fun opportunity, Tom!

[Brhino]

consider their water availability for water changes. When I set up my office tank one thing I failed to anticipate is that we only have 10 gallon water heaters here (because we have no bathtubs or showers or washing machines) I am very limited in how much tank-temperature water I can draw. Had to make special arrangements.

[madagascariensis]

Stem plants might not look the best without high light, CO2 and constant fertilizing and trimming. For a low-maintenance scape, have you considered Aponogetons and crypts? Besides the smaller, better known crypts there are plenty of taller ones suitable for the mid or even back of a tank.

Can't comment much on the stocking, but for a tank in a public space I'd always stock based on hardiness and cheapness to replace first. You'll spend less time worrying about hardy fish and they'll be much more likely to survive stressors like an unplugged filter or no feeding over the weekend. Stocking with hardy fish would also cut down on the occasional random/inexplicable deaths that aquarists take as a fact of life but non-aquarists find distressing. Additionally, cheap and common species are much easier to replace once something inevitably goes wrong.

[AmazonJoe]

Sounds like a fun adventure good job on selling yourself ;)