What if...?

[PhillipOrigami]

A few hypothetical situations about tanks.

1. You have a 500g aquarium. You can stock it with only one type of fish, as many as you like. No inverts. It will be your only tank for 5 years.

2. Only one aquarium of yours for the rest of your life. No intentional stock changing.(no replacing dead fish too, you gotta breed)

3. Your favorite tank of yours of all time? (pics required)

4. The biggest regret you have made in the hobby?(re-stocking a tank, plantin / unplanting etc.)


I'll go...

1. Wouldn't a large amount of a tiny fish be awesome? Parchiedon sp.?

2. My 166 when it's stocked...

3. N/A

4. Dropping the 12g.

[Danifins]

Oooo this is fun!

1. You have a 500g aquarium. You can stock it with only one type of fish, as many as you like. No inverts. It will be your only tank for 5 years.

3-4 Arowanas (either silver or those gorgeous brilliant gold ones) *OR* a large school of bala sharks (AQ advisor says 20 is only 78% stock!)

2. Only one aquarium of yours for the rest of your life. No intentional stock changing.(no replacing dead fish too, you gotta breed)

How big can it be? Assuming its a really big tank, I want a 200g tank with the following:

30 x Cardinal Tetras (Paracheirodon axelrodi)
20 x Harlequin Rasboras (Trigonostigma heteromorpha_
15 x San Juan Cories (corydoras bilineatus)
15 x Corydoras bifasciatus (not sure of common name)
6 x Altum Angels (Pterophyllum altum)
15 x Otos (Otocinclus vittatus)

I think I'd end up with just angels and cories after the others die off; not sure how to get tetras, rasboras or otos to breed in home aquairums.

3. Your favorite tank of yours of all time? (pics required)

Well I've only ever had three tanks so I'll post my two favourite of the three:

This is a 30 gallon bowfront (oh how I miss my bowfront)

Doesn't look so great in this pic, later on I have lots of realy live plants and more fish. But in there at that time I think there was about 8 cardinals, 6 ish Harlequins, a single female guppy and a baby angel fish. And probably about 4 cories. Later on the angel and guppy were gone to be replaced by a fancy betta and I think I had a pair of german blue rams at one point.

And this one is a ten gallon... I love it because I really like how the aquascape turned out.

The mixture of live and fake plants looks pretty seamless (to me anyway), I love the driftwood and the rock cave. That tank had several platies, a single one-eyed female sword tail and a couple of male guppies. And a lone black phantom tetra (that had come with an earlier school of red phantoms I had cycled my frist tank with, but he was the only one that lived for years, the others died after about a year)

4. The biggest regret you have made in the hobby?(re-stocking a tank, plantin / unplanting etc.)

Definitely that I kept goldfish in bowls, 1, 2 and 5 gallon tanks. I mean when I got my first goldfish I had no idea, I was 12 and begged my parents for a fish, it was hard enough to get them to let me have a bowl let alone a tank, haha. But I do feel guilty about it now, they never lasted more than a few months to a year.

[PhillipOrigami]

That bowfront looks nice :)

One more question: in a perfect world: what's your tank?
(ie no stocking issues, plants with plant eaters etc?)
Ill post again for mine.

[PhillipOrigami]

Perfectland aquarium:
x50 cardinal tetras
x50 rummynose tetras
X20 harlequin rasboras
x12 black/white/koi angelfish
X25 pencilfish
X30 marbled hatchets
X20 peppered and sterbai cories
X5 yellow labs
X10 demasoni
X20 bosemani rainbows
X5 BN plecos
X20 clown loach

This tank would be 2x as big as it needs to be so the fish are more spread out.

[ameliaaahx]

I WANT that tank, Phillip!

[wijnands]

A few hypothetical situations about tanks.

1. You have a 500g aquarium. You can stock it with only one type of fish, as many as you like. No inverts. It will be your only tank for 5 years.

Hmm.. few pairs of sailfin plecos

2. Only one aquarium of yours for the rest of your life. No intentional stock changing.(no replacing dead fish too, you gotta breed)

Guppies then, they always breed

3. Your favorite tank of yours of all time? (pics required)

It's always the current one.


my aquarium by j_wijnands, on Flickr

Is the most recent pic

4. The biggest regret you have made in the hobby?(re-stocking a tank, plantin / unplanting etc.)

Keeping only 3 tiger barbs when I was a kid to make room for those stupid sword tails. The female died giving birth, the male jumped the tank a few weeks later.

[MLBfan]

Answers in wheat

A few hypothetical situations about tanks.

1. You have a 500g aquarium. You can stock it with only one type of fish, as many as you like. No inverts. It will be your only tank for 5 years.
Saltwater: Picasso triggerfish
2. Only one aquarium of yours for the rest of your life. No intentional stock changing.(no replacing dead fish too, you gotta breed)Again, saltwater, reef this time with clownfish, a bunch so there is little inbreeding

3. Your favorite tank of yours of all time? (pics required)

4. The biggest regret you have made in the hobby?(re-stocking a tank, plantin / unplanting etc.)Using substrate I have for firemouths

[bignellm]

A few hypothetical situations about tanks.

1. You have a 500g aquarium. You can stock it with only one type of fish, as many as you like. No inverts. It will be your only tank for 5 years.

2. Only one aquarium of yours for the rest of your life. No intentional stock changing.(no replacing dead fish too, you gotta breed)

3. Your favorite tank of yours of all time? (pics required)

4. The biggest regret you have made in the hobby?(re-stocking a tank, plantin / unplanting etc.)

Hmm. 500 gallons? One tank rest of life, and no replacing dead fish?
Hmm. Could go super easy on breeding and say Live bearers and go wild type Swords and Plat; but why not go nuts and say North American Live Stock (Cold Water Wild stock). So, Sun Fish and Blue Gill. Lots of Drift wood and natural muddy bottom. Then tons of actual N. American aquatic Plants from the natural area. But boy, would this take a ton of filtration and I'd probably have to upgrade to a pond.

Biggest mistake I've made in this Hobby? Underestimating the anxiety it caused to my Wife, when I quote, "Pay more attention to the fish, than my wife" on account of the tanks, needing basic maintenance. >Not divorced yet, but need to balance maint. so she doesn't always feel neglected<

Don't wanna post any fav. pics in current, cause I really want to enter my new tank in the TOTM next month. :)
But here's a peek at my current fav.

Resized.jpg

[Fisharefriends27]

1) 1 Florida gar, 10 or so clown loaches, sail fin pleco IF compatible, not sure

2)same as above

3) my 29 gallon before it crashed, have pics somewhere

4)the 120 gallon equipment, there is alot I would change.