Tank plans/ideas

Jumping back to community tank ideas, I suddenly discovered today that there are a lot more types of tetra fish than I was previously aware of.
Now I'm toying with the idea of making the community tank a tetra community. Most likely the 4ft tank because then I can have multiple schools.
I'm sort of thinking my 23 neon tetras, with some lemon tetras (maybe 15-20), and maybe 10-15 penguin tetras too. Then around 8-10 Congo tetras (they get somewhat larger than the others).
And then bottom dwellers - Cory's, the SAE, and some ottos maybe.
I might try my luck with a few amanos, but it will be a gamble whether they get eaten or not.

And then I see all those can also be paired with apistogramma, so I want to Google the different types of apistos and see if I could maybe bring in a pair (or more?) of those just for something different. Still need to do a lot of googling about these though so they're just a potential/maybe add.

I rather like the idea of multiple types of tetras though.

 

I have blue velvet shrimps in my tank, at the moment I can count 3 diuffirent generations based on their sizes, but this will become impossible soon.

Not sure if your set on Amanos, but the Yellow 24K ones really pop in a tank with black gravel, here is a few other options:

https://saturnshrimp.co.za/product-category/livestock/shrimp/neocaridina/

Another committing fish thats quote peaceful is the harlequin and epsi rosabaras and the white cloud minnows

Ant then Tetra wise you get cardinal, rummy noses and lamp eyes as well. At the moment Cardinas and Rummys are a bit of a gamble, they dont ship so well. But do have a look around on the internet before buying, the fish and shrimp availability has really expanded over the years, and youtube is also got a few nice channels like Green Azque, KGTropicals

 

My reason for thinking amanos is that penguin and lemon tetras have a tendency to eat shrimp according to Google, so I figured with amanos being a little bigger they'd stand a better chance of not being eaten.

The list of tetras I've Googled so far (before settling on lemons, penguins and Congos to put with my neons) is:
Ember
Lemon
Penguin (T. Boehlkei)
Rummy nose
Congo
Emperor
Serpae
Rainbow
Ruby
Flame
Cardinal
Black

I flat out crossed out emperor, serpae, rainbow and ruby from my list for various reasons (I think they were mostly to do with their temperaments, but also some that don't transport well). I also crossed cardinals off. I forget exactly why but I think it had to do with them needing a much lower pH than the others. Might have been another reason though.
And the black tetras are fin nippers so although I haven't completely discounted them, I'm leaning away from having those.
I haven't heard of lamp eyes but will check those out.

I love the look of the Congos and, being slightly bigger, think they might be a nice contrast in size and appearance.
Love the yellow of the lemons, which will contrast the neons nicely. And then the penguins just for something else.

If 24k shrimp manage to survive with them then that would be awesome, but Google reckons both lemon tetras and penguin tetras would be prone to eat small shrimp. Weirdly it doesn't say anything about Congos and shrimp and those are the biggest.

White cloud mountain minnows, as much as I would love to own them, need much cooler water so I don't think they'd work with the tetras.

I'm not against harelquin or espei rasboras at all. Was just thinking of tetra only.
I also like the idea of platties but again, not sure with tetras.
So maybe I'll have a tetra community tank and then the other tank will have harlequins and platies. And an angel or 2!
Although if I go back to the angel idea I'd rather do the angel in the 4 ft tank and keep the neons in the smaller one. I might up the dimensions of that tank to 75x45cm lol.

Oh, and it's still a while before I buy. Need to build the pond first before any of this can become a reality. So it's all just thinking and planning at this stage.

 

@HugBug i have kept Lemon Tetras for years with a large colony of cherry shrimp , as long as you have a good number of lemons they generally leave the shrimp alone and you need a good planted tank so the shrimp have lots of hiding spaces and also mosses so that the shrimp can hide in them as well. Lemons are one of my favorites their behavior is really incredible and the displays they put on is really energetic awesome lively fish

 

Thanks @Nirvashen! It's always good to hear real people's experiences with fish rather than just rely on what Google tells me.

 

Just sent Graham from gapedi an email asking for a rough estimate price for a custom build and wow, he not only got back to me almost immediately, early on a Sunday morning, but the price he mentioned is totally achievable! Super yay!

So my two options are 60x45x45, or 75x45x45.
He quoted the bigger of the two and its doable, so I might just aim for that. Would mean around 150L!

Then I could put lemon, neon and penguin tetra in the custom tank, and maybe even a shoal of cpds, and Congo tetra, platties, and harlequin rasbora in the big tank, maybe even with an angel or two (I'm so scared they land up as a breeding pair and get aggressive).
And then an assortment of bottom feeders and cleaners in both tanks.

 

Hubby and I were chatting and I told him of my plans for the tanks and the fish I want to get etc.
We agreed we can go ahead with either the pond OR the custom build, but not both at the same time (not to say not both ever, just might be a year or so between the two, or at least a good few months).
In talking it through I realized a big driver for me wanting the custom build was to have a tank big enough to do a nice community in without having to wait to move the goldfish to a pond. Given that this is what the 120 was always kind of meant for, it makes the most sense for us to start with the pond because it then frees up the 120 for its original purpose. (I mean it was bought to house the goldfish, but I always pictured it as a nice big community tank more than a goldfish tank).

So for now we'll focus on building the pond so we can move the goldfish in there and then that tank will become my community tank.
I'm still liking the idea of the tetra community so that's probably what it will become.

I'm still very intimidated with the thought of scaping it, but have been googling for some ideas and have found a few I like. Don't think I want the whole jungle type vibe, I want more open spaces.

I've done some screenshots of tanks I like the look of but am not sure if I can post them here since I don't know who the tanks actually belong to so can't reference them properly? Most just showed pinterest as the reference. @A new day - what are the forum rules about posting pics? Can I post screenshots I took from Google that mostly point back to pinterest, even if I don't have exact web links or other identifiers to correctly label the owners of the pics?

 

OK, will see if I can find some links. Otherwise best I can do is "Google images"

I also realized the whole reason my current 60cm planted tank came into existence was because I didn't want to wait for the goldfish to move out and I was desperate to start a community tank. So that was my starter. But I really want more of a community and I just think a nice long tank would look so awesome with schools of fish swimming up and down the length (although knowing my luck they'll all be happy and calm and confident and won't bother schooling at all so it'll just be a tank of fish swimming everywhere... But still, I think it'll look pretty cool).
I'll start with the neons I have and add lemon tetras. And then take it from there.

Also, given that the tanks are going to have to move to my bedroom during the building, it might be best to downgrade to just the one tank until that's all finished anyway.

 

This one actually came off Facebook. It was the first big tank I'd seen that made me go "oh yes, now that's a scape I see myself doing"

(I can't find the original post, despite scouring the groups I'm on, so best reference I can give is Facebook)

These all came from searching Google images for "4ft planted aquarium". Most link back to pinterest pages and don't even open the original picture.

I really like this one.


Love this one


Not so sure about this one, but it gives me ideas.

(more pics next post)

 

Kind of like this one but it's more for the idea than the final product.


I'm not sure about this one. But keeping it as an option.


The idea that lots of hardscape and plants on left doesn't mean you can't have short plants on the right.


This one had a YouTube reference so I kept it in the Pic.
This is for the idea of keeping hardscape and plants along the back wall, highest in the middle and tapering off to each end.

 

Basically I don't think I'm a jungle tank kind of person. Whilst I'm totally loving my planted tank, there's also something very appealing about the openness of my goldfish tank, and the 45cm quarantine. There's not much scaping going on in either and I would definitely like a fair amount of plants and an actual scape, but it's the openness that I don't want to lose.

I have noticed that my neons love swimming in and through the ozelot in my planted tank. So I know they will definitely enjoy plants. But I think I want to try and maybe group most plants to one side and leave the other side mostly open. Or at least keep the big plants to one side and just have lower growing plants on the other side. Or something like that. I'm also thinking a couple of good sized plants like the ozelot would be enjoyed by all the tetras.

Basically these pics have given me a bit of a starting point and I'm starting to envisage something for the big tank now more than I have been able to so far.

 

I'm also thinking that I'll make the 120 my main community tank, and do the tetras etc in there, and then in time, if I still feel drawn to getting the custom built tank, I can use that for something a bit more specialized like apistos or dwarf gourami or rams etc. It will literally be a blank slate, not me trying to find something that fits with fish I already have. I will also have a bit more experience at that point so hopefully that will also help.

 

I think we are kind of going in the same direction idea wise with our tanks. I don't know if you ever dived for crayfish or perlemoen but I often found the contrast of the safe dense kelp beds against the vast openness of the ocean fascinating. You'd be feeling safe and at home in the kelp forest and then suddenly hit this openness of just endless sand into the deep sea. Same with islands covered in jungle, green lush forest and then just flat empty beach. I'm struggling a bit to get the balance right in my head though so hope mine turns out OK.

Something like this but with a rock or two on the right to just add a bit of balance:

 

I've never been diving (would have loved to), but yes, that looks amazing. Definitely the kind of feel I'm going for.
I might add a bit of greenery on the right just so the fish aren't left totally exposed, I don't know, but that's very much what I'm leaning towards.
Or kind of tree roots with plants and stones in and around them, leading off into just open sandiness.

 

Seems like you favour a triangular layout with sand foreground - it does look great, and easy to make look great too! George Farmer has a few videos about building and maintaining a scape similar to those you've shown:

And a whole playlist for it:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKedE6P1X5OzxWovh1nwQFR94lwO6_bBC

 

Thanks so much @fux940510.
I only recently started watching his videos and have been scouring to find inspiration. Haven't noticed those of his yet so will definitely check them out. I searched MD fish tanks but, although really great and I enjoy the videos a lot, his style is a bit different to what I'm looking for.