Future tank ideas

What ideas does everybody have for tanks they want eventually? Could be your “dream” tank, or maybe you have one in progress. Perhaps you have an empty one lying around and trying to figure out to do with it. It might be a particular fish, biotope, or style you want to do.

I haven’t been doing this too long and I have so many ideas but its hard to narrow them down! It doesn’t seem possible to try a little bit of everything in this hobby, I’d need a whole room of tanks lol.

So right now I have an empty 10 gal, 20 long, and 29 gal lying around. Currently have a 10gal and 40breeder community tanks setup.
So some current ideas:

Tear down the 10 gallon community and make it into a betta tank.

the empty 10 gallon can be a quarantine tank since we don’t have one now.

the 20 long can be an unheated tank, thinking of some combo of CPDs, WCMM, rocket killifish, cherry shrimp, Pearl danios.

The 29 will likely be a planted community, like my 40 breeder (this one will be my wife’s). We have some Serpae tetras to rehome, not sure where we will go with this one yet. Rainbowfish, loaches, who knows.

and then my “someday tank” I’m pretty dead set on a 75 gallon seems like a great size. Not sure what I want to do yet. Cichlids perhaps? Angelfish?

some of the random ideas floating through my head of fish/tanks I want to keep in general, not really sure where it will all fit in:

live bearer tank
High tech tank
Dirted tank
African cichlid tank
New world cichlid tank
Angels
Tiger barbs
Killifish tank
Rainbowfish tank
I also want to try honey and sparkling Gouramis, rummynose/Cardinal/black neon tetras

If anybody has any comments on my ideas or simply wants to share their own “future tank” ideas, please share!

 

Don't forget some freshwater crabs.

Not sure if thatd work with newts but if it did thatd be cool

 

I’ve been thinking when I move and get settled in I’d like to get a 125-150g tank with stand and everything.. it’s a while down the road maybe a few months and I know I’ll have to cycle the tank and I believe by the time I’m ready to set it up the tank I have now will be finished cycling and I can seed the new one with it. The idea I’ve been having is lots of plants (a sand and fine gravel mixture) sort of a big drift wood type piece in the middle and various fish haha... Im looking for plant and fish recommendations for when the time comes. I’d like some plants that aren’t too much maintenance that require a lot of trimming but also are great at getting rid of ammonia. Now I don’t know too much about aquatic plants so if most are like bi weekly or even monthly trimming that’s fine with me but I’m finding a lot of peace setting up and caring/testing the tank I have now going through a cycle. I’m absolutely in love with fish keeping, and I want some really vibrant fish not super exotic but somewhat out there if that makes sense?

 

Well, a 125 or 150 you coul do about anything except the real monsters like pacus, silver arowanas, arapaimas and a lot of the bigger catfish. I would probably do like an oscar and a common pleco in a 150 myself, or a few big schools of a lot of fish. Though a planted tank that size with like 150 cardinal tetras could be pretty awesome looking, too.

 

Discus are really cool. Or like an African cichlid community.

 

Those all look really awesome.. can all those be in a tank together like maybe a few of each?
Nevermind I was reading up on a few and I take back that question haha

 

For plants you could do sword bocopa, anacharis, anubias, crypts, java fern... You could go to Dustinsfishtanks.com and get a start up package.

For fish with color, maybe rainbow fish, electric blue acara cichlids, rosey barbs, golden wonder killifish.

if the tank is at least 72 inches long, once things are settled and established for 6-12 months, you might be interested in a black knife fish. They grow slowly but eventually get to 18 inches. They may need to be hand-fed protein-rich food every day, which I think is fun. They need a hollow tube big and long enough for their entire body. Only one per tank.

 

Love the way they all look so colorful and vibrant... would carpeting type plants be useful?
These are the parameters of the tank I had my eye on 72.5 in L x 18.5 in W x 23.4 in H... although when the time comes it might change

 

sounds fun. maybe with the driftwood you can put it in a one third of the tank and use the rule of thirds, if you can visualize that. rainbow fish are a popular option for large tanks, or sword tails once they get huge would look awesome, or the larger types of barbs.

 

Definitely... something along the lines of these pics if what I sort of am having a vision of maybe not so centered in the middle somewhat more off centered I’m thinking

 

Love the way they all look so colorful and vibrant... would carpeting type plants be useful?
These are the parameters of the tank I had my eye on 72.5 in L x 18.5 in W x 23.4 in H... although when the time comes it might change

If you go with a shorter tank, a 48-inch tank, skip the black knife. But there is a slightly lesser-known brown knife, that maxes out at 7 inches, its VERY cool, not as Beautiful, but still a front and backward swimming amazing fish to watch and show off.

 

I guess with the tank being longer the driftwood could be more to the left/partly in the middle (I want it to be in the background as best it would fit ) and right/ some middle would be more plants and rock

 

Love the way they all look so colorful and vibrant... would carpeting type plants be useful?
These are the parameters of the tank I had my eye on 72.5 in L x 18.5 in W x 23.4 in H... although when the time comes it might change

Depends on what you get, african cichlids don't really get along with plants, and a lot of bigger fish don't either. But if you go with rainbows, swordtails, discus, or stuff like that you could definitely have plants.

 

I have rainbows and blue Acaras with plants. The may have pecked up the guppy grass, but everything else is fine.