My 200 gallon...

Hey...

As some of you know, a friend of mine very kindly donated a 200 gallon tank that he didn't use.

It's *almost* cycled, but being of the 'not very creative' type, I need suggestions for a theme.

The tank is being used as a display tank in the bar area of my pub...

 

One word: Malawi.

 

I thought the same thing.

The problem is, it won't just be me taking care of the tank (I have 6 staff working for me), so I need something hard to kill...

 

Is there anything that you could do that corresponds with the name or environment of your pub?

 

well...

the pub is called the Moderation, so probably nothing suitable from that.

It's 5 minutes walk from one of the the biggest rock festivals in the UK and 2 minutes walk from a river, so there may be something there

 

Perhaps you could have a lot of plants and rock caves and one large centerpiece rock with "The Moderation" engraved somehow into it very big. I think that sounds really cool

 

I was thinking maybe some old tat from around the pub...
like old tankards and such...

 

Could always set up bottles and mugs to bubble

 

Both of those sound really interesting

Endless possibilities, especially with a 2oo gallon

 

Tell me about it...

I wandered round my LFS for 2 hours today. I wanted to buy EVERYTHING!

Also talked a woman who was keeping a Betta in a 1 gallon bowl to buy it a 10 gallon tank, a light, heater, live plants, etc

 

excellent Rob! That is what my betta is in, and he couldn't be happier

 

Yes, you can really tell how much of a personality the fish has when it isn't in a tiny container. Actually, mine showed me where 2 of my Cory lay dead, and it was pretty weird how it showed me...

 

How do you mean, show you?

 

Well, when I walked over to the tank it swam frantically around the dead fish and kept looking back and forth between me and the cory

 

Rob sounds terribly exciting. Just a note though, don't put anything metal (like metal mugs) How about all kinds of caves and one with a little sign over it with the pubs name on it.
Cichlids are really hard to kill so there's one suggestion. Hum... Would be gorgeous with Discus in it too. ...and Angels ...and...... aaarrrggghhh I would be crazy by now!!!! Have fun and keep us posted.
Carol

 

I am Jealous If I had a 200 I would get a shark. LoL. Must be about 8 foot long.??? I hope it has cement floor to it. Would weigh over 2000 pounds. That's amazing. How about some bala sharks, pict cats, and some irradant sharks. It's really endless what you could do with this. LIVE plants of course?

 

Yeah, I'd probably get some schooling fish such as Tiger Barbs, Rosy Barbs, a mixture of Leopard and Danios, and such. Or I'd get fish like Clown Loaches, Bala Sharks, Oscars, and Discus. I'd also add a Common Pleco! Great news! Congrats!

 

sounds like fun what about a pirahana and you could have feeding times to attract people or an oscar and do the same thing and you could get a common pleco

 

for a pirahana it would have to be legal in the UK

 

o ya sorry

you could get a big school of guppies mabye 25 and 25 plattys 25 swordtails 25 endlers 10 or so corys couple bristlenose plecos and a couple angels to keep the babys undercontrol then put a sunken ship with your pubs name engraved on it and make the tank look like a sunken ship yard or something like taht

 

If you could find this many you could have like 150 or so neon (or cardinal) tetras, that'd be awesome

 

a pet store by me has a planted tank with a ton of cardinals and corys its 125 its pretty cool just need more cardinals even though they onely have like 80

 

HI Rob, congratulations on your 200G! You finally got it

If you'll have Lake MalawI Cichlids, I don't think plants are the right setting for them. They're quite aggressive and will quickly rip the plants to pieces. What's more, I don't think they'll tolerate hard and alkaline water that MalawI Cichlids like. However there are some plant species that will do well in very hard water (and that have hard leaves which make it more difficult for fish to destroy), but like I said - the fish may quickly destroy the plants. Besides, if your staff will be taking care of the tank, and if they're inexperienced - I don't think a planted tank is something you should be giving them to care for.

Plus, in a deep tank, such as a 200G surely is, there is more light required to grow plants well. So even with low-light plants, if the tank is very deep, you'll need stronger lighting to penetrate through the water all the way to the bottom.

Lake MalawI Cichlids like rocky settings and sandy substrates. The best setting for them would be a tank full of rocks or cobbles and plenty of rocky caves. An advantage of such a setting would be that it's easy to create and it's easy to care for a tank like this. And you wouldn't worry that your staff will mess something up. Rockscapes can look quite beautiful as well.

What type of filter do you want to use with your 200? I suppose, a canister? I think a canister would be great for a tank this large, and it would also save you a lot of space - if you could hide the canister box inside your stand (I imagine you'll be getting a stand for the tank). Overall, it would give your tank a more aesthetic look.

OK, good luck to you with your new tank. And keep us updated, especially with pictures! Are they coming anytime soon?

 

I may just have to go to the uk to see the fish tank once it is set up

 

OR ... you could get some floating plants? Look at this rockscape: - I think it's beautiful, even though there are only rocks in there and some floating plants.

 

T...T...T....T....Two Hundred G...G...GGallons. WOW. Whats its dimensions