New 60 gallon tank.

Persistency

Persistency

Large Fish
#1
Dec 14, 2011
229
0
0
WI
#1
I bought a new aquarium today! Woo hoo! I have a problem though--I don't know what to stock it with. I don't want another community tank, that's for sure. I want to be able to stock it more or less like a community tank, though (as in I would like to have quite a few fish in it.) I'm going to buy a Marineland Emperor 400 filter to go with it. I hope that's sufficient for starting out. I'm also going to go with a more natural theme, I think. As in lots of greens and grays and browns.

Does anyone have any ideas?
 

metsrangersfan15

metsrangersfan15

Medium Fish
#2
Sep 5, 2011
89
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0
New Jersey
#2
go with a south american theme. angels or discus, tetras, corys or other catfish, some otocinculus for algae.
this would also fit your wish for natural looking decor. you can do a dark gravel with lots of driftwood, rocks, and plants.
 

Persistency

Persistency

Large Fish
#8
Dec 14, 2011
229
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0
WI
#8
Your tank looks good, but my plans have changed. My 28 gallon took a tumble yesterday when its stand broke. I only lost one fish so far thankfully, but it was a horrible mess. I'm going to cut my losses and just use the 60 gallon as my new community tank. I'm a poor college student and I just dropped $350 on that new one. That's what happens when you make plans I guess. Bleh.
 

Persistency

Persistency

Large Fish
#10
Dec 14, 2011
229
0
0
WI
#10
Here's a question. I'm at a friend's college house and she has a roommate that is completely neglecting her tank. There are only three fish in it, a Congo tetra, some sort of large angel fish, and a peco. I'm going to ask her if she wants me to take the tetra, but I'm also wondering about the Angel fish. I've heard that they're kind of aggressive, but this one doesn't seem to be doing a whole lot. That might be because the water level is too low for the filters to work and I'm sure the quality has to be horrible with the mountains of poop on the bottom. Do you think it would ever turn aggressive in the big tank? I plan on stocking it fairly heavily.
 

T

Thyra

Superstar Fish
#11
Jun 2, 2010
1,891
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Yelm, WA
#11
I have Angelfish in with several kinds of tetras, female bettas, platies and ottos and have not had any problems. The only problem I can see would be if you had more than two in one tank and a couple of them paired up. Two of my tanks have a single Angel and another has two that have been together for many years and obviously must be the same sex. I have also heard that when they get larger they could go after any neons, but mine have not bothered my neons.
 

Persistency

Persistency

Large Fish
#12
Dec 14, 2011
229
0
0
WI
#12
That's good to hear. I hope the roommate will agree to part ways with her fish because they look absolutely miserable. And I really want that angel fish now! It'll be the biggest swimmer in the new tank and I think it would make a nice centerpiece. It's a beautiful fish.
 

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T

Thyra

Superstar Fish
#13
Jun 2, 2010
1,891
0
0
Yelm, WA
#13
Just curious - do you have a new stand with this 60g tank? You really don't want a repeat of that last catastrophe and you are dealing with about 600 pounds not 280 now. Also before you fill it be really sure it is absolutely level both side to side and front to back. Sounds simple, but I filled one of mine and had it nice and level side to side and in my haste forgot all about the front to back!
 

Persistency

Persistency

Large Fish
#15
Dec 14, 2011
229
0
0
WI
#15
Persistency said:
That's good to hear. I hope the roommate will agree to part ways with her fish because they look absolutely miserable. And I really want that angel fish now! It'll be the biggest swimmer in the new tank and I think it would make a nice centerpiece. It's a beautiful fish.
Click to expand...
UPDATE! The roommate has agreed to part ways with her fish! She doesn't want any of the setup, but I don't really want it either. I feel really sorry for the pleco, but I don't know what I can do. I already have the young bristlenose. The angel fish's tank mates will likey be: danio, platy, swordtail, corydora, bristlenose pleco, molly, tetra, guppy. Is this okay? I don't want to have any problems in the future.
 

T

Thyra

Superstar Fish
#16
Jun 2, 2010
1,891
0
0
Yelm, WA
#16
It shouldn't be hard to borrow a level from someone. Almost anyone who owns a hammer and saw has a level. Small plastic ones aren't very expensive, but I doubt it will come to that. What you will be leveling is the stand - you can put shims under it at the bottom (floor) if necessary. (Shims are small tapered slivers of wood or a composite. ) The reason I am mentioning this is a lot of times floors aren't exactly level - especially right along the walls. It isn't really noticeable until you go to install an appliance or in this case an aquarium. (What you don't want to so is level just the tank because that would put a strain on the bottom)
 

Persistency

Persistency

Large Fish
#17
Dec 14, 2011
229
0
0
WI
#17
That seems simple enough. I have the glass sitting on the stand right now, but that was only to get it off the floor while we mopped. It has towels under it, so it has to come up anyway. I'll just do all of that then, lol.

Here's an off-topic question.. I've been shopping for new gravel, and I've looked at different websites trying to figure out how much to buy. When I filled my QT, and even the emergency one downstairs, I've found that 1 lb of gravel to every gallon of water looks pretty good. Do you suppose it still will for an aquarium so big? Or should I be buying more? I don't really like to have a thick layer of it. Just enough to hold my plants down is good enough for me.
 

KcMopar

KcMopar

Superstar Fish
#19
May 11, 2011
1,854
1
0
Louisiana
www.americanhotrodsolutions.com
#19
I like to go with little to no substrate because it makes it much easier to vacuum. Take for instance my 150G, it has gravel only on one side of it and the other end is bare. I have my water flow as such that is flows over the bare glass and remove detritus (particulate organic carbon, like food and poo) then disperses it onto the gravel side which provides nooks and crannies for it to settle into until its vacuumed each week.
The thinner the gravel the easier it is to get clean of detritus. Its just my preference but, I do have a few tanks that get maintained religiously every week so anything to make it quicker works for me.
 

T

Thyra

Superstar Fish
#20
Jun 2, 2010
1,891
0
0
Yelm, WA
#20
That sounds like a good idea, Kerry, but if she wants plants I think you would need at least an inch or more of substrate. OC would probably know the minimum depth of substrate for most plants.
 

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