What to do with my 125 gallon?

[breyer123]

I have to say I've never posted on a forum before .. although I've spent a gazillion hours reading them ..... so here goes
I have recently brought home from our old country store, my 125 tank that used to house Oscars. I am wanting a nice peaceful aquarium with several varieties of plecos if you guys and gals think it's feasible?! I have already added 3 small angels and a few mollies and swordtails, I'm not even sure what else to do with the upper level LOL. I have some driftwood but am planning on adding more .... as well as a few simple plants if possible (nothing high tech).
For the bottom, after several hours of reading and looking at pics, I've loosely narrowed my "love this pleco" list down to 3 ..... L066, L134 and L264. Would it be possible to keep maybe 3 of each in this size tank without much quarreling? I'm open to any and all suggestions, I would simply like varieties that, if I chose to in the future, I could try to breed. I have had bristlenose before and loved watching the babies grow Oh I almost forgot! The tank is currently @ 80 degrees and my ph runs right at 7.5, whatever babies I decide to set my sights on will be purchased over the next few months (not all at once I don't have that good a job)! Thank you all in advance for your input ... I look forward to checking after work tomorrow!

Beth

[plecomanpat]

Hi Beth, I have a 180 gallon show tank that is chock full of many different plecos including the 3 you have chosen. As long as there are enough places for refuge(I have 2/3 of the tank filled with driftwood) there should not be much of a problem. Another thing to consider is dietary differences the 066 is mainly carnivorous and the other two are omnivores. You will have territorial disputes, thats only natural but in my opinion you should not have too many problems. When I see mine scrapping more than usual I do a water change and "re-arrange the furniture" that settles things down for me.A 125 is a big tank so remember you have plenty of room for future additions, just do your homework. GOOD LUCK AND ENJOY

[breyer123]

Thank you plecoman for your response, I may now move ahead with my first purchase if I can find a place somewhere around here that can order them for me. You don't have a picture of your 180 posted somewhere do you? I would love to take a peek and get some ideas. Also, if you don't mind my asking, what sorts of foods do you feed your 066? And are there any particular types of driftwood that you either prefer or stay away from?

[joefish72b]

Beth,
I'm far from an expert but I have 3 different juveniles in a 240 gallon tank. All 3 fish now reside in the exact same piece of furniture. I assume this will change as they grow but for now they are like the 3 amigos, they even share a piece of potato or zuchini at the same time. From what most people say this is not typical behavior for most plecos.

Also my set up is much like yours as I have angels and mollies in mine too. I also have bleeding heart tetras, buenos aires tetras, and giant danios as mid level fish. For the top I have one african butterfly (must be kept in a tank with a perfect fitting lid, THEY JUMP), and half dozen golden wonder killies. One thing to keep in mind is your mollies won't have any surviving babies. All the fish listed above will eat the babies. I have a seperate nursery tank for the pregnant females when I decide I want to grow out a batch of fry.

Other bottom fish I have are khuli loaches, golden dojo loaches, one clown loach, one zebra loach, one polka dot or marble loach.

[plecomanpat]

Hi Beth, for starters I am not too computer savvy to the point of getting pics on the computer but I have been looking into getting some help so I can share my plecos and cory's with my online friends. I have a ton of driftwood in most of my tanks especially my 180 show tank. About 1/2 the pieces of wood I have I obtained from LFS and the other 1/2 I got from a friend who fortunately for me is a wholesaler,mostly South American catfishes and some cichlids. I have a couple pieces of Mopani but most is common that you can get from your local fish store.As for food for the L066's I feed a varied diet(AS WITH ALL MY PLECOS) Earthworm sticks,frozen foods,i.e. Mysis shrimp,bloodworms,and brine. I feed spectrum thera-a at least once a week and assorted prepared foods. I think a varied diet is essential to good health and growth. Some feed live blackworms but I stay away for I am leary of bacteria and parasites. Hope this has been helpful I am not an expert but am happy to share what works for me.

[breyer123]

Many thanks to both you guys for your input and sharing .... makes me feel much better about where I'm going with this LOL! Right now it looks like I'll have to spend the next couple of weeks collecting driftwood instead of ordering fish though. My husband (who I'm trying to get into fish) had a fit over some EB Jack Dempsey babies at Petsmart of all places?!? I let him buy 3 and of course put them in a quarantine tank ...... which I'm now treating for ick *sigh*. I know I know ... I shouldn't be surprised LOL. They will eventually go into a 75 gallon, but I don't trust the old particle board stand anymore, thinking I might try my hand at building my own! Plecoman I'm not very good with computers either .... I have an SD card for my phone with the little adapter that goes into the computer .... thats the easiest thing for me to figure out If I did it right then here is my work in progress ......still have a long way to go ......got to get rid of that fake driftwood on the left for sure! It was still a little cloudy here as I'd just done a water change and added the two lighter colored pieces of driftwood.

[plecomanpat]

Great start Beth, I prefer a little tannis in the water from the wood,but that is a preference not a requirement.As for the driftwood, I look for larger,bulky,and "cavey" pieces as the plecos prefer also. I took some pics of my tank and some of the inhabitants and went to download on my daughters laptop but would not read card."SORRY" On the bright side I am having dinner at my parents tomorrow and will download on their computer.Pertaining to building your own stand,I built my own w/ doors and canopy top.Just remember measure twice and cut once,tie your corners together w/gussets for additional support and for a tank that size remember water is 8lbs per gallon and the substrate even more so double up on the plywood.You can order your doors from LOWES OR DEPOT,if you dont have the router bits to make the doors. Totally of topic my sis and her family live in TENN.,eastern, beautiful country

[joefish72b]

They will eventually go into a 75 gallon, but I don't trust the old particle board stand anymore, thinking I might try my hand at building my own!

If you do, feel free to ask me anything about building your own stand. I am an expert with wood. I built the kitchen cabinets in my last 2 houses. You can get all the wood needed at Home Depot/Lowes type places.

[plecomanpat]

Hi Beth, here at my parents, been trying to upload attachments,have many pics I took today, but they have Windows Vista,so when I attach a file the forum tells me the pics are too big and it only supports up to 512kib. I cant figure out on Vista too shrink the size of the pics so I can send them

[MatsP]

I reccon that "Paint" is still part of Vista - it's available in Windows 7 on my home machine. But given that Paint isn't exactly the best product for resizing images, perhaps a google for Irfanview and using it's resize feature is a bit easier. If you resize the image to between 800 and 1000 pixels on the long side, then the size in kilobytes should be OK too.

--
Mats

[plecomanpat]

Hi Beth,sorry for the delay on the pics,thanx to Mats for the info on changing the pic sizes. More pics to follow

[plecomanpat]

more to follow will get them on a different forum and put some on my cats list

[breyer123]

Holy Moly you guys I am sooo jealous! Everyone seems to have beautifully planned out tanks .... I think I need an interior decorater for my tank (as well as my house LOL).

Plecoman I'm so glad you posted those pics, your babies are just gorgeous! And I've decided, after hitting all the LFS this past weekend looking for driftwood, that I'm just gonna have to go chop a tree down and throw it in my tank (just kidding of course) to get it even close to yours .

Mats thanks for you help with the pics ... and let me say that you have the largest Bosemani I think I have ever seen! Love your little Apistos and have always wanted a pair. I've read they do well in a large community tank .... but whats your opinion?

Joefish my husband had a fit over your "shipwreck" theme. He wants to do similar with the 75 but we've never seen the cool pirate shipwreck. Gosh those darn sunken ship are expensive too! I won't be buying him one of those unless I am convinced that I have finally addicted him to fish for sure! Hehehe

[joefish72b]

Joefish my husband had a fit over your "shipwreck" theme. He wants to do similar with the 75 but we've never seen the cool pirate shipwreck. Gosh those darn sunken ship are expensive too! I won't be buying him one of those unless I am convinced that I have finally addicted him to fish for sure! Hehehe

Yeah, that shipwreck was expensive, just like you I'm in search of driftwood to make a nice natural setting. For now the fake stuff is all I can get. I went to the local garden center and they had a few pieces but they were $75-$95 for a single branch that was maybe 40 inches long and about an inch thick. The LFS only have small bits, good for pleco chews but only about 6 inches long and they look like broken pieces of tree bark. My plan is to rent a kayak and paddle down one of the local rivers looking for a small stump or something like that. It's my understanding that if it is in the water it's off limits, but on dry land it's fair game so I'll just keep my fingers crossed.

Also that shipwreck comes in several sizes I have the largest. I know my local Pet Supermarket carries the medium and small sizes. They don't list it on their website but I'll get you the info next time I stop in there.

[2wheelsx2]

I think with a 6 footer, you can create a variety of environments and make everyone happy. I've come to realize you can do more with a wider (front to back) tank, like a 180, but a 125 is a great size. Here's mine:



It's probably not the best example of a pleco tank, since there it's CO2 injected, has too many plants, and has gravel instead of sand, but the plecos seem happy enough in it.

Here's a pic of a few just "hanging" out:

[plecomanpat]

FYI,I hate to say it but Foster and Smith's driftwood prices are very reasonable, though I have never bought from them. Advantage to me living in THE GREAT LAKE state,there is alot of driftwood along the shores and nothing a nice long boil wont cure. Oak and Apple seem to be the best,but beech is ok too. stay away from soft wood.

[yuanyelss]

I am far from an expert, but I have 3 240 gallon tank in a different boy. All 3 fish now live in the exact same piece of furniture. I think this will change as they grow, but now they are like the three Amigos, at the same time, they even share a piece of potato or zuchini...

[exasperatus2002]

So jeleous. Great photos everyone!