New 250gal tank what to do?

[TCR]

Hey all,

Was planning on buying a 250gal tank and would like some insight on what I should do.

I have an agreement with my bf that I will have to get rid on of the 120gal tank and in it is a dat, jardini aro, featherfin cat, common plec, and african lungfish.

I really want to have rays but i'm unsure if the 250gal is ok for a couple of them.

Also I'm not sure if the fish I have with get along with rays

what kind of substrate should be used with the rays as well, I was think 3m sand in a cool colour

Also as I read that rays and aros are good together i was thinking of getting more aros as well, but I heard the jardinis are agressive.. can I mix aros or should I consider a diff subspecies of aro (eg. silver and black?) and with that said would the silver and black aros outgrow the tank?

Ive seen tanks with aros, rays and dats to so I think the dat should be fine

Insight would be very much appriciated

[stratos]

You may think a 250 gallon is huge, but if you are planning to keep some large fish long term, it will become quite small over time.

Thus, my recommendation is to either keep the single Jardini and raise it to adult size, or to replace it with a single silver/black SA arowana or perhaps an Asian arowana. Asiana aros are pricey, so you might want to pass on them for now. You don't mention what kind of jardini you have, is it a pearl? If so, they really are beautiful when adult and I would just stick with it.

I would also keep the dat you have and raise it up.

I would consider a trio (one male, two females) of royal motoros, Charles can get them for you from Canadian Aquatics at a reasonable price. If that is more than you want to spend just get one or a pair.

Keep in mind that the motoros will be tank busters and eventually a trio or even pair will outgrow your tank. A single motoro is all you will be able to keep long long term.

I don't know anything about featherfin cats; the pleco should be fine. And as you already mentioned, the lungfish has to go.

3M sand has been discontinued, though you might find some kicking around. I would personally use #8 or #3 grade California river washed sand.

Finally, if it were me, I would consider a school of 7-10 Geophagus sp. "eartheaters" or clown loaches. I notice that Charles has earth eaters on special. If you want larger clown loaches (or more Indo dats), send me a pm and I can help out there.

Good luck with the set up.

[TCR]

well i know a 250gal isn't all that big, cant upgrade to a massive tank till i own my own place and can build it into the foundation (the addiction lol)

the jardini I orig bought as a green and with further reading and looking at pics and such I realized its a Jardini. He is a greenish colour and was a lil paler green when i first got him, hes changed his colour a lil since I first got him (gotten I think a lil deeper greener a shinyer). I have no idea what kind of Jardini he is.

Would mind a black aro instead to keep a more natural south american theme (as I have a 150gal with angels and tetras hoping to one day get discus keeping it all in a south american biotope) but I thought they get really big, also I was hoping to have 2 aros, but if it will be too crowded then i guess not, i was thinking of getting rid of the jardini and going for 2 younger black aros?

when the budget is up I wouldnt mind a trio, thought I would just do a pair, what are the advatages of a trio verses a pair?

lungfish is gonna be a hard one to get rid of and I think hes cute but I guess I'll try to figure out what to do with him, for sure is gonna have to go, he was actually a spontanious purchuse and has worked out so far, but not suitable for the long term.

The plec is a lil stupid, dosent clean at all so i would mind seeing him go if I can find a algea eater that will work better then what he does lol

i wouldnt mind some more dats too but not quite yet as the tank is not set up yet, its in process of possible purchuse

[eternity302]

Humm... Just from personal experience, I had a Jardini that snapped out of the blue one day... he slaughtered all his tank mates.. no clue why, can't explain why! I sold it right away to someone who wanted to house him alone. Just personally I wouldn't put an expensive ray with a Jardini together, but they are darn beautiful!

Anyways, I would go for black aro's like you mentioned or a high shine aro, they are most gorgeous!

OH, and I agree on the lungfish, hard to sell as heck at the end hahahaha!

Maybe consider a Flagtail as an algae eater!

[King-eL]

With a 250g, If you wanna lessen the aggression do a JFM styke tank.
Here is the example. Only JDM style setup if you want everything to co-exist.
[YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKVI50ASKyI[/YT]
[YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOdcm3dAxvw[/YT]
BTW there is only one pearl arowana aka S. jardini or autralian gold arowana. The other species of australian arowana is S. lechardti aka spotted arowana.

[yuppa]

Jardini's can get crazy aggressive..

I recommend a Phoenix if your going with a south america theme.. Silvers and blacks are almost identical as adults, you really only see the difference when they are babies. The price of black aro (200 dollar ish) is near the price of asian aro - Red Tail Gold.. I would highly recommend an asian aro over black.. Other then that you can get large silver probably for free if you put out some feelers, they are impossible to get rid of once they get large.

What are you going to do with the lungfish? How big is it now?

[TCR]

So the flagtails (aka phoenix?) should be in a group correct

so should I do
- an asian aro
- small goup of flagtails
-rays (how many just one?)
-couple dats

would that be a good mix?

the lungfish I'll prolly try to trade for something I want for my set up or try selling for what I paid (I only had him for prolly four months.. still have the recipt too)
hes about 9ish inch dosent really cause any promblems yet tho.

[stratos]

So the flagtails (aka phoenix?) should be in a group correct

so should I do
- an asian aro
- small goup of flagtails
-rays (how many just one?)
-couple dats

would that be a good mix?

Sounds like a good mix to me.

Oh, and Yuppa has had a thing for African lungfish for years I think (ask him to tell you about the one he gave to an ex gf! ), bet he'd provide it a good home. Only problem there Yuppa is that the lungfish would rip the crap out of the Asian aro you stand to get from me soon...

Sorry to derail thread.

[eternity302]

Well... small group of flagtails is often not recommended, and they do get big.. just takes a LONG LONG LONG time LOL!

I go with any types of aro, as I like em all, but if you're looking at value, Asian Aros definitely don't depreciate like a silver aro would do! Not even pet stores want to take in a Silver aro, LOL! Flagtails would be great, please have a crew of 5 or more if you do small groups! no clue about rays, but dats would definitely be nice! =) That already sounds like an excellent monster tank!

[TCR]

yea actually now that I've looked up pics my aro has to be a pearl.. looks exactly the same

are asians more peaceful then the rest?

I dont want to break the bank for one but I would mind a young one for a decent price if it would be a better option