Hi everyone,
Currently I have 2 6" oscars in a 5ft x 2ft x 2ft tank with 3 bichirs and a talking cat.
Eventually I am getting in a few months a huge 10 x 3 x 3 ft.
I hope to add the fish to a new tank along with 2 synodontis, a pearl catfish, 7 talking cats, 2 clown loaches, 5 hoplo cats, 5 midnight catfish. All fish except loaches are adult size.
Any comments anyone?
Also I will be putting them all in a 37" square tank initially with a lot of furniture for all the bottom dwellers to hide in.
Alison

Welcome to the site.

10' x 3' x 3', that is around 560 UK gallons. A very big tank indeed. I have got a 300 gallon coming soon

Okay, I have been totting all your fish shop and even though I haven't done any precise calculations, your tank will not be big enough for all of them. Yes, it's a very big tank, but that is a lot of fish. Remember Oscars can reach over 12 inches, bichirs can also get very big. hoplo catfish need around 60 gallons each and we haven't even mentioned any of the other fish, so you can see that they all add up and you would need a bigger tank than you are planning on. You have to remember that one fish of let's say 8 inches, will require a certain amount of space. It doesn't take very long before you have used up your 560 gallons

Hi,
thanks for the reply but hoplo cats only get to 5-6" - were you thinking of something else?
Alison

Yes, the average size is 6 inches but they have the potential to reach 8 inches plus. When you have fish like this you should cater for the maximum size they can reach. You can't guarantee that they will stay at 6 inches. According to the link I have attached, they are heavy eaters. This will put more waste into the water as well. This is why they recommend a larger tank.

http://www.aqualandpetsplus.com/Catfish,%20Hoplo.htm

I agree with you totally about potential size but my hoplos are 8 years + and no longer growing!
Alison

It's likely to reach that size in the wild. Just like Oscars, they reach quite large size in the wild, up to 16 inches and more. However, that's very rare in captivity. But, you never know, you may end up with a monster like some people do. I saw absolutely enormous one in a fish shop about three years ago, a real beast.

I will be ordering my 300 gallon tank shortly. That measures 8' x 30" x 30". Also having a built-in 85 gallons sump filter as well.

Going to be quite interesting

Hi,
I would be interested in what fish you saw - was it thoracatum or pectorale or some other? As I said mine are 8 years old and 6"s long but about an inch tall and wide. What was the width of the fish you saw?I'm not worried about my current ones - they reached maturity a while ago but I want to be careful about any youngsters I buy.
Alison

http://www.aqualandpetsplus.com/Catfish,%20Hoplo.htm

This is the one I was going by, obviously you may have a different species.

However, if I was you, I would look at all the fish that you mentioned at the beginning of this thread. To see what their tank requirements are to reach fish and then add it all up. I think you'll find that comes more than 500 gallons. If it isn't more, it will be very close. I suppose at the end of the day it all depends on how much you like tank maintenance. 30% water change in 500 gallons is 150 gallons. If you stock your tank to its maximum, that is the sort of water change you will probably have to do once a week. It will probably take 40 minutes to drain it out and near enough the same to put it back in again. If you are using buckets, you can probably treble that time. And then you've got to think about your filtration. On my 300 gallon tank I'm going for a sump filter. I think it's around £170 in all if you include the pump.

Good luck with your new venture, to post pictures on here when you have it