Free tank

[fender4string]

Ok so I've been planning on setting up a 180 gallon FOWLR tank for the past month, doing research on RC and elsewhere. Today I was given the opportunity to get a free tank. The dimensions are 72x26(height)x18(depth). That equates to about a 145g I believe. The tank is also not pre-drilled which is a minor inconvenience. Here's my major dilemma, with the decreased dimensions of this tank, how much must my stocklist change? Should I just wait and buy the 180?

Here was my intended stocklist
Picasso trigger
Hippo tang
Kole tang (my other tang choice)
Harlequin tuskfish
one spot foxface
maybe a snowflake moray
singapore angel

I figure the biggest problem here is the hippo (and I was pretty set on one)...can i still keep one in this size tank? Should I just stick with the free tank and adjust my stocklist?

Thanks

Sorry if this seems like a lame b**** "waah I got a free tank"

***I also posted this under the beginners forums

 

[fender4string]

any input on this?

 

[xxtriggermanxx]

I don't think you should have a problem. How large are the fish now? Will they be added to the tank at the same time?

 

[fender4string]

there are no fish yet-the whole thing is still in the planning stages. all I have is the tank. My only concern is the turning room the fish have. Is 18 inches enough? The tang is my primary concern as they are aggressive swimmers. I just don't want the livestock to be cramped.

 

[fender4string]

this is the perfect time for the tang police to chime in

 

[LisaD]

I think you are probably basically ok for now if your future filtration system can handle the load. Even though they get big, I think a hippo tang will be okay since the tank is 6 feet.

However, if all the fish reach adulthood, you may be looking at an upgrade in a few years. If you don't want to consider a future upgrade, I'd either go for the 180 or cut one or two of the larger fish from the list.

Is the free tank in good shape? If so, it's hard to turn something like that down...

 

[fender4string]

Yeah it's in good shape. It was a functioning tank up until about a month ago when the couple who owned it lost it in a nasty divorce . As I said it'll have to be drilled for an internal overflow but that's not that big of a deal. I also just finished cleaning it this morning and my next step will be having it drilled.

Forum related question:I have a duplicate thread running in the "new to the hobby" section. Should I delete one or is it ok to have them both running?

 

[fender4string]

Oh and yeah I don't mind upgrading a few years down the line. In fact I was planning on it

 

[fender4string]

So LisaD should I nix some of the fish or will my list be alright? My biggest concern about the difference in tank size btw the 145 and the 180 was the well being of the fish (having enough room). If it got to be an issue with size I could and would be willing to increase the tank size in a few years and was planning ahead already-I'll be buying equipment rated for a higher system volume than the one that I'll have up and running shortly.

 

[LisaD]

I think if you buy subadult sizes when you can (3-5 inches for the fish, under 16 inches for the eel) you'll be fine for a while. If you buy equipment for a larger system, you can see how it goes and upgrade when it's the right time.

It's hard to get smaller tusks and foxface, but just go for relatively smaller, healthy specimens.

I had a tank around that size in the 90s, pretty heavily stocked with a hogfish, white spotted filefish, and mated pair of Naso tangs (all quite large fish) and everything did really well for several years. I would have had to upgrade after a while, but then moved cross country, so I sold the tank and adopted the fish out to people with bigger tanks.

IMO having a six foot tank makes a big difference in how the fish will do long term. If you had a 145-ish 4-foot tank, I don't think it would be suitable for your list, but a 6-foot tank will be alright, as long as you keep up water parameters and watch aggression/territoriality.

 

[fender4string]

ok thanks alot. One final quesion. I had initially planned on getting a hippo tang or a kole tang. Could I get both or would there be too much aggression between the two?

 

[fender4string]

?

 

[LisaD]

I don't see why you couldn't keep a hippo and kole together. I don't think either is really high on the aggression scale, and they are different genera (qualification - I haven't kept hippo and kole tangs together).