What would YOU do with a 40 B?

[B7gwap]

My son has lost interest in breeding endler’s, so I have his 40 gallon breeder tank that lives under my 75 to play with. The water in it is pretty hard for the livebearers but is cycled and has a mattenfilter amidships with an airlift for the fry to separate them. This could easily be slid to one side of the tank in a traditional mattenfilter manner. There is a Fluval 300 W heater and a stingray 1 light. Oh and it’s bare bottom, with a clump of Java moss and some Valisneria I potted up in there. 
 

I’m somewhat stuck, burned out maybe, on what to do with this tank. I have a couple of scenarios in mind:

A replicate past success

I have 8 tanks ranging  in size from 10 to 75, all planted, all freshwater tropical. I have tetras, rainbows, cories, bushynoses, livebearers, amanos, etc etc etc. My 33 long is a species tank with only ember tetras. Most of the tanks are communities of a few species, and my 75 has a mistakenly improbable number of species species in it.  I feel like I have mostly cracked the code on building a symbiotic ecosystem of critters and plants, although I don’t mean to say I am any sort of expert  I learn new stuff all the time just like everyone else I expect. 

B try something completely different

Ive never done marine, brackish, cold water, African cichlids, discus, breeding of anything but livebearers, and probably a lot of things you folks can name that I’ve never heard of. 🙂

C get rid of it

I welcome thoughts and suggestions. 

[AllFishNoBrakes]

I suggest doing whatever YOU think sounds fun and what you wanna try next. Probably not the answer you wanna hear, but is the most honest answer I can give. What sounds fun to you?!

[B7gwap]

Nope that sounds about right. I thought the same thing after I hit submit. 
 

so in the meantime until I can get interested, I’ll just leave the filters running. 🙂

[Jeff]

I would suggest to keep it; if you have the room for storage. You never know if the itch will come back. Having tank supplies on hand, when you are attempting a comeback - it honestly makes it more enjoyable when you find "oh yeah...I still have a tank, and I have a filter....all I need now is a heater, and a light..."

Seriously. 

Edited October 17, 2022 by Jeff

[Jimmy]

How about a school of some chunky tetras. Maybe congos, diamonds, bleeding hearts. Something of that nature?

[B7gwap]

@Jimmy not a bad idea. I’ve always wanted to keep a fleet of congos. Have you kept them? I’ve read reports they nip at plants, but others say they don’t. Few fish more beautiful than an adult male Congo tetra. 

[Jimmy]

On 10/15/2022 at 6:24 PM, B7gwap said:

@Jimmy not a bad idea. I’ve always wanted to keep a fleet of congos. Have you kept them? I’ve read reports they nip at plants, but others say they don’t. Few fish more beautiful than an adult male Congo tetra. 

I haven’t but they are a nice full body. I think dans fish has a couple different chunky tetras. I’ve kept a large group of diamonds, holy cow they are beautiful once they are grown. The males are like disco balls

Edited October 16, 2022 by Jimmy

[_Eric_]

I haven’t kept them but if I was in that position, I’d probably try a saulosi tank.  

[B7gwap]

I’ve got six diamonds in the 75, they are great fish. I love the kaleidoscopic shimmer of pale green to golden yellow, your description of a disco ball is apt! 

[B7gwap]

@_Eric_what are the Africans that @Coryalways recommends? Labidochromis? Are saulosi similar? Will research. 

[_Eric_]

I am not sure.  I just think they are cool with males changing colors and have heard they can do ok in a smaller species only setup.  Yellow labs are supposed to be peaceful for an Mbuna so maybe less aggression issues?  Not sure how they do in a 40 though.  @Zenzo has a lot of cichlid experience so may want to check his channel as well.  He makes good content.

[mynameisnobody]

I’ve got a 40B with a colony of multies. IMHO, you can’t go wrong with multies. I  also have a cycled, empty, planted 40B that is slowly figuring itself out. This may sound weird, but I let the aquarium tell me what fish to buy. I have a general idea of what fish I love, I’ll set the aquarium up and just watch it. After a few weeks, I’ve usually narrowed it down to 1 or 2 species. It doesn’t work 100% of the time, however the 8 out of 10 times it does work, it is truly pure zen. Hope this helps and isn’t too vague. Good luck

[B7gwap]

@Kalopsia that sounds like a really interesting approach that I might try. So you do your hardscape, plants, and then meditate in front of it, almost like it’s a canvas. Thank you for sharing. 

[B7gwap]

On 10/16/2022 at 8:09 AM, _Eric_ said:

I am not sure.  I just think they are cool with males changing colors and have heard they can do ok in a smaller species only setup.  Yellow labs are supposed to be peaceful for an Mbuna so maybe less aggression issues?  Not sure how they do in a 40 though.  @Zenzo has a lot of cichlid experience so may want to check his channel as well.  He makes good content.

I will check it out. 
 

I have come to really enjoy the horticulture side of the hobby, so if I did Africans, I’d have to find a balance between least destructive, most beautiful/interesting fish, and hardiest/most interesting/beautiful plants. I’ve heard they’ll uproot but not eat Anubias, so maybe start there.  
 

thanks!

[_Eric_]

On 10/16/2022 at 10:11 AM, B7gwap said:

I will check it out. 
 

I have come to really enjoy the horticulture side of the hobby, so if I did Africans, I’d have to find a balance between least destructive, most beautiful/interesting fish, and hardiest/most interesting/beautiful plants. I’ve heard they’ll uproot but not eat Anubias, so maybe start there.  
 

thanks!

May want to steer clear of African cichlids if you want nice plants.  I have been enjoying some of the nice aquascapes on YouTube like George Farmer, MD Fish Tanks, etc.  I am not sure I could pull off an aquascape that would be good enough to have plants as the showcase but may be fun to try.

[B7gwap]

I’m sure the ABC algorithms all know when an ACO customer gets on YouTube. Those are some of my favorite scapers too, found them thanks to Cory’s content. 
 

I would love to be as good as they are at scapes, maybe one day. 
 

I had kind of ruled out Africans on those grounds, pity since they’re so beautiful and active. 
 

maybe a barb rumble tank, but perhaps the better shape for that kind of activity is octagonal… 😉 

[_Eric_]

I think barbs look nice in a planted tank.  Cherry barbs, Odessa barbs, gold barbs, etc are pretty in a dense planting.

[Zenzo]

On 10/16/2022 at 7:09 AM, _Eric_ said:

I am not sure.  I just think they are cool with males changing colors and have heard they can do ok in a smaller species only setup.  Yellow labs are supposed to be peaceful for an Mbuna so maybe less aggression issues?  Not sure how they do in a 40 though.  @Zenzo has a lot of cichlid experience so may want to check his channel as well.  He makes good content.

@B7gwapSaulosi are dwarf mbuna, and are a bit smaller than labs and other mbuna. They would do well in a 40B due to their smaller size and dimorphism between the males and females. Essentially, you get two fish for one because of their differences in appearance. Aggression is similar to other mild/moderately aggressive mbuna. I would say that the aggression is similar to a group of labs. 

[BeeD]

Is it possible to store it somewhere out of sight? That way you can wait until inspiration strikes.

[cavdad45]

A 40-breeder with shell dwellers is pretty cool

[BlueLineAquaticsSC]

Easy idea: breeding convicts. Pretty much Everyone who has ever breed cichlids has at one point bred convicts, and they all say how entertaining they are watching them parent their fry. Breeding a mouthbrooder instead of live ears will change it up and show you new behavior. 
 

Harder idea: if you like setting up a little ecosystem, you could step it up a notch and do a planted, bio active, paladarium. Something like SepaeDesign makes in his videos. I’ve been thinking about setting up a vampire crab paladarium for a while.

profit tank: Cory has a video series on breeding for profit out of one 40B. Fancy Guppies, Cherry Shrimp, BN plecos. Might open up a new part of the hobby for you and supplement you expenses a little.

[JettsPapa]

I have a 40 gallon moderately planted community breeder tank with (currently) eleven pearl gouramis, along with tetras and corydoras.  I wouldn't hesitate recommend doing something similar.

[Patrick_G]

I’d lean towards a plant farm type of tank. I tend to ignore the fish in the tank under my 75 so a more static, but still decorative tank would be my choice. I’m thinking a thick jungle for plant grow out, and just a few fish like Otocinclus, Siamese algae eaters, and maybe a feature fish like an Electric blue acara. 

[B7gwap]

On 10/17/2022 at 12:30 PM, Zenzo said:

@B7gwapSaulosi are dwarf mbuna, and are a bit smaller than labs and other mbuna. They would do well in a 40B due to their smaller size and dimorphism between the males and females. Essentially, you get two fish for one because of their differences in appearance. Aggression is similar to other mild/moderately aggressive mbuna. I would say that the aggression is similar to a group of labs. 

@Zenzo Wow thank you for responding, I watch your ACO content so forgive my being a little star struck. do you think that Saulosis and Caudopunctuatus could coexist in a 40B with some hardy Val and well rooted crypts?  

[B7gwap]

On 10/17/2022 at 12:44 PM, BrettD said:

Is it possible to store it somewhere out of sight? That way you can wait until inspiration strikes.

@BrettD It kind of already is! It has always lived under my 75 so it’s not really in the way. 🙂

On 10/17/2022 at 2:44 PM, cavdad45 said:

A 40-breeder with shell dwellers is pretty cool

@cavdad45 I looked into this, zenzo has some awesome content, and I am seriously considering doing Neolamprologous Caudopunctuatus, especially if I can also keep Saulosi in there without any carnage. 

On 10/17/2022 at 4:13 PM, BlueLineAquaticsSC said:

Easy idea: breeding convicts. Pretty much Everyone who has ever breed cichlids has at one point bred convicts, and they all say how entertaining they are watching them parent their fry. Breeding a mouthbrooder instead of live ears will change it up and show you new behavior. 
 

Harder idea: if you like setting up a little ecosystem, you could step it up a notch and do a planted, bio active, paladarium. Something like SepaeDesign makes in his videos. I’ve been thinking about setting up a vampire crab paladarium for a while.

profit tank: Cory has a video series on breeding for profit out of one 40B. Fancy Guppies, Cherry Shrimp, BN plecos. Might open up a new part of the hobby for you and supplement you expenses a little.

@BlueLineAquaticsSC those are all great ideas, thanks. 

On 10/18/2022 at 10:39 AM, JettsPapa said:

I have a 40 gallon moderately planted community breeder tank with (currently) eleven pearl gouramis, along with tetras and corydoras.  I wouldn't hesitate recommend doing something similar.

Pearls are my favorite gourami followed by the sunset dwarf, just beautiful fish and lots of personality.  I have two pearls in my daughter’s 29 and 1 Sunset in a red morph in my son’s 20 long. Thank you for the suggestion.