150 gallon tank ideas

[Charestv]

I found a deal I couldn't say no to on Facebook marketplace that I will be picking up this coming weekend. A 150 gallon tank and stand with all the equipment for a almost to good to be true price. I have the room for it in my living room. 

 

This will be my first tank this size. I right now have a 30 gallon Community tank with mollies platys CPD's and a bristle nose pleco. I do believe I am ready to put the time in to care for the tank the way it will need to be. My question is what would everyone recommend for the tank stocking wise. It's gonna for sure be a while before I get fish In it. I plan to plant the tank and have some river rocks I'm gonna go scrounge with my daughter and possibly find some driftwood. 

[lefty o]

stocking a 150, tons of choices all dependent on your preferences.  what do you like?

Edited April 24 by lefty o

[macdaddy36]

And what are your parameters? 

[Tony s]

Actually second the parameters, but at your tap. That way we don’t recommend something you’d struggle with. 
 

but for me, in a tank that big, I’d have a planted tank with geophagus, diamond tetras, black phantom tetras, and lots of corys on the bottom.

[Tony s]

I think for you, find out what your daughter really likes and what your passion is. There’s really no right way to do this. You have almost every possibility imaginable. So make it very personal between you and your daughter. Any fish would be great, but the bonding potential here, and teaching potential is not replaceable.

[AtomicSunfish]

Personally, I have two “dream aquaria” for the 150-gal range:

1) South American tank with angels, festivums, severums, common pleco, pictus cats, and silver dollars.

2) North American tank with longear sunfish and bullhead catfish.

But what do you like? Asian tropics? North Asian cool water? African river? Lake Malawi? Lake Tanganyika?

[Tony s]

On 4/24/2024 at 12:59 AM, AtomicSunfish said:

1) South American tank with angels, festivums, severums, common pleco, pictus cats, and silver dollars

One of my favorites. But I’d need a couple of those tanks. Just to add in uaru. Electric blue acara. Rainbow cichlids. Chocolate cichlids. Omg. There’s just too many……🤣

[Lennie]

If I had that size of a tank, I would surely want a school of clown loaches. And a community around it. I love Gold denisonis too, but it is hard to get great looking ones and have them look this way when they are fully grown.

 

OR

 

I would do a colorful african cichlid tank

 

OR

 

I would do Dantum angels and Albino geophagus heckelii and anything that can go in with them in terms of other cichlids and/or schooling fish.

 

OR

 

A big tank of Peru Altums. But you should find Tankbred ones as they have horrible survival rate and adapting period if wildcaught. Plus they can eat plants so this requires a tank building around it.

 

Also, @tolstoy21's Oscar tank looks great. It is hard to say no to these big water puppies

[anewbie]

I suppose clown loaches are an option for the bottom; and for the top you could have 80 cardinals.

 

If you want plants avoid the severum; also a 150 isn't that large so don't over stock it. Personally i'd look at some dwarf cichild. Of course  you could drop the clown loach and go with geo - they could be the smaller b. cupdio or the larger winemilleri.

 

 

keyholes are always nice - hum - probably will need 5 or 6 150s. 

 

[Charestv]

As for my water parameters i have never checked them straight from the tap that i can do tonight when i am home and post it.

My plan is to have my daughter help with as much of the decorations as possible and picking some of the fish (she is only 4 however so her want is purple fish) which is why im for sure getting a blue phantom pleco. 

I do like the idea of a school of clown loaches. But i am also not sure if i want just a school of clown loaches and some electric blue acaras and possibly a couple more fish that would go with them or a ton of small fish. 

Luckly i have plenty of time to figure all of this out before the tank is ready for the fish. But it seems like i already need to find another one lol. 

[AtomicSunfish]

On 4/24/2024 at 1:03 AM, Tony s said:

One of my favorites. But I’d need a couple of those tanks. Just to add in uaru. Electric blue acara. Rainbow cichlids. Chocolate cichlids. Omg. There’s just too many……🤣

Oh, yes! Can’t believe I forgot to mention the true blue acara! Might be cool to have uaru, chocolate cichlid, and rainbow cichlid in there, too!

[AtomicSunfish]

Could also go with more aggressive mainly Central American cichlids, like Jack Dempsey, convict, and firemouth. You could have Oscars in there, too, which are South American but one of the slightly more aggressive cichlids from there. In my experience, Oscars need to be bigger (more mature) than the more aggressive fish so that they can peacefully dominate them. I’d steer clear of real bruisers like Midas cichlid, Texas cichlid, tilapia buttikofferi, five star generals, or green sunfish, which can overpower an Oscar. Or have the big aggressive ones and just skip the Oscar … except Oscars are so cool! 😎 

[Charestv]

I know as awesome as oscars are i think im gonna try to steer away from them as it would limit alot what else i can put in the tank.  

[BlueLineAquaticsSC]

My favorite tanks I’ve kept were a small community tank with honey gourami, Bolivian Rams, and misc schoolers. A predator tank with Central American cichlids and bichir, and a brackish tank with archers, scat, and my Tiger Moray.

If you want a lot of plants I’d steer clear of the cichlids, mine tore them up. Not many purple fish in fresh water, but emperor tetras, peacock gudgeon, fancy guppies, some African cichlids, and of course the purple spaghetti eel can fit the bill.

[Lennie]

On 4/24/2024 at 1:27 PM, Charestv said:

As for my water parameters i have never checked them straight from the tap that i can do tonight when i am home and post it.

My plan is to have my daughter help with as much of the decorations as possible and picking some of the fish (she is only 4 however so her want is purple fish) which is why im for sure getting a blue phantom pleco. 

I do like the idea of a school of clown loaches. But i am also not sure if i want just a school of clown loaches and some electric blue acaras and possibly a couple more fish that would go with them or a ton of small fish. 

Luckly i have plenty of time to figure all of this out before the tank is ready for the fish. But it seems like i already need to find another one lol. 

Goodluck seeing the pleco 😄 

 

In terms of a "purple" fish, well, in the freshwater world we dont have many options like orchid dottyback or royal grammas the sw peeps have.

I think you can go for a plakat betta with purpleish colors. Also your daughter can name it and the betta would be in the heaven in a 150g after a tiny cup. I always try keeping my bettas in bigger sized community tanks and usually works great with a second plan. Just add the betta last.

There have been two scenarios I had problems. Male quad red apisto added to an established 160 liter tank where I had a female betta. She hated him. Second one being my plakat orange betta hating my gold german blue ram. Again, gold ram added after the betta. Bettas seem to dislike anything that reminds of another betta, flashy colors and similar to their size, especially if they are added last. I had no such betta being aggressive towards my moliwe krib and black ram, even when they are added later on. Plakat or female is important, with no long fins and dumbo ears. Good swimming skill is very important.

 

Or another option is a school of pink/purple colored glofish, if you fancy keeping a school of it for your daughter. 

Edited April 24 by Lennie

[AtomicSunfish]

On 4/24/2024 at 6:43 AM, Charestv said:

I know as awesome as oscars are i think im gonna try to steer away from them as it would limit alot what else i can put in the tank.  

Yep, oscars are some of my favorite fish on Earth, but they do have their downsides: messy eaters and somewhat aggressive. And with that big, predatory mouth, you have to strike a balance between having them big enough to calmly dominate smaller, more aggressive fish, and being so much bigger that they would view them as prey. So yes, a tank with oscars is no doubt awesome, but there are definitely other, equally awesome ways to go!

[macdaddy36]

There are also purple harlequin rasbora, purple kerri tetra, some German blue Rams especially ones with dark traits I think.

[Charestv]

I never thought of adding a betta i honestly never even saw it as an option. Whenever we go to the LFS she always sees them in the cups and goes there so lonely daddy. 

All wonderful options i will have to make a little printout of all the purple fish everyone here has recommended and just let her choose from that. 

[AtomicSunfish]

On 4/24/2024 at 8:31 AM, Lennie said:

I think you can go for a plakat betta with purpleish colors. Also your daughter can name it and the betta would be in the heaven in a 150g after a tiny cup. I always try keeping my bettas in bigger sized community tanks and usually works great with a second plan. Just add the betta last.

In my experience, there are two types of aquarium denizens that I have to be careful about water depth, and that's bettas and African dwarf frogs.

In the wild, bettas live in the pretty shallow puddles, ponds, and rice paddies of Southeast Asia, so they're already not adapted to deep water. Add to that the long, trailing fins of domesticated varieties, and you get rather poor swimming ability. Being anabantoids (like gouramis), bettas are adapted to life in oxygen-poor waters, thanks to their labyrinth organ, which allows them to breathe air. However, the flip side is that they must get atmospheric oxygen, or they drown. Like any animal, bettas certainly appreciate some space. A cup is, of course, too small for a permanent habitat, but I would be careful about how deep a tank you put a betta in. They probably should not be in water deeper than about 12 inches, which is the depth of a 10-gallon tank, or a 20-gallon long. I would be worried about a betta in a 150-gallon tank drowning, especially if the water flow is high, since being essentially a puddle fish, they need slower flowing water.

It's a similar story with the African dwarf frog. They're fully aquatic, but they still have lungs like any frog, and still need to come up for air. And being native to the shallow streams of Central and West Africa, they need a low-flow aquarium, too. The general recommendation for them is likewise water no deeper than about 12 inches (like a 10-gal or 20-long). ADFs in a 150-gallon tank would likewise be at risk of drowning.

Edited April 24 by AtomicSunfish

[macdaddy36]

"Occur in standing waters of floodplains, canals, rice paddies (Ref. 12693) and medium to large rivers (Ref. 12975). https://www.fishbase.se/summary/4768

Bettas come from a wider variety of habitats than we typically believe in nature. I think that they would be fine in a tank deeper than 1 foot, especially if you have lots of structure near the top of the tank to allow them to rest in (tall driftwood, floating plants, tall stems, floating Betta logs etc.)

 

[AtomicSunfish]

On 4/24/2024 at 9:06 AM, Charestv said:

I never thought of adding a betta i honestly never even saw it as an option. Whenever we go to the LFS she always sees them in the cups and goes there so lonely daddy. 

All wonderful options i will have to make a little printout of all the purple fish everyone here has recommended and just let her choose from that. 

 

On 4/24/2024 at 9:26 AM, macdaddy36 said:

"Occur in standing waters of floodplains, canals, rice paddies (Ref. 12693) and medium to large rivers (Ref. 12975). https://www.fishbase.se/summary/4768

Bettas come from a wider variety of habitats than we typically believe in nature. I think that they would be fine in a tank deeper than 1 foot, especially if you have lots of structure near the top of the tank to allow them to rest in (tall driftwood, floating plants, tall stems, floating Betta logs etc.)

 

You might be able to go up to about 20", but a 150-gal is 30" deep. Yes, you could provide resting sites, but I'd still be worried about the betta getting fatigued and losing condition. And again, even if wildtype bettas with their short fins could handle deeper water, domesticated bettas with their long, flowing fins are weaker swimmers.

Other anabantoids don't seem to be as sensitive to water depth as bettas; they still breathe air, but seem to be better adapted for deeper water, with a slightly stronger flow. If you like bettas, then a 150-gallon tank with any of the following gouramis would be really nice:

- Paradise fish

- Dwarf gourami

- Thick-lipped gourami

- Banded gourami

- Blue gourami (comes in other color morphs)

- Pearl gourami

- Moonlight gourami

- Snakeskin gourami

- Kissing gourami

- African leopard bush fish

Edited April 24 by AtomicSunfish

[Charestv]

All input is welcome thank you for bringing this to my attention. Before i actually put fish in the tank (probably months from now) i will be sure to do enough research where i get the correct fish for the tank. Maybe i will instead of putting a beta in the large tank get a tank for her room that can have a beta at one point. As i think she would love to be able to pick one of the fish from a cup to save. 

[Tony s]

On 4/24/2024 at 10:41 AM, Charestv said:

Maybe i will instead of putting a beta in the large tank get a tank for her room that can have a beta at one point

That’s exactly what we did. Betta on top, khuli’s on the bottom. She likes the squiggle noodles.  But the betta has passed. Tumor on the back. She wants platinum mollies, she’s probably getting fancy guppies. If I can find a good source.

[Charestv]

Squiggle noodles is probably the best way i have heard fish be named/described. 

[Lennie]

On 4/24/2024 at 5:06 PM, Charestv said:

I never thought of adding a betta i honestly never even saw it as an option. Whenever we go to the LFS she always sees them in the cups and goes there so lonely daddy. 

All wonderful options i will have to make a little printout of all the purple fish everyone here has recommended and just let her choose from that. 

Bettas are awesome fish. Just pretty weak due to breeding for their fin types colors and such like crazy. That come with poor genetics, being prone to diseases and such. Also long fins and dumbo ears affect their swimming quite negatively. Also until they end up in your home tank, they are usually grown up and are kept at conditions that are far from ideal. Even shipped poorly

my favorite betta ever was my halfmoon gold dragon. He ended up having a tumor on its head and also had issues with swimming and such. I have never had issues with delicate fins being problems but that is also a possibility. Right now I have one plakat male and two females. They dont care the tanksize at all, happy whenever. Bettas LOVE swimming!

Letting your daughter choose one and giving it such a huge tank would be great. Just make sure not to get very impossible to find anything alike I guess? Idk how to explain potential death scenario to a kid if she gets too attached with her fish friend