My first aquarium--Where to start with a 180 gallon

[Nicholas J.]

Hello everyone, 

I am having difficulty researching the details of how I want to set up my first aquarium. I know the fish I want so I chose a 180 gallon to house a total of 4-5 bala sharks, a rainbow shark, kissing gourami, pleco, some corydoras and then either a school or two of tiger barbs and either blue king or black skirt tetras. Given the load and the size of my tank, I guess my questions are if I am going to be overstocked once they are grown, compatibility with each other and hopefully similar requirements for all the fish as far as ph temperature etc. I am planning to run a HOB with some sponge filters whatever will be enough. Also planning to do live plants. Thanks for reading and please let me know any suggestions!!

-Nick 

P.S. The centerpiece and my favorite part of this setup will be the Bala sharks. I havent been able to find much detailed research on them but I am especially trying to grow the bala sharks out to their full potential of 12-14 inches. I see a lot of people online who claim their sharks grow very slowly and do not get that big while other websites suggest they grow quite fast. just curious. 

[lefty o]

nice tank to start with. as you plan for fish, just take into consideration their full size for stocking. if i buy a fish thats an inch long, but can grow to 5", in my mind i buy it as a 5" fish. saves future problems. ive not had bala's so cant help much on if they are compatible with the others.

[FishyThoughts]

I believe @Cory discussed the bala sharks in his video, if I’m remembering correctly. Might be good to check out.

To answer some of your questions. Yes I believe you will be overstocked once everything starts growing. And there’s seems like a good chance for compatibility and size issues as well. 

[FrozenFins]

wow, thats a lot of bala sharks! Yes you will be overstocked. I wouldn't do the tetras because of all the sharks the gourami and the tiger barbs all are very aggressive fish, especially not the black skirts as they have some "longer" fins, they may be nipped off by the sharks, gourami or tiger barbs. I would only do one school of tiger barbs.

[Brandy]

I remember that video too, bala sharks specifically. Was about to search for it, but @FishyThoughts was faster. 

One option might be to have some of those fish together while they are small with the plan to rehome some when they get larger. This is VERY dependent on your ability to actually DO that. 

I have a tank with a tiny trio of blue acaras. They will be crowded when fully grown,  but right now they are about as long as a female adult guppy,  a few of which they are sharing space with. I want a pair, so I picked 3 hoping for at least one male and one female. I am enjoying them now, but I KNOW they will sell well when they are larger, so even if I ended up with 3 males, I could easily sell two, or even take them back to the LFS where I got them. If you think in those terms, who will want your cast off fish? Is there a market? Or would a couple of 12" fish not have anywhere to go?

[Nicholas J.]

Thank you to everyone who responded so fast with help I'll definitely watch that video linked above on keeping bigger fish. I read that I should be keeping a few of the bala sharks together would keep them happier and less aggressive with other fish. Overall beside the bala sharks, gourami and possibly a rainbow shark I guess my question would be how much room i would have left. In a six foot long 180 gallon wouldn't there be enough room for some tiger barbs and a school of some sort? I am worried about adding a school given all of the other fish so far are a little more aggressive in nature, but If i kept a large enough school would it no longer be a concern? 

-Nick