680 gallon - how many wide-bar silver dollars? General stocking suggestions?

[ptran]

Beast!

[sayersweb]

Looks like I will keep the pair of Nics but not the other two. The 680 is finally here, will fill and stock today. It makes my 300 gallon look small:

[sayersweb]

Yes, you are right. Looks like I have three males and one female (based on the length of the dorsal fin). Maybe it would be best to just keep the pair... they should have enough room to claim a spot in the 680.

Your Nic's want to spawn. They are trying to claim there spot. Female is the pretty one.

[fishman13218]

Your Nic's want to spawn. They are trying to claim there spot. Female is the pretty one.

[mredman]

Export

I assume you mean only the illegal ones...

Mike

Move the Nicaraguans out and keep the wide bars?

[sayersweb]

Move the Nicaraguans out and keep the wide bars?

Do you (or anyone else) have experience with Nics? I've been noticing that they are becoming more aggressive toward the other fish. They are getting pretty big... males bigger than 6", I'm not sure if they are feeling crowded in the 200 gallon, or are they generally a more aggressive fish.

[sayersweb]

Originally, I planned to have the Nics in the 300, but they seem to need more swimming room as they get bigger. I guess I could keep all 9 wide-bars and then if they become overwhelming sell some of them later.

Move the Nicaraguans out and keep the wide bars?

[danielp]

Move the Nicaraguans out and keep the wide bars?

[sayersweb]

Yesterday I removed all fish and decor from the 200 gallon, drained it and the 50 gallon sump. Tried to slide it across the room to make room for the 680, but no go, could not move it. It is a heavy beast, custom acrylic, made in Corpus Christi.

So, I had to bale most of the 250 pounds of gravel out, and finally I was able to slowly move it inch-by-inch across the room. Then re-added the gravel, water, decor, fish, etc.

I sure hope the 680 works out so I don't have to move the 200 back.

[sayersweb]

Hi Mike,

Tony and I were just kidding about the pond... we have both been working on our ponds for far too long and not getting them done.

My pond currently has a bunch of Koi in it... a few larger (16 to 18") ones that were from my pre-expansion pond, and now a bunch of smaller ones (mostly butterflies) that I have added over the past few months.

There is also an ever growing number of Paradise Gouramis that have been breeding very successfully. They will hopefully take care of any koi eggs from future spawns. In my previous ponds in Virginia the koi bred like crazy, which was a real hassle. Each year I had to drain the pond down catch all (or most) of the babies and have a koi give-away party for all of my pond friends.

At what temperature will you keep the pond? How will you cool in the summer. The temperature in the pond could exceed 90 F.

[mredman]

At what temperature will you keep the pond? How will you cool in the summer. The temperature in the pond could exceed 90 F.

[sayersweb]

I'm starting to think that I should convert my 22,000 gallon pool to a pond... it already has a great filter and heater. All 9 wide-bars should fit. What do you think?

In that video the wide-bars appear to be around 12", which means they can grow a few more inches before maxing out. From what I can tell they are at least 5 years old. So, maybe it would be a good idea to keep all 9 for a while and sell a few of them off later.

Another concern that is surfacing in my mind is... what if we have another hurricane like Ike from 2008? Apparently, my house lost power for 7 days, although I was not living in Texas at the time. Those natural gas generator systems would be ideal, but they are ridiculously expensive. Would be more cost effective to replace all of the fish. :(

wow, those fish makes the 800g look small. They might have to go to the pond.Lol.

[specialone0812]

wow, those fish makes the 800g look small. They might have to go to the pond.Lol.

[sayersweb]

Here's a video of an 800 gallon aquarium with 5 large wide-bars.... can't imagine how 9 would be in a smaller aquarium. They are beautiful and very active. I also love the red hooks with the black tail! They are very cool looking.

[sayersweb]

Firstly, congrats on your new family addition!

Oh right, I remember you mentioning a pump house. If you get a chance maybe you can take a photo of it sometime and post it to your build thread?

It is full of rain water. I have not plumbed skimmers/BDs to my filters/pumps inside my filter house yet. At the last minute, I decided to build a filter house to house all my equipment and right after I finished the filter house, I got busy with another more important project - a newborn.