# Restaurant - Show Tank



## Louis123 (Jun 13, 2004)

Hey guys,

I wanted your expertise to guide me into a good path to setup a show tank in a restaurant. (Asian restaurant)

The owner wants to change his current setup, the tank is about 200 gallons, filtered by a FX5 and a pretty big internal filter. It uses tap water (no buffer or salt added).

It currently hosts a mix of monstruous fish that we don't want anymore (the Arrowana who was the main show fish of the tank died, it's now time to make this tank a serious one )

I was thinking of doing a community tank either tanganyikan or malawi.. Bigger species could be good (the "wow" factor for the customer is a must )

In this kind of volume, and with the context I gave you what would you go for ?


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## edouthirt (Jan 22, 2008)

A colony of frontosas. That's my pick.


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## gtphale (Oct 12, 2008)

Fronts for sure


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## jmangels (Apr 1, 2005)

#3 for Fronts...you can't go wrong on the wow factor with a few of these beauties..

What are the tank dimensions? As long as you've got at least 6' of linear width you can probably get away with just about anything. Just keep in mind the general compatibility principles and you'll be fine.


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## venustus19 (Aug 30, 2007)

my brother has a colony of fronts, and it makes me go WOW when i see his... i vote for fronts also... they are great looking fish.


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## mthigpen_02 (Dec 29, 2008)

Haven't tried but have read of people doing the whole tang community setup. From the fronts down to the shell dwellers. That would be my vote for a large tank. Seems I have more people fall in love with the shellies after seeing them but the fronts would draw people in from a distance to look.


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## sleepy09 (Jan 15, 2009)

My vote is for a mixed Malawi tank. Mainly Haplochromis and Peacocks. Lots of action all of the time.

The only thing that I have a problem with when it comes to Frontosa is that they are slow moving and there just isn't that much action going on in the tank. Its kinda like havin a Discus tank they just kind of float around and don't do much. I do have to say that they are a great looking fish but.......


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## kodyboy (Dec 9, 2007)

I vote for haps + some yellow labs and cyaneohabdos, lots of action, color and "wow" factor.


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## joestreich (Jan 22, 2003)

i vote for the fronts + some Neolamp brichardi to inhabit the rocky area that you will provide. the fronts will draw people to watch and as the get closer they will they will see the brichadi and the sutble beauty that they bring. the brichardi will no doubt spawn in there and there would be tiny fry all over in there as well(food for the fronts) another fish you could add would be V. moori or a school of cyprichromis.

just my two cents. sounds like a fun project.....keep us posted

Joel


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## Toby_H (Apr 15, 2005)

I vote for finding out the local tap water parameters and stocking fish that will thrive in local water conditions...

If your local water is soft then you might not get the showy wows that the Fronts or Haps could generally bring...

In a home aquarium I would put a lot more emphasism on individual taste... but for a public display I would have to say work with what nature gives you and keep in mind practicality is a must...


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## rchickering (Jun 10, 2008)

This site has some great pics of aquarium setups:

http://www.aquariumdesigngroup.com/

A few tanks are fronts and look pretty sharp!

Click on the galleries and check them out!


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## lotsofish (Feb 28, 2008)

Staying with the Asian theme, you can't beat goldfish for their long history, hardiness & personality. You won't see aggression from them and they will interact with anyone that comes near the tank. For show quality goldfish you can pay over $100 each easily but you can get some pretty nice looking ones cheap.

These are mine, the one in the center is almost a foot long.


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## josmoloco (Aug 23, 2008)

goldfish are forum/thread killers


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## Guest (Mar 13, 2009)

I vote for a nice Discus setup with a few schooling small fish!


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## fmueller (Jan 11, 2004)

I have a 240G front tank myself, and I wouldn't swap it for anything else, BUT I wouldn't put that tank in a restaurant. As others have said, they are slow moving and beyond the initial 'wow' reaction when people see a large fish in a tank, visitors are usually a little disappointed by the lack of action. In general Tanganyika cichlids tend to win fans with their fascinating behavior rather than the looks, and you need to spend time in front of the tank to truly appreciate them. People in a restaurant wont have that much time. Also, Tang cichlids can be touchy with regard to water quality, which in time could become a problem in a restaurant.

My vote for a restaurant tank would be a fake marine setup with mbuna. For that I'd get a bunch of dead corals and possibly some near white rocks like Texas holey rock, tuffa rock or the like to decorate the tank and make it look like a reef. Then stock it with colorful mbuna. People who are not into fish keeping will think it is a saltwater tank due to the corals and the brightly colored fish, but it will be far easier to maintain, and you can actually stock a lot more fish than in a real saltwater tank, giving it even more visual impact!

But by all means, stay away from the dreadful mixed mbuna you see in many tanks in waiting rooms at the doctor's. For a 200G tank, I'd go with three species and a large group - say 20 - of each. Large groups of smaller fish look awesome, and make a tank look larger! A 200G with one huge fish in there will look small compared to one with a large school of fish! Starting with 20 of each species should be fine, since you are going to have more of each of them soon enough 

For a nice color mix, I'd suggest Yellow Labs, P. demasoni (blue), and maybe something striped. I am not much of an mbuna expert, so maybe somebody else can suggest a nice striped mbuna species. M. auratus comes to mind. They are aggressive, which usually should not be a problem in a tank this large, but then it's in a restaurant where they won't be monitored so closely, and the last thing you want is beaten up fish hanging around the edges, so maybe there is a better solution.

Overall I think the mbuna / fake reef thing would be the way to go :thumb:

Frank


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## gmaschke (Aug 23, 2008)

Haps and peacocks is my vote they are active and will use the whole body of water and there are many color options. Also have to agree with checking water parameters first to know what will be the easiest to work with.


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## Demasonian (Oct 23, 2005)

Tropheus!!

One or two colonies. Lots of colour, lots of action.


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## LG0815 (Aug 1, 2007)

i vote 4 oscars and silver dollars


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## scuba20v (May 28, 2007)

frontosas :thumb:


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## Mussin (Oct 30, 2008)

1 Monster dovii


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## danielratti (Feb 17, 2008)

Peacock bass.... Or peacocks and haps


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## zazz (Apr 5, 2008)

rchickering said:


> This site has some great pics of aquarium setups:
> 
> http://www.aquariumdesigngroup.com/
> 
> ...


im totally blown away by the tanks on that site..especially the horizontal slate examples.

everyone goes on about the fronts being a bit slow ect but a resteraunt isnt some kind of ocean park aquarium fantasy where people gather around the tank to watch.

the tank needs to make a statement from afar and dominate the space and the tank with the horizontal slate ..frontosa and some i guess yellow mbuna is just a great backdrop. its not just about fish but the lighting and the tank setup.

people come in and want to sit down and eat and just get the abience of whats going on in that well lit tank and some of those tanks on that site do just that.


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## fmueller (Jan 11, 2004)

The tanks on that site look spectacular, and the mixed lake setup with the fronts, yellow labs and peacocks is drop dead gorgeous. What gets me though is that at least the 'Freshwater Aquariums' on that site looks like they have just been set up an hour ago and the fish have been dropped in just to take the photo. The plants look freshly planted, there are no algae on the rocks or anywhere, and there is not crumb of dirt in sight.

Take the very first photo for example of the tank with the altum angles, the cories and the hemigrammus rhodostomus. That looks like some pretty serious lighting over that tank. How are you ever going to keep down algae in the long run in that setuo? I don't think those sensitive fish will take too kindly to massive dosing of algae killing chemicals :?

Or the second photo of that fantastic tank with the cyprichromis and featherfins around that spectacular pile of petrified wood :drooling: But how is that tank going to look once the featherfins start digging and shape it to their own liking - and how do you even make featherfins stop digging for a moment to take a photo :-?

If it's even possible to maintain the tanks long term in that condition, each tank will need daily attention for more than just a few minutes! I don't know about you guys, but the tanks in the restaurants I go to always look slightly neglected, because the people there are in the business of preparing and selling food, and if they even have maintenance contract, the dudes show up only once every so often. That's not a good environment for Tanganyikan cichlids that demand pristine water quality at all times.

Tank raised mbuna can put up with a lot of abuse before they kick the bucket - and they have the colors to impress! That's why you see a lot of mbuna in tanks in the waiting room at the doctors. They are usually a horror show of hybrid mixed mbuna, and the tanks are poorly decorated with plastic plants and sunken pirate ships, but if you avoid those fallacies, you could have a very low maintenance setup that looks spectacular!

Just my 2c

Frank


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## zazz (Apr 5, 2008)

fair point...i even thought that the images where photoshopped from several shots so the fish look well spaced out...but these are high end tanks and probably get high end maintenance...depends wether your resteraunt is high end ....problem is if you dont maintain the tank it will end up looking like one of those chinese resteraunts where you say "i will have that one".. :wink:

just looking at those interior spaces you know that the tanks wont be left to rot..it would be ridiculous.


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## srook23 (Feb 21, 2009)

I would go with the Mbuna as well.

I did my current tank with all males and did a wide mix of species. There was a slight aggression at first, but then stocked with more fish and the aggression went down.

Right now I have:

1 - Red Zebra
1 - Albino Zebra Red Top
1 - Rusty
1 - Cobalt Blue Zebra
1 - Bumble Bee
1 - Acei
1- Red Top Ndumbi
1 - Elongated Jewel Spot
1 - Jack Dempsey (rescue fish from hurricane Gustav)
1 - Black Convict
1 - Yellow Lab
1 - Juhanni
1 - Kenyi
6 - Silver Dollars
1 - Tiger Barb (rescue fish from Hurricane Gustav)

I've got a wide variety with some pretty aggressive fish. They do fine. Every once in a while you might see two getting close to fighting, but then they just let it go, or get lost in the mix of the other fish.

The only two I have had a real problem with are the Cobalt Blue Zebra and the Red Top Ndumbi. They don't seem to like each other.


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## zazz (Apr 5, 2008)

acctually just looking at that horizontal slate scenario..if the tank was never in daylight which in a resteraunt it probably wont be ..and had a uv..and it had a couple of powerfull side blowing powerheads so the poop didnt hang around ..i think it could look ok with weekly maintenance.

in fact algae in small ammounts on slate is ok..visually.


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## srook23 (Feb 21, 2009)

Why not just drop a few pleco's in there??

I have an 8" pleco in my tank and I never have algae.

Then again they aren't much to look at in a show tank...especially when they are hanging on the side sucking.


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## bac3492 (Jul 25, 2008)

I would do a tank full of Saulosi, nothing else.

A guy on the forum posted pics of a 400 he used to have that was only saulosi. IT was awesome. Plenty of color and good balance.


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## smellsfishy1 (May 29, 2008)

All male peacock and hap.
Put 100 of those bad boys in there.
That is a tank!


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## toffee (Feb 11, 2006)

Most Asian restaurant have bunch of fish tanks for live food fishes/crabs/shrimps/lobster etc., Most customers DO NOT know about tropical fishes.

With that in mind I would say either:

1. Really fancy gold fishes. (wow factor and no way anyone mistake them as food fish)

2. A planted tank with hundreds if not over thousand of small tropical fishes, if you have seen thousand neon schooling, it's a sight to be remember. Again, will not be mistaken as food fishes.

3. If the owner must have cichlids. they can copy my tank of fronts/silver aro/blood parrot.


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## scuba20v (May 28, 2007)

i want to see pics of this when you get it done!!!
opcorn:


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