# Seting up a 36 gallon bow front tank- need some suggestions



## Lakeshow24 (Dec 3, 2009)

First off i am new to these forums and would like to say hello to everyone, and appreciate any help you guys and girls have to offer.

I am trying to set up a new 36 gallon bow front tank in the next few weeks and would like some suggestions on what to stock it with. I know most cichlids would love a bigger tank but the tank will be going in a whole in my wall that is only 34" wide so a 30" wide tank is as big as i can go, and the bow front seems to have the best dimensions that iv found to put in there. This will be my first cichlid tank so i want to make sure i do it right the first time!

I plan on really over filtering the tank due to its small size, iv been looking at putting an emperor 280 along with an aquaclear 70, my current 20 gallon community tank has the penguin 200 on it and i like the idea of the biowheel, it has seemed to work well over the last year that this tank has been set up, and i really like the aquaclears so on my cichlid tank i plan on running both.

I will put many rocks in this tank to provide as many hiding places i can to compensate the small size of the tank, i really like the texas holey rocks with some lava rocks to give it a nice look. Im still unsure on what substrate to use, id like to go with sand but it seems harder to clean and i really dont want to have to deal with it getting stuck in the filters, so i might go with some fine gravel, any suggestions would help 

But to the fish, i am really unsure of what way to go here, im wondering what everyone thinks would work well with this tank and stocking suggestions would be great, iv been thinking about going with lake tanganyika set up but really am unsure on what to do, id like a really diverse tank but still want the size of the tank to not end up being to small and have to upgrade later, which i wouldnt be able to do with the space available. So let me know what everyone thinks i should put in this tank, or any changes i should make to provide a better environment for the stock that you suggest.


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## Guams (Aug 21, 2009)

With sand, if you thoroughly rinse it before putting it into your tank, you won't have to worry about it clogging the filters. Rinsing, along with keeping your intakes 1.5"+ off the substrate and possibly the addition of a sponge prefilter on the intake would most certainly minimize any sand getting into the filters.

For stocking, since you mentioned Tangs, I've read that the shell-dwellers do well in smaller tanks... so you might consider some of those (brevis, multis). Aside from a limited knowledge about Tangs, I can't really help much in that department. :lol:


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## jrf (Nov 10, 2009)

There's nothing wrong with gravel if that is actually what you want. But, if you think you would prefer sand, look into pool filter sand. It's fairly clean out of the bag and many of us use it without it causing any sort problems with our filters. The only downside is that you have to "learn" how to vac it without sucking half of it out of the tank (I'm still learning). Once you have that down, it is actually easier to keep clean than gravel.

As far as Tangs in a 30" tank, I think you could comfortably fit one rock dweller (such as Calvus or Julidochromis), and a shell dweller (such as Brevis or Multifasciatus). However, this is based on what I've read on the forums, not on my own experiences.


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## scrubjay (Oct 25, 2009)

There are three Julidochromis species that are dwarf--J. transcriptus, J. ornatus, and J. dickfeldi. They are rock dwellers and I don't think they would be too big for that tank.

There are several shellies you could pair with them: Lamprologus multifasciatus, L. brevis, L. stappersi.

With one area of the tank being very rocky, and one area being sand and shells, it would be a very interesting tank. You generally have to buy several of each species and let them pair, and then begin with only one pair each. After that, several species will tolerate their fry.

I mention these species because I am about to set up a 40-gallon with them. I have had both Julies and Shellies before and they are wonderful to watch. You can look up their profiles on this site.

My personal preference is to have a natural-looking tank. If you mix holy rock and lava rock, it will make great caves, but it won't look natural because you wouldn't find black and white rocks in nature like that. However, people do some interesting things by using holy rock with black sand, or black rocks with white sand. Chunky blocky rocks look great too, and provide good caves and crevices for the Julies. Do a lot of looking in the "your tanks" section before you set it up and you will get great ideas. You can even search by size of tank, or type of fish.

--Angela


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