112 Gallon Stocking Help

[Kizz]

Well the time has come liek most of you know when you want new fish , I'm unable to get another tank as house is to small lol So i'm gonna do some shuffling about and see what i can get . I'm wanting to get mostly cichlid's max size 8-10 " with perhaps some dithers in there too but nothin to small . The only fish currently in my tank i would like to keep is My 3 Sev's, I wouldn't mind gettin a Red Male Sev to hopefully hook up with my lone Golden Female. The only problem is i don't know where to start on suitable tank mates for them . I don't want them to be overly aggressive ,Tank destructivness is not a problem as my sev's pretty much decimate anything standing up in the tank when breedin anyway ! lol . I love the look of Firemouths and Jack Dempsey's , Are these compatible with sev's ? If anyone knows any good sites i could to have a browse of cichlids it would be great

Many Thanks
Kizz

 

[markandhisfish]

if youve already got 3 sevs in there your bang up to your limit already , you certainly havent got room for a 4th . and in all fairness depending on which sevs you have you may well find yourself overstocked already . what sevs have you got?

edit: is the stocking still as it reads in your sig?

if so you are already overstocked , and with compatibility issues too . the discus should be in a group of at least 6 , there are too many sevs, the bichir will end up eating the tetras and i can also see future problms with so many breeding cichlids as well .

 

[Kizz]

Cheers for the reply mark , Stocking is the same except the 2 BN's and the Ornate are gone . I have 3 Golden Sev's 2 of which being breeding pairs. These are the only 3 I want to keep when i restock tank everything else will get sold/rehomed . so on an 112G Tank my limit is 3 sev's ?

Kizz


Edit : The discus was received after a friends tank broke ,He's been doing fine in my tank but think old age is effecting him now they've had him for around 5/6 years ,The birchir is away for the exact reason you stated ! lol He was mis-sold to me as a rope/reed fish , The angel's are ok and when they do breed My lone Sev Female tends to scoff the egg's the minute she spots them lol

 

[markandhisfish]

depends on the footprint , but i would say witrh gold sevs which are heros efasciatus youre really looking at 2 . i would re-home the 1 that is not part of the breeding pair . i would also deffinately move on the discus

 

[Kizz]

Everything is going in tank except the 3 sev's if possible,The main reason i don't wanna part with the lone Sev as she was my own fish ,the breeding pair i again received when my friends tank broke .

Are ya sayin that even if i remove all other fish in my tank i cannot add anymore as i'll be overstocked ?

Kizz

 

[markandhisfish]

what are the tank dimesions LxWxH? depending on this , with good filtration and maintainence you may be able to get away with the 3 sevs and a few dithers , but nothing else. altho as i said ideally the lone sev that isnt part of a pair would be better off re-homed.

 

[Kizz]

As far as i'm able to remember tank is 48" long by 36" high by 24" wide . It's runnin an eheim external and 2 Fluval 4 internal's Water Changes are every Sunday night with around 7-10 12L Buckets of water being changed

Kizz

 

[Kizz]

Browsed through old posts to when i first got the tank ,Exact measurements are "The dimensions are bizarre my partner built it himself the actually dimensions are 49" in length 19" Wide and 37" high but i just round it down lol"

 

[markandhisfish]

that is quite a nice footprint , you may be ablee to get away with the 3 sevs in there , but deffinately no other cichlids , altho if you removed everything else you may be able to go with a few smaller bottom dwellers

alto having said that it would of been much more doable if the 37y" was the width instead of the height . imo it would ne very borderline

 

[hamfist]

Individual sevs seem to "top out" at very different sizes. Some seem to peak at about 7" and stay relatively slimmish. Whereas some (reds and golds mostly as far as I can see) can end up pushing 11" and are huuge, thick and tall with it. So I would say if none of your 3 are going to be particularly huge then you could possibly add one or two other smaller cichlds to the tsnk. Something like firemouth/ellioti/rainbow/sajica/blue acara/Geo steindachneri (my fave ATM !!).
How old are the 3 sevs and what sort of size ? A pic of them in situ in the tank might give a better impression of their size and whether tankmates might be possible.

I would also say that your filtration is not ideal for maxxing out the potential of your tank. The fluval internals do not have much filter media compared to decent sized externals. They also take up considerable tankspace. If you are wanting to get the most into your tank as is reasonable I would consider removing the internals and replacing with an external (something like an FX5 would be perfect).

 

[kizno1]

Because sevs stay nearer the top you might get away with a few smaller cichlids for the bottom. It would open up your options alot if you did get ride of the 3rd sev but i can see why you dont want to.
I would go for something like
3 Severums
2 Thorichthys aureus (start of with 4-5 and then sell the others once a pair forms)
4 Hoplo catfish
1 Jaguar catfish or Pimelodus ornatus
10 Emperor tetra

 

[Kizz]

Thanks for responses Hamfist: I soooo wish i could get an fx5 but it's far to large to sit in the space that my current external sits on ,My partner got one a few months ago and we tried it out and i'd have to move my telly out about a foot in order to get in ! lol My Female Sev (was named Vinny Now called Vanessa) is around 5-6 inch's but she is a lot chunkier than the 2 i adopted she is coming up for the 2 year mark this pic was taken last month

The breedin pair are about an inch smaller than she is and no where near as chunky as she is and are around 4 ish or so i was told by old owners This is the male

and this the female

, I will get some pic's of them tonight after i do water change algae scrape etc and also a FTS . And i know both of you have said that they stay near the top of my tank but i think my 3 must be an exception to that as the all preffer to stay at lower level's while the Angelfish have the upper half of the tank .I'll have a look at the fish that both of you's have mentioned .REally ahd my heart set on a JD and either a Jaguar or 2 firemouths Are those out of the equation?

Kizz

 

[kizno1]

REally ahd my heart set on a JD and either a Jaguar or 2 firemouths Are those out of the equation?

Kizz

You might get away with the JD OR 2 Firemouths but i would say both is to much with 3 sevs. I would say the jag is a no, there likely to bully anything else in the tank and can get to 14" which i would say even on its own is pushing the limits.

 

[hamfist]

REally ahd my heart set on a JD and either a Jaguar or 2 firemouths Are those out of the equation?

Kizz

You might get away with the JD OR 2 Firemouths but i would say both is to much with 3 sevs. I would say the jag is a no, there likely to bully anything else in the tank and can get to 14" which i would say even on its own is pushing the limits.

I completely agree on every point.


BTW Kizz, sevs do swim in all levels, but on average are usually found in the bottom half ... so yours are what I would consider normal in that.

 

[Kizz]

14" ! That one will be a no then ! lol 10" is my maximum , I really do like the EBJD Such a beautiful and gracefull looking fish but then the firemouths are truely beautiful in there own way . Half way thro water change etc so should have pics up of sev's in tank in about an hour or so lol . Think i'm going to have to do some serious consideration on which fish i keep i COULD sell the breedin pair and keep one of there fry back that are in breedin tank , That way i still get to keep my one with the possibility of that one pairing up ...hmmm decision decision lol If i did remove breeding pair with the thought of keepin one of the fry would that open my stockin options up more ? xx