American cichlid stocking on a 127 gallon

[Discus_phil]

Hi all, it’s been a long time since I was last here!

Looking to re stock my 480L / 127 us gallon tank and were thinking of going down the American cichlid route. We’re a little unsure on numbers but we would like;

1x Oscar (will be added later on once other fish have grown out)
Severums
Electric Blue Acaras
Geophagus
And either a fancy Plec or a number of our ever growing bristle nose army (that just keep on breeding in one of our other tanks)

What would be reasonable stocking numbers of each?

Also I’m assuming you can mix different coloration's of severums.

1x Oscar
X severum
X acara
X geos
x plecs

Thanks

 

[anewbie]

Way too much for such a small aquarium; having said that to provide any advice would need to know the dimension of the aquarium - my gut is if you want the oscar you might get away with a pleco and call it a day.

 

[Fishkeeper123]

Hi all, it’s been a long time since I was last here!

Looking to re stock my 480L / 127 us gallon tank and were thinking of going down the American cichlid route. We’re a little unsure on numbers but we would like;

1x Oscar (will be added later on once other fish have grown out)
Severums
Electric Blue Acaras
Geophagus
And either a fancy Plec or a number of our ever growing bristle nose army (that just keep on breeding in one of our other tanks)

What would be reasonable stocking numbers of each?

Also I’m assuming you can mix different coloration's of severums.

1x Oscar
X severum
X acara
X geos
x plecs

Thanks

A good question is how good filtration and how much water changes are you willing to do? I’m assuming you want the Oscar as the centrepiece? I would personally say a nice set up would be
• an oscar
• a pleco(your choice but nothing to big)
• maybe one of the other species like the acaras

Or
• 5 Geophagus red head tapajos
• a Severum
• 4 electric blue acaras
• pleco(s)
I would consider a chocolate cichlid or festivums if you want other ideas.
If it was my tank I would do
• 6-8 keyhole cichlids
• 15-20emperor tetras
• 4 Bristlenoses
• some cories
This is a more peaceful set up and the fish are a bit smaller. You could swap the cories for something else if you wanted but thought you might like what to see how I would stock the tank.
You said restock the tank, is there any fish that are a must that are in there right now?

 

[GaryE]

After a long spell of keeping Geos of several species, here is my personal formula. It assumes no other fish in the tank, and it's based on 40% weekly water changes, never missing. I consider it walking the edge of overstocking, if you want to have a life and not do nothing but change water, or lose fish if you miss water changes. It also assumes excellent filtration, and that your fish will live long and grow to adult size.

Each Geophagus should have 25 gallons/95litres.
Each severum should have 20 gallons/75ltrs.
I have no experience of electric blue acaras, so I won't go there.
Common plecos should be either left in nature or given 50 gallons/200 ltr each. Most Ancistrus though are great fish that actually eat algae and stay reasonably sized. I've never had one wreck a tank, as plecos have.
An Oscar is a predator that's active and which produces a fair bit of waste. I wouldn't keep one alone in my 125 gallon/475ltr. It would grow too large. Once you start looking at things like Oscars, you suddenly have a tiny aquarium.

I know, people do it. We do many things. But Amerian Cichlids don't thrive in crowding, and need very clean water. Crowd Geophagus and you will battle neuromast pitting and hole in the head. Why would we set up for disease when light stocking can avoid it? It's a lesson I learned the hard way, so I'll offer my very unpopular opinion, and say that now, after 58 years of aquarium keeping, I would consider your tank full if you had 4 Geophagus (let's say red headed Tapajos size) a couple of Ancistrus and a shoal of tetras. All too often, we setup tanks for the short term (but the fish aren't big now!), and that makes short lives for the fish certain.

 

[Back in the fold]

Pick one . The Severum would be my choice . They’re a beautiful fish and fun to watch .

 

[anewbie]

Each Geophagus should have 25 gallons/95litres.

This depends heavily on species and floor space of the aquarium; some species are 12 to 14 inches other 4 or 5 inches.

Each severum should have 20 gallons/75ltrs.

Not sure where you came up with 20 gallons for a 8+ inch fish everything i've read is min. of 55; though i've not kept them myself since they are plant eaters.

I
Common plecos should be either left in nature or given 50 gallons/200 ltr each.

Again not sure where you came up with 50 gallons; an adult common could demand absolute min of 75 gallons with easily 200 gallons for some larger specimens.

While i do have 4 chocolate cicihld in my 600 (and it doesn't work that well since the breeding pair bullies the smallest one - note this is an aquarium that is 10 foot long and 4 feet wide - and these are young kids under a foot - approx 7 inches for the largest chocolate. They will get larger. This is my first large fish and in truth i think a 600 is too small for them though going much larger would require more space than i have. I do have one other large species and that is g. dicrozoster - they are in a 500 (8feet x 4 feet floor space) and my statement would be the same the aquarium is too small for such a large fish - and in truth when both species age out they will be replaced with smaller species though what i don't know - the g. sp alto are smaller and the 500 is probably ok for a small group.


Two species of cichild i've kept that have remained relatively passive (no group is passive 100% of time) for more than 2 years are b. cupido and various Mesonauta species (egregius are my favorite of the two species i've kept).

another cicihld that seems to be relatively passive are discus but of course your aquarium is too small to consider them. Again i would recommend a mininum of 200 gallons and larger is better for a group of 6.


While the dynamics will depend on species, individual fish and actual sex of the fish your wish list isn't going to work in the tiny aquarium you are suggesting.