Changing Stock In My Tank

[zesty]

Hi, I have decided to change my fish. At the moment all I have is 8 Tiger Barbs and 4 Blue Gouramis and a BN Plec. My tanks 5 foot and 95g with 2 externals and gravel.

I am looking at getting:
Severum (maybe a Rotkeil)
Blue Acara
maybe Rainbow Cichlids

What quantity of each would I be looking at?

Any other suggestions for optional tankmates?

Will they be ok with Gravel or do I need to change to sand?

Could I keep my Tiger barbs with them?

 

[minxfishy]

In a 95g, you could have one severum, 2 blue acaras and 2 rainbow's, I see no reason to change the gravel, in fact with large cichlids gravel is far easier to keep looking clean. Also the TB's are good dither fish for those cichlids, so you could keep them and the BN plec if you wish.

 

[Wills]

Agree with Minxy but personally I would keep just singles of the Blue Acara and the Rainbow and get 2 more individual, cutting the chances of spawning and territory claiming. But yeah like minxy said again keep the tigers and BNS but get rid of the gourami - I would worry about their feelers and how long they will last.

Wills

 

[meguro]

have a look at festivum cichlids. they make me think of a cross between severums and angelfish.
i know it's not a cichlid but it's a cool fish, what about a red tailed black shark?

this would mean you won't get multiples of the same cichlid species and risk pairs or con-specific aggression

 

[markandhisfish]

agreed on only having a single blue acara i have a female in my tank and she is a total *****! tiger barbs do indeed work well with the type of fish you are looking at i have tiger barbs in with my sevs and acara and they work very well indeed

 

[zesty]

Thanks for the replies.

Im glad that I can keep my Barbs and BN.

Going to go with 1 of each Severum,Blue Acara and a Rainbow Cichlid.

I had a look at the Festivum but thought it looked a bit plain but quite like the RTB Shark, any other suggestions please?

 

[Wills]

What about a chocolate cichlid? Or if you have sand some eartheaters like Geophagus Tapajos sp red head?

 

[zesty]

What about a chocolate cichlid? Or if you have sand some eartheaters like Geophagus Tapajos sp red head?

Chocolate Cichlid is nice looking.

I dont have any sand only gravel.


BTW I have hard water, is this an issue?

 

[Wills]

How hard is hard? Whats your Ph?

If its gravel the eartheater ideas are out as they sift the sand through their gills and if they do it with gravel it gets stuck in there and its really damaging for them.

 

[zesty]

How hard is hard? Whats your Ph?

I dont think its really hard but gh is 286.4ppm and kh is 268.5ppm and ph is 7.4-7.6

 

[Wills]

hmmm that is quite a highish Ph do you have any bog wood in the tank at all? It can affect the fish that are suitable for your tank. Have you looked at Central American Cichlids? These prefer harder water to SA cichlids and there are some stunning fish to choose from. The only down side is that they are often very very aggressive, I'm looking into some of these at the moment (not because I have a tank waiting for them but because I am that much of a dork) so hoping I can send some names your way pretty soon but not sure what to suggest. Though you do have the options of your more common CA cichlids, like the fire mouth, sajica, cutteri, ellioti, aureus, convicts but try to get HRPs instead as they are much more peaceful . But yeah as well as these there are a few others that will work in the same way the chocolate and sevs would work in an SA tank but I cant think of their names at the moment... I'll get back to you lol

Wills

 

[meguro]

are they the readings from the tap or after the water has sat in a tank for a week or more?

tbh i dont think stats are all that impmortant for the fish u want anyway.

also how about jack dempsey?

 

[zesty]

hmmm that is quite a highish Ph do you have any bog wood in the tank at all? It can affect the fish that are suitable for your tank. Have you looked at Central American Cichlids? These prefer harder water to SA cichlids and there are some stunning fish to choose from. The only down side is that they are often very very aggressive, I'm looking into some of these at the moment (not because I have a tank waiting for them but because I am that much of a dork) so hoping I can send some names your way pretty soon but not sure what to suggest. Though you do have the options of your more common CA cichlids, like the fire mouth, sajica, cutteri, ellioti, aureus, convicts but try to get HRPs instead as they are much more peaceful . But yeah as well as these there are a few others that will work in the same way the chocolate and sevs would work in an SA tank but I cant think of their names at the moment... I'll get back to you lol

Wills

I have got bogwood in the tank, also those readings were straight from the tap.
I havent looked at CA Cichlids, what got me looking for a Severum was that I had read that they had a good personality and bonded with the owner. I had actually considered an Oscar but would be limited with anything else I could have in the tank. Let me know if you come up with anything interesting as Im easily swayed lol.

 

[zesty]

are they the readings from the tap or after the water has sat in a tank for a week or more?

tbh i dont think stats are all that impmortant for the fish u want anyway.

also how about jack dempsey?

The readings were from the tap and I also have bogwood in the tank so I would expect the readings to be a little lower.

I like the look of the EBJD but had read that they could be a little fragile, is that the case?