Ideas Needed Please

[chrisrm]

right, i have decided to move my current stock from their current home into a 6.5ft 700l tank and was hoping for some ideas of what else to add to the tank to fully stock it?

bigger schoaling fish silver dollars silver sharks or are they too big?

more cichlids of the same sort or different ones?

It will have in it...
1X red spotted sev
1X firemouth
1X royal plec
10X columbian tetra
im also looking to put an EBJD in there (when i can find one!)

 

[kaivalagi]

Ooooo, 700 litres

I would add some or all off this list:

• Chocolate Cichlid
• A group of Eartheaters (A smaller Geophagus or Biotodoma species maybe)
• 1 or 2 Blue / Port Acara
• 1 or 2 more severum (Green or Rotkeil maybe?)

If you could rehome the FM then you could possibly add some more aggressive fish, such as Green Terror or Oscar depending on how big that Sev is at a guess.....what sort of cichlid community you want? more placid or more aggressive...

 

[hamfist]

what sort of cichlid community you want? more placid or more aggressive...

It's a key point.

If sticking with a more SA feel, then you could look at a couple of Uaru, a chocolate cichlid or a true parrot. COuld add another sev, or sevs, but then you are potentially going to run into aggression issues if they spawn. Your choice really.
Instead of a different shoaling fish, personally, I would up the numbers of your colombians. A big shoal will look really impressive.
If your really prefer something else, then silver dollars are not too big, I think, although they will eat into your bioload heavily once into adulthood, as they are quite bulky fish.
Whatever you do cihlid-wise, definately add them into the new tank at the same time. If your sev gets to feel that it's his territory, then you could have real issues adding other cichlids.

Geos, would be another nice option.

If looking for a more semi-aggressive CA tank, then you're probably going to have to rehome the colombians and sev (probably), who will eather get eaten or will struggle to cope with the aggression. Other fish to add then could be JD, GT, oscar, texas etc. Shoalers with these could be silver dollars. Personally, I wouldn't add silver sharks, as they are just adding to the biooad too much, for a simple shoaler/dither type fish.

It's a great problem to have, to have a big tank that needs stocking !!

 

[kaivalagi]

After reading your recent posts Hamfist, the aggression point will be something I always raise when members are asking about stocking cichlids from now on! Something most of us don't really consider enough...I for one am stocking SA with some Rotkeils being added next week and I can't help but think about your points raised now...maybe a dwarf pike or dwarf snakehead in my smaller tank next

 

[hamfist]

After reading your recent posts Hamfist, the aggression point will be something I always raise when members are asking about stocking cichlids from now on! Something most of us don't really consider enough...I for one am stocking SA with some Rotkeils being added next week and I can't help but think about your points raised now...maybe a dwarf pike or dwarf snakehead in my smaller tank next

I'm certainly no expert on aggression issues in cichlid tanks, although I do have some experience.

Pike cichlids and snakeheads are something I have never been attracted to, so can't even comment there. Adding Rotkeils can never be a bad thing though !

To think that I don't own a severum anymore !!

 

[chrisrm]

I think i would prefer a less agressive tank.

how do you think this stocking would work?

1 x red spotted sev
1 x firemouth
4 x Demon Fish, 'Jurupari,' Eartheater (advice on m to f ratio)
1 x blue acara
1 x Hoplarchus psittacu
20 x columbian tetra
2 x royal plec

any advice on numbers or substitutions would be greatfully recived

thanks

 

[kaivalagi]

Looking good.

I would go for a smaller eartheater and get more in numbers, but that's just me... that's assuming the numbers you have "fit" well into the tank at adult size. The true parrot and demon fish get to 1 foot long don't they?

I would plug it all into Aq Advisor just to give you a rough guide on capacity etc

 

[chrisrm]

i put it into aq advisor changing the eartheaters to pearl eartheaters and it came up with...

You have plenty of aquarium filtration capacity.( 1xFX5 and 1x eheim 2128)

Your aquarium filtration capacity for above selected species is 239%.Help on Filtration capacity
Recommended water change schedule: 56% per week. (You might want to split this water change schedule to two separate 33% per week)
Your aquarium stocking level is 124%

by 'fit' do you meen turning space?

 

[hamfist]

I think i would prefer a less agressive tank.

how do you think this stocking would work?

1 x red spotted sev
1 x firemouth
4 x Demon Fish, 'Jurupari,' Eartheater (advice on m to f ratio)
1 x blue acara
1 x Hoplarchus psittacu
20 x columbian tetra
2 x royal plec

any advice on numbers or substitutions would be greatfully recived

thanks

I'd say you are looking good.

Personally, I'd agree with Kaivalagi and would advise getting a surinamensis-type eartheater (say 4 of (1M, 3 F, if poss, although diff to sex - not critical)). They tend to max out at smaller sizes than the Jurupari (although the Jurupari are slightly more placid).
Also, stick to one royal plec. These guys are huge poo machines (as I'm sure you know), and if you keep to one only, it will keep your options open for free-swimming fish. I suspect you will wish you hadn't if you get a second. Also a good chance of aggression between two in the same tank.

A parrot, BA, FM and sev has a very good chance of working in a 700 litre. Although, like all cichlid mix and matches, it will depend on the individual character of each fish. Whichever eartheater species you might choose, I would think it should work with all those other cichlids too.

 

[ChilliPepper]

I would do:

1 x Red Spot Sev
1 x Green/Gold Sev
1 x Rotkeil Sev
6 x Geophagus Tapajo
1 x Chocolate Cichlid
12 x Columbian Tetra, or Rainbowfish like Bosemani or Praecox
1 x Royal Plec

 

[Wills]

Looks fine to me I agree with hamfist on the Royal pleco - the poo is just rediculous at times its made me rehome all mine and go for twigs but 1 royal in that tank will be good.

As for the Geophagus - the Satanopercas - go for Satanoperca Auticeps they are the smallest of the genus and really nice as well there are a few all over the place at the moment so should be okay to find. But I would also pair that up with a 4 of Geophagus sp Tapajo as well a nice small geo group that will interact with the Satanopercas in a positive way but wont over power them.

Wills

 

[chrisrm]

Looks fine to me I agree with hamfist on the Royal pleco - the poo is just rediculous at times its made me rehome all mine and go for twigs but 1 royal in that tank will be good.

As for the Geophagus - the Satanopercas - go for Satanoperca Auticeps they are the smallest of the genus and really nice as well there are a few all over the place at the moment so should be okay to find. But I would also pair that up with a 4 of Geophagus sp Tapajo as well a nice small geo group that will interact with the Satanopercas in a positive way but wont over power them.

Wills

they both look good what numbers of the Satanoperca Auticeps should i be looking at 4 aswel?

 

[Wills]

Yeah in a tank that size I would consider the groups of geos/satans of 4 as a minimum in the wild these fish are found in groups of 50-70

Actually though whats the width of this tank?

Wills

 

[chrisrm]

Yeah in a tank that size I would consider the groups of geos/satans of 4 as a minimum in the wild these fish are found in groups of 50-70

Actually though whats the width of this tank?

Wills

the width is only 1.5' i would have liked 2' but is was a real bargin!

 

[star4]

I would personally be careful mixing severums, stick with red spot & gold, or rotkeil & green or even heros. The red spot & gold I have in the tank next to the rotkeils tend to do an awful lot of displaying & posturing towards each other. Spawning aggression with severums is a lot less than some other species, my Rotkeils only defend a small area around the eggs, no bigger than approx 8" square.

Again this is just my personal opinion and experience but in all my cichlid tanks now I have done away with "dithers" and aggression levels are almost none existant, just the odd chase and flaring, where with dithers I found actual lip locking fights broke out!