Lots Of Help Advice Ideas And Suggestions Needed Please

[markandhisfish]

ok so heres my situation. recently got a pair of kribs for my general community tank and am now starting to fall in love with cichlids . my red tailed black shark that used to be soooo laid back is gettin a bit frisky as he grows . in the near future i will be the happy owner of a 75 gallon tank deffo want to put the shark in there as he is getting to be too aggressive for the community tank and should surely be able to hold his own with cichlids?? getting rid of him is not an option as both me and my girlfriend love him to bits the kribs im not sure if i will put into new tank or not undecided at present.

now i have read that most cichlids like rocky aquascsapes but i also like my plants so i want to find maybe a happy medium in the setup and have some nice cichlids that will look impressive in terms of colours etc but nothing too difficult as my only cichlid experience is the kribs in my community tank.

would love a red tiger oscar only concerns are 1stly what else i could put with it and 2ndly as an oscar will grow quite big how much will that limit the number of fish i could have ?

all help gratefuly received

 

[england]

it will limit the number of fishes, owning a big oscar, but hey who cares, oscars are worth it, get an oscar and have the redtail black shark in with him, maybe a birchir which would be cool,,,,
i have a tank with a solo male jag, its worth it

 

[Davo86]

Totally agree with nelly, if you bare in mind that 75G is the bare minimum recommended volume for just 1 Oscar alone you can see just how limiting they can be on your total stocking.

Also you say that you like your plants, if thats the case then maybe an Oscar isn't for you as your plants won't be around for long, Oscars love nothing more than ripping up plants moving rocks around and generally aquascaping the tank in any way they want.

I also agree that with an O and a RTB shark you would only be looking at adding something like a bichir, pleco or maybe a hoplo cat or two or similar.

 

[markandhisfish]

hmmm thats what i thought i rekon i will look for alternatives then as i would prefer to be able to have more fish. any ideas?

 

[england]

oscars are the best....

ok what about keyhole cichlids?
rainbow cichlids
tbar cichlids

 

[Davo86]

hmmm thats what i thought i rekon i will look for alternatives then as i would prefer to be able to have more fish. any ideas?

In a 75G you have loads of options,
As well as the ones nelly mentioned you could look at; Festivum, Blue Acara, Firemouth or even less aggressive species like Angels and Apistos

I have a RTB shark in with a pair of Kribensis and a pair of Keyholes

 

[Dan81192]

I'd say Blue Acara or Firemouth

Look in the archives about cichlids. most grow big'ish

 

[markandhisfish]

have been thinking blue acara maybe severum decided i will be keeping the kribs tbar in your other post looks awesome nelly (the pic where it is purple) the i really like is propper agressive ..... jack dempsey. im terrible tho always changing my mind. think i could have 10 75 gallon tanks and have nightmares knowing what to stockthem with !!!!

 

[markandhisfish]

i have heard that the electric blue jack dempsey is a bit more chilled out. is this true?

 

[fishlover500]

You are looking at SA and CA obviously but if you want colourful cichlids africans are a lot better.
Not sure about EB JD.

 

[markandhisfish]

am tempted by african but i always invisaged a barren rockly type setup and as i said above i do like plants in a tank. so i guess im looking for a happy medium

 

[Davo86]

am tempted by african but i always invisaged a barren rockly type setup and as i said above i do like plants in a tank. so i guess im looking for a happy medium

You would get away with a Severum and Blue acara with your kribs and RTB but I wouldn't like to put either a JD or EBJD in with Kribs.
IMO the EBJD is just a colour morph of the regular Jack Dempsey and so like any big cichlid it will totally come down to the aggression and attitude of the one you buy

 

[markandhisfish]

yes im leaning towards a blue acara and a nice severum was going to have a nice sized shoal of congo tetras but i think as my rtbs is turning into a bit of o sod i may go with tiger barbs as they will give as good as they get ...... plus i love em and always fancied em . altho having said that congos are lush too. this is why i need lots of tanks lol will have to get a bigger house!!