My Larger Community Tank

[coldcazzie]

Tank size: Juwel Rio 240. Currently filtered by a tetratec ex1200. About an inch of sand on the bottom, with some stems and some java ferns and anubias on wood.

Planning to upgrade to a 5 foot of some form and add an fx5, but need to find the right one first! I've already got a buyer for my Rio when it comes to it which is good

currently I have:
1x magnum plec (from verminator89)
1x Honduran red point (from minnnt)
5x baby apple snails

Eventually wanting to add:
8x red line torpedo barbs
4-5 pictus cats (these will go in last, and as 2" babies)
Some other larger cichlids
About another 6-8 apple snails

In terms of the cichlids, I'd like angels...or an angel. There's around 17.5" of swimming space currently, and that would increase with an upgrade. I'm stuck though whether to get a single one, or several. I wanted a golden sev too but have doubts about it's ability to mix with plants.

Thoughts please people, mostly relating to angels as they are being collected today and I need to know how many!

 

[micko]

Angels can be funny IME, some can mix happily with other angels, some won't. I have 5 in one of my tanks and they all get along fine, so far.
The severum, as much as I love them are a definite no if your wanting to keep plants, they destroy them nearly as bad as silver dollars.

 

[Wills]

Ah right nice plans! I would probably look at maybe 3 or 4 cichlids though rather than just one more. As IME if the cichlids only kind of get on it will eventually just build and build and it will be a little nip here and a nip there rather than all out fighting but with 3 or 4 it gets spread out and more of a hierachy develops.

As said Severums will eat your plants but at the same time your HRP will dig a lot so your rooted plants wont stand much of a chance - with my Sevs I have had success with Java Fern and a very hardy ancient Amazon Sword. She pretty much left any plants that were in the tank when she came to it though does eat Valis by the bucket load. So I would not throw out the idea of a Severum totally personally I prefer Rotkiels and Mouth Brooders than Golds and Greens but in a 5 foot both could work.

The other fish numbers look good but if your going for an American Cichlid tank I really think especially in a 5 foot tank more Cichlids would be good So what other cichlids do you like

Wills

 

[coldcazzie]

not sure... jewels are gorgeous but that would just be a complete disaster!

I'm not even sure what options I have! I've kept angels before, but other than that I'm in completely new territory. What about a jd? Would that be possible?

Should I just get a single baby angel then? And then aim for another one or two similarly sized cichlids? A baby sev could be possible as a later addition once the decor is sorted, is that what you're saying Wills?

I definitely do not want babies of any kind, which is why I only took one hrp from David!

Edited to add: the stems are not staying. My intention was never to have stems, but I needed somewhere to put them cuz they were dying forgotten in the garage. The intention was always to just have plants that can be rooted on wood.

I'm hoping when I upgrade to build myself a 3d background, with caves at the base. The picture in my head is difficult to describe...

 

[fishprotector]

I have a Severum (male) a JD (female) and an Ellioti (male) in my tank and apart from a bit of friendly showing off they very rarely get on each others nerves. Mind you, the Severum is about 5 inches, the JD 3 inches and the Ellioti 5 inches so it may change when the first two get a little bigger !!

 

[fishprotector]

To limit aggression with Cichlids, it is best to get them all at the same size as juveniles and let them grow up together. I have not tried it (but an imagine why), but apparantly placing fully grown cichlids together can cause issues.

 

[coldcazzie]

What about a jd? Would that be possible?

Haha never mind!

I had a look in the fish index, I like festivums! They're gorgeous! And firemouths too... things which get to 6-8 inches at full size.

The torpedo barbs will be 5-6 inch full grown, pictus 6-7 inch, magnum 10 inch. Hoping the adult size of apple snails will mean they are too big to be considered a tasty snack.

To limit aggression with Cichlids, it is best to get them all at the same size as juveniles and let them grow up together. I have not tried it (but an imagine why), but apparantly placing fully grown cichlids together can cause issues.

Yes, my hrp is still a baby, he's about an inch in body now, and I want to get the other cichlids fairly soon as babies also, and have them grow up together. Angel(s) are coming today... if I tell Hollywood1992 soon how many to bring!

 

[fishprotector]

Sounds good. I have no experience with Angels though so not sure what to suggest with them.

Maybe have a look at Ellioti instead of Firemouths though. They are from the same family, but look great (much better than Firemouths in my opinion) and are slightly less aggressive. They are harder to find though. I have only seen them once in one shop.

 

[Wills]

Fishprotectors tank is a pretty good example IMO

Adding adult cichlids together is always risky but can go smoothly so dont feel you need to make all your choices now as its fun to have a short list go out into the shops and find someone wagging at you on your short list.

In your tank spec and size range (which is spot on IMO) I would possibly go stuff like

Rotkiel Severum
Blue Acara
female Nicaragaun (mixed personalities for this species though)
Port Acara
Festivum (as you said but... IME they are not always as peaceful as the reviews say they are)
Eliotti
Firemouth
Auream (firemouth relative)
Sajica
Cutteri
Yellow Nape Chocolate Cichlid
Rainbow Cichlid

Just be careful with the CA cichlids and your HRP on there they all need to be the same gender as they do cross breed quite readily

You could also consider a small group of the following

Cupid Cichlid - any variant/species
Bandit Cichlid - any species
Geophagus Iporagensis
Geophagus Pindare
Geophagus sp. Tapajo Red Head (in the 5 foot)

A group of 4 or 5 of one of those species would go with 2 or 3 adults of the above nicely Cupids are one of my favourites but I dont have space in my tank due to the Geopahgus I keep lol.

Wills

 

[coldcazzie]

Not sure I'd be able to fit in another group of fish once I've got 3-4 cichlids, the barbs, pictus and plec.

I do like the rotkiels. I'm not keen on the greens.

The limit is that very few of my lfs sell fish like these. P@h sell only oscars and angels, and only occasionally. Pet city has oscars, discus, angels, but few others. Qss sells loads of discus, angels, but very rarely other large cichlids. Tong garden centre only has small fish, and ACW's fish section is so appalling I would never consider buying fish from there. There's no other shops I can get to on a bus with a pram, or via a lift from an understanding man-wife/parent.

I'm limited to what I can get from other fish keepers really. There was an advert on AC for Elliotis, it was a few month old but I messaged him anyway.

Fairly certain my hrp is male. I shall be aware of cross breeding though, thanks

Without meaning to sound like I'm labouring a point (even though I am! ) how many angels. Shall I just go for the one?

 

[Wills]

Like I said not with all of them but 2 or 3 would go well with 4 Cupids for example.

Wills

 

[minnnt]

Don't stock any other Cryptoheros species as they will breed with the HRP almost for certain.

The Gold Sev i have bought from James is sooooooooo nice, it really is! I've had Rotkeils before but prefer the Gold. (Maybe i'm just weird!)

I know of a member on here who has plenty of Ellioti Juveniles ranging from 3-5" but you would need postage or a decent road trip as she lives in Warwickshire. As for other Thorichthys, the Aureus/Aureum is a great species. My Ellioti is awesome as you know, but don't over look the Firemouths, if you can source a decent one that is within the first few generations from wild then you won't find better imo, take a look in Mattlee's ornatum journal Caz... you will see what i mean. My LFS also stocked some of these and their red was unbeatable! They also had a couple of ElliotiXAureus... very nice for a hybrid, was very tempted.

Something else to consider is the colours of all you fish... mix them up so you get a varying amount of all different hues and shades. A Rainbow, a HRP, and something like a Gold or Rotkeil Severum would bounce off of one another for sure which would be very visually impacting.

 

[Wills]

With the other fish shops your in a similar problem to me Im in Hull and our shops are just as dismal lol. A shop I have been to I think its called Armely or something? I know its got a bad reputation but if you can QT it might be worth it? As they do get some good big cichlids in though you can never garuntee the health from what I understand.

What about Tingly tropicals I have heard good things about them? Also Ferrybridge Aquatics I know its quite far away but not sure if its an option but again I would reccomend QT their stock....

Also if you can call a big big favour your half the distance compared to me to Pier Aquatics in Wigan.... so about an hour away but so so so worth the travel

Wills

 

[minnnt]

I'm glad i live where i do! I have no end of quality LFS within 30 minutes

 

[Wills]

I'm glad i live where i do! I have no end of quality LFS within 30 minutes

I wish... I have one that I would buy fish from no probs but they rarely (if ever) have something in that I want and then 2 that I would if I was really happy with the state of the fish in the shop at that time etc etc....