Tank Mates

ash90

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Hey guys,
I'm think of adding some more fish to my large aggressive SA cichlids tank contains

FISH
6 Oscar Cichlids (2 breeding pairs)
1 Flowerhorn
3 Jack Dempseys
1 Tigershovel Nose Catfish
3 Sailfin plcos (common)
2 Jaguar Cichlids


The tank is L8XW4'XH3' 598GAL (UK)
WHATS A GOOD CHOICE
 
WOW!! I want pics asap :D How about a big veija argentina?
 
ok ao correct me please if im wrong . fair enough i havent actually kept any of those fish , and sure it may be a monster tank , but to me that list looks like world war 3 waiting to happen?
 
I have had no problems at all so far except when i try adding convicts the end up dead within days
 
how big are all these fish?

if the jags turn out to be m/f and pair up things can soon get nasty , jags are pretty nasty when spawning ,
 
oscars are 10-12"
plecs are about 18"
shovelnose is about 20"
jags are bout 13"
jds are 10"
flowerhorn is about 7"

They have never been seen 2 bother each other except when oscars start laying eggs
 
if theyre working well together then thats great. must be a hell of an impressive looking tank , i agree with wills id loe to see some pics
 
what else could goin with them as i was thinking more jds or a flowerhorn or maybe a peacockbass
 
to be honest , in my opinion your pretty much pushing your luck with what you already have
 
wel as i said thats a mighty big tank , but those are also pretty big cichlids, some of which can be very agressive , even more so when spawning . an often reccomended way of mixing such fish is to have a single specemin of each species , thus removing the problem of spawning triggering extra territorial behaviour.
 
A lovely, massive tank for sure.

I have certainly seen a massive tank at one of my local Maidenhead Aquatics which has a number of big, "aggressive" fish in, and with all that space, they are fine with each other.

It's hard to judge quite how much you might, or might not, be pushing your stocking levels without actually seeing pics of the tank, as it is so much bigger than the numbers we are normally used to dealing with.

Even so, I would be very careful about adding another flowerhorn. I would also have some concern about the flowerhorn you have if it is a male and starts to approach the size of the other big boys. Flowerhorns really are the next "league" up in aggression over any of the others you have.

If adding other large fish, I would try and avoid having breeding pairs, as this always has extra potential of causing aggro in your tank.

As for potential extra tankmates, you could consider any of the vieja genus or even some severums, which I think would fit in well, with that much space. If you were happy mixing from other continents then a paratilapia polleni or even frontosa might fit in OK too.
Personally, I would avoid any midas, red devils, festae or more jags as these species can take up a lot of gallons as their own personal territory. I'd say one of each of those would need about 100 gallons of space for their own territory, maybe more. I'd avoid a gold saum (green terror) too, as they are too similar looking to JD's and there is often big aggro between the two species.
 
Have you considered Nelly's Brycon melanopterus?
http://www.fishforum...s-true-stunner/

As you may know, Nelly is almost ready to leave for Colombia (emigrating to wife's homeland I think) and needs to find someone with a good sized tank to house this rare UK fish. Given the temprement of his fish and your current stocking, could this work? New World cichlids are a complete unknown to me, given my "young grasshopper" status in the hobby and their origin not being African or Asian rivers
wink.gif


Edit: Just remembered Nelly uploaded some new pics of his remaining fish last weekend, including the Brycon...
http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/341215-nellys-mis-mash-tank/
 
Is indeed am impressive tank! I would imagine equally impressive filtration.
Were it not for the Shovelnose, and the difficulty finding large specimens,,,I might consider a group of four or five Synodontis Multipunctatus but I confess that they are favorites.
they grow to around eight inches and do a very good job of eating bits of food.
have always like the Pearl cichlids but don't beleive they could hold their own with the other fishes.Ditto for paratilapia Polleni.
 

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