What do you think of my 125G stock list?

[lelover]

I'm still working on my stock list for the new 125 I just bought. I'm hoping for suggestions and wondering about the possibility of cross breeding. Here's the proposed list to date.

5 labs
4 acei
4 albino socolofi
4 afra (cobue or jalo reef)
3 male peacocks
4 clown loaches
1 azureus
1 moori
1 phenochilus
1 eyebiter

If I add some female phenny's or moori's what are the chances that they will cross breed?

Also, do you think the eyebiter will snack on the afra? Are there any larger, but calmish mbuna you'd recommend?

 

[freddyk]

I'm not sure whether those two will crossbreed, but with cichlids there's always a chance so I'll put it this way: Two cichlids that look very similar stand not only to crossbreed, but also to show enhanced aggression toward each other. Instead of taking needless risks, why not just choose one of those two species (since they look similar anyway) and do a trio of them, and forget the other one. This would be the wisest move.

A grown Dimidochromis can easily snack on a grown Afra or other smallish mbuna, but if you decorate the tank properly with a lot of low-level rocks where the D can't get to, they could end up surviving. Eventually though, the Comp will get big enough that the Afra's won't be able to stray far without feeling the stress of a predetor in sight, and at this point it becomes fairly irresponsible to keep them together.

Basically you've got a mix of herbivores and omnivores and carnivores, of calm and slow moving fish and aggressive and active fish, of very big fish and very small fish. You'll be able to make it work, but won't be able to cator to all of them. In a tank like this you need to keep a close eye on things and make sure there is not stress between predetor and prey, no stress between the active fish and calm, and no problems from the herbivores munching on the meaty carnivore food. I'm one hundred percent positive that things will look good at first, but there's a good chance that you will run into issues as they all grow, so just be prepared to intervene if you must.