What Fish Should I Get?

[bricko]

Hi Folks,

I am in the process of setting up a Juwel trigon 190 corner tank for my son and he would ideally like to have some new world cichlids homed in there.

I intend to have the tank quite heavily planted, with lots of rocks built up for caves (these will be siliconed together for security) and a large piece of bogwood, I will also be running a CO2 setup on the tank, T5 lights and amozon II substrate. I will be running the internal juwel filter as well as a fluval 305 external filter.

I currently have 1 pictus catfish in my sons (small 65l) tank which will be rehomed in this tank and was wondering what american cichlids I could house alongside. My son likes firemouths, keyholes and blue acara, I don't intend on getting a "pair" of anything so hopefully avoiding any excess agression. Also possibly a small school of shoaling fish that won't end up as lunch for the cichlids or pictus.

I hope sombody here can give me a few options to toy with over the next few weeks while the tank is set up.

Cheers

Bricko

 

[ox5477]

Well since pictus stay pretty small and your tank isn't expecially big, I would go with some of the dwarf species. Maybe some cockatoos or rams or a keyhole or two. For dither fish, giant danios are a good movement addtions though some fishkeepers find them lacking in color in brilliance.

If you wanted some bigger fish and less numbers, I would say a con and fm would work together and then some bigger and hardy dithers like giants danios would be best to take any abuse the fm or con might dish out. As long as you stay under the adult size of fm's, then you should be good in the tankwithout much issues.

You could fit a single JD or acara, or GT in there but I would be afraid when they reach adulthood, they would beat up the pictus... so it's better prob to go with greater numbers of the smaller cichlids.

Ox

 

[minxfishy]

I can recommend bolivian rams, great characters, dont get large and are a peaceful cichlid so would work well with anything else you decide to add in the future. German blue rams are lovely also, not as hardy as bolivians but again fairly peaceful and work well in a community tank

 

[sic0198]

I like dwarf cockatoo cichlids and angelfish. I don't know the size of it or the compatibility of these fish. And Plecos are nice too.

Stay away from convicts a pair would turn the tank into a battlefield.

 

[bricko]

Thanks for your help guys, I will have a good think about the options available. quite keen on bolivian rams (these should be kept in pairs right?). I have not had much previous success with german blue rams, I currently have 1 male in my community tank after the female went AWOL! Don't seem to be able to keep them past 6 months! Also quite like the look of keyholes, I guess a blue acara is going to be too much for the pictus then Ox?

Would a couple of keyholes and FM's work ok along with some danios ( they would have to be quite big danios as my pim has a taste for small fish)

 

[ox5477]

If you want a fm then x the rams or other more peaceful cichlids as fm's can be as aggressive as many other cichlids. I would say a pair of rams and a single keyhole would be a nice addition. The rams don't have to be kept in pairs but because of how small they stay, many people try to get a pair. I would say by itself, an acara would be fine, but with other fish, I think the tank is too small.

For the danios, giant danios get to roughly 3.5 to 4" in length and are quite quick. I have 7 of them with a full grown male JD and he never goes after them because I think he realizes its just too much work to try and catch them. Im sure if he didnt get fed, after about a week he would start making runs at them, but I feed him every other day (which might even be a little much since he is basically full grown) so he is not nearly hungry enough to attack them. So I wouldnt worry about the catfish

Ox

 

[bricko]

Thanks guys,

Would a pair of bolivian rams and a pair of keyholes work okay along with a small shoal of danios?

If so I think this will be my final decision.

Thanks again for your help and knowledge.

Cheers,

Bricko

 

[ox5477]

Ya, I would think that would be ok if the tank was heavily planted. If you have two mated pairs in there, there might be some territorial battles and the danios might get caught right in the middle of it. But seeing as how the tank is roughly 50G, it should be adequate size for these two species to pair

Ox

 

[bricko]

Thanks for the input guys,

I have decided to opt for a pair of Keyholes and a pair of bolivian rams.

I will be planting the tank quit heavily first, I will seed the external filter with media from my tank which should speed up the cycle,then adding the pim pic (from other tank), then adding the keyholes a few weeks later. After the keyholes have settled I will add some shoaling fish (still not made my mind up on what species here). After another month or so I will add the rams. Hopefully this will let the keyholes settle down into the tank first prior to adding another pair of cichlids.

I really still require some help with the shoaling fish to add. I would really like a species from SA, so this counts out most danio species as they are from asia.

Does the introduction plan sound okay to you?

Any more ideas on the shoal of dither fish?

Cheers, Bricko

 

[ALW]

Any more ideas on the shoal of dither fish?

Cheers, Bricko

Tetras

Neons, Black Neons, Silvertips, Lemons, Emperors, Cardinals, Rummy-noses, Glowlights, Red-eyes and X-rays just to name a few!

 

[bricko]

Thank Andy, thats what I was thinking but wasn't sure if some would be a tad on the small side and end up as dinner for the pictus. He made a meal out of several guppies in his previous home and I really don't want to make the same mistake again. What do you think?

 

[minxfishy]

Maybe go with the larger size tetras, avoid the neons. Lemon tetras are nice, as are serpae tetras, bleeding heart tetras, congo tetras etc

 

[ALW]

Thank Andy, thats what I was thinking but wasn't sure if some would be a tad on the small side and end up as dinner for the pictus. He made a meal out of several guppies in his previous home and I really don't want to make the same mistake again. What do you think?

Yeh go for the larger Tetras then something like Buenos Aires, Bleeding Hearts, Congos,Diamonds or Red-eyes

Buenos: grow to between 7-10cm
Bleeding: grow to between 6-10cm
Congos: gorw to between 6-9cm
Diamonds: grow to about 7cm
Red-eyes: grow to about 7cm

 

[bricko]

Just to keep you in the loop. I have set the tank up now (see link below)

http/www.fishforums.net/content/Members-...375/Trigon-190/

Just wanted to see what you think of the setup. Cant seem to post picks in this section so appologies.

Any suggestion to plants, additional decor etc.

The final??? setup will contain 1 x pictus, 2 x keyhole, 2 x Bolivian ram, 6 - 8 x Black widow tetras. (I may squeeze a couple of BN plecs in later if A) theres room and B) there is an algae problem.

Cheers