1 "centre-piece" Fish

[h_ceri]

Would appreciate any help/advice on this topic as I am completely stuck!

I have a juwel rio 240 (48 x 16 x 20 - 67gal) that I picked up over a month ago now and am still torn over what to stock in it. After lots of mind changing, I've decided that my general "plan" is going to be

1 x centrepiece cichlid
1 x school of medium dither (silver dollers, rainbowfish, giant danio etc)
1 x group of zebra loaches or corys
1 x school of large tetra (cichlid permitting)

The tank will be filtered with two tetratec ex1200's, so it can handle a messy fish.

My problem is what to choose as my main fish. As I will only be keeping one it needs to be comfertable and happy on its own. I also don't want anything too agressive (although some aggression will not be a problem), and I don't particularly want a fish that will smash 10" i.e. oscar, with 8" being my preferred maximum. As it'll be the main fish of the tank I also want it to have a good personaility.

I'm considering a severum but am a bit concerned about how large (not just length) they get, as I saw a fully grown at the LFS and it was huge!

So basically, can anyone pick me a single cichlid to be my "show fish"?

Sorry for the lengthy post - hope someone can read enough of it to help a poor confused young man!

 

[QuotheRaven]

I personally would go a Severum, good nature most of the time, great personality and can easily fit in a 67 gallon

 

[Mr._Fishy]

Sevs are great, it and a black ghost knife are the centerpiece fish in my tank. They don't grow huge, you could have one in your tank easily, granted you won't have much room for other largeish fish. Was there anything in particular you wanted?

Ryan

 

[Colin_T]

if you go South American perhaps a firemouth cichlid. The other way would be to increase the hardness and PH and put in a peacock (Aulonocara sp) or electric blue cichlid (Scianochromis ahli, not sure if that's spelt right). They are rift lake cichlids but most of them are captive bred and will live in slightly alkaline water with a moderate hardness.

 

[blue acara]

Festivum cichlid, Mesonauta spp., would be a good choice. Some of them colour up to be real beauties. They can eat small tetras so go for the congo tetra as your schooling species.

http/www.fishforums.net/content/Cichlids...stivum-Cichlid/

 

[shroob]

I would go for a male blue acara, they should fit in nicely with your SA theme (if you choose that).

 

[h_ceri]

Thanks for the replies.

Ryan, there's nothing I want in particular, just a large(ish) good personalitied cichlid who's happy on his own!

The festivium looks a real beauty, are they fairly common? I don't remember ever seeing one at the LFS (a v. big one) but I could always go and ask.

I've seen plenty of blue acara's around too, but they're generally sold here at about 1-1.5". How long would it take to get full size (~8 inches i think?)

 

[simbob]

i wouldnt go for a blue acara unless the lfs is 100% sure they are actually blue acaras. As juveniles they are easily mistaken for green terrors which i what happened to me and it was very agressive.

 

[h_ceri]

i wouldnt go for a blue acara unless the lfs is 100% sure they are actually blue acaras. As juveniles they are easily mistaken for green terrors which i what happened to me and it was very agressive.

Yeah I'd hard about this mistake being quite common. Any tips on how I'd be able to spot the difference given how small they are? or is it best just to stay clear? As i realy don't want anything too agressive considering what else I'm going to keep

 

[blue acara]

Blue acara can be fairly aggressive, my male killed a 3 inch swordtail and he was only half grown. I wouldn't trust them with anything small.

 

[h_ceri]

Blue acara can be fairly aggressive, my male killed a 3 inch swordtail and he was only half grown. I wouldn't trust them with anything small.

Well the only small fish I'd be concerned about is the tetras....and I'd only get a shoal if the cichlid would "allow" it as such.

Will certainly keep this in mind though blue acara

 

[Tobigara]

like other's said, i would go with a severum or festivum. there are other you might want to look into tho. like sajicas, uarus especially panda uarus, keyholes etc.

 

[h_ceri]

like other's said, i would go with a severum or festivum. there are other you might want to look into tho. like sajicas, uarus especially panda uarus, keyholes etc.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I think a trip to the LFS to see whats available is in order!

 

[caboose_122]

i vote severum! beautiful fish

 

[mark7616]

Why dont you look at something different everyone always suggests blue acara, firemouth and severum all the time. But why dont you look at something a little bit different some of the south american eartheaters are a good choice maybe a Geophagus Steindachneri only gets to about 6" and has a lovely colour.