260 litre tank

[Oli]

It’s frustrating… they do a 5ft, 450 litre version, but it’s $3600, and $2500 is stretching the budget as it is

 

[Oli]

What about Electric blue Acaras? Can they be kept in a group. Maybe 6/7? I’ve seen the following picture which peaks my interest…

 

[Colin_T]

Blue acaras are more territorial than angels and discus. A pair will take over half the tank and that will be theirs.

What about a Rift Lake tank containing Lake Malawi cichlids like Aulonocara species and something else?
Lake Malawi has a GH around 300ppm and a pH around 7.6 so you would need to add a Rift Lake water conditioners if you have soft water. But the fish would grow to 4-6 inches and the males are really nicely coloured. You could have a group of males (no females) and it can look pretty good.

 

[Oli]

What about if I stocked it to the extent of the picture above? Surely the aggression would be dispersed?

Tank will be heavily planted to African cichlids are out the equation really

 

[Colin_T]

It feels like you are on the very minimum edge of it - the height could be an issue for the angels, I've not heard of a 10 inch discus before but will defer to Colin as I've not really ventured into them.

Discus can grow to the size of a dinner plate and there were photos in magazines many years ago showing them on dinner plates. We also had a customer who was from the Amazon and she had photos of discus they had caught for dinner and they were big fish (10-12 inches x 2 inches thick). She used to come in and stir the boss up by asking if we had any new discus. He would take her into the fish room and point them out and she would say they look really tasty. She was hilarious. They both loved discus but she could stir the boss up beautifully.

 

[Colin_T]

What about if I stocked it to the extent of the picture above? Surely the aggression would be dispersed?

Tank will be heavily planted to African cichlids are out the equation really

I'm not sure if that is a legit picture. I certainly wouldn't have that many blue acaras in the same tank.

 

[Oli]

I screengrabbed it from an Electric blue Acara Facebook page, the lady has posted several photos and videos of it

 

[Wills]

What about if I stocked it to the extent of the picture above? Surely the aggression would be dispersed?

Tank will be heavily planted to African cichlids are out the equation really

If you put a lot in one tank eventually some will pair and take over an area of the tank because American cichlids claim landscape and objects. Does the tank have to be planted? I suspect you'd really be into Malawi cichlids - most people that want a tank full of American cichlids (Acaras, Angels, Discus) really want a Malawi tank but don't know it yet, speaking from experience here...

 

[Oli]

I’ve kept peacocks before… here’s a pic

I just don’t think they would fair well with plants. Having said that, I plan for the tank to be 80% epiphytes

 

[Wills]

I’ve kept peacocks before… here’s a pic

I just don’t think they would fair well with plants. Having said that, I plan for the tank to be 80% epiphytes

See I knew you'd like them haha!

Few people manage to keep them with Anubias and Buce, but thats more Mbuna side - I dont know how Peacocks and Haps deal with them, with them being less herbivorous overall?

 

[Oli]

Me neither, I know they used to dig a lot and that used to annoy me as the substrate was never straight. Perhaps I’ll just have to make so with a community tank, not really what I wanted but I guess it’s not possible

 

[Colin_T]

Go with 8-10 angelfish. Get small to medium sized fish and let them grow up together.

 

[Oli]

What would you define as small/medium? And what would I do when they get to full size?

 

[Colin_T]

2 inches long

hope for the best when they start breeding

 

[Oli]

Ahhhh, as said before I don’t have the patience to be raising fish from that small. I want instant 4+ inch eye catching fish. I’m tempted to just go for the discus. I know they take a couple years to get to that dinner plate size, so I’ll either have money for a tank upgrade, or just sell them