300/400L Aggressive Tank & 190L Peaceful Tank Ideas

[ChilliPepper]

Those of you who have read my previous posts and the one below, will know I am trying to organise my current fish so I can keep all of them when my GT grows up and shows her true colours, as it were.

My OH has surprisingly suggested getting a larger tank PLUS keeping the current 190L, so some serious thought is going into planning before we move and buy the new tank.

I would like the larger tank to be the aggressive tank, it will be at least 300L but 400L if I can find one for the right price. The 190L will then be a non-aggressive tank. Stocking ideas as follows.

300/400L Aggressive

Stock
1 x female GT
1 x male Jack Dempsey (or Jaguar cichlid maybe, if I get the 400L)
1 x Firemouth
1 x Convict
5 x Silver Dollars or Tiger Barbs
1 x possibly another small Plec

Substrate
Black sand
Rocks
Wood
Caves
Silk plants

190L Non-aggressive

Stock
1 x Keyhole
1 x Bolivian Ram (may get another)
4 x Columbian Red Fins
5 x Khuli loaches
2 x Amano shrimp
1 x Para Pleco
5 x Corydoras
1 x Blue Acara


Substrate
Black sand
Wood
Caves
Silk plants

Any suggestions/ideas/advice welcomed

 

[holidayinn]

Try to get as big a tank as possible, would be my suggestion.

Also, typically, Jags rates much higher in aggression then JDs and ideally need a 2-foot wide tank.

 

[thedc5]

Ive got a Jag,GT and Dempsey in a 6x2x2 tank (and Dollars and a common Plec) and the Jag is actually a serious peace keeper, the GT and Dempsey hate each other but 2 years on no serious fights as the Jag stops them, all very strange but works for me! I personally think its cos the GT and Dempsey are similar colours, next time round I wont have them together but saying that I know lots of people who have had no problems, pot luck with personality I think, mine all went in as babies together and as I say 2 years on all is good.

Be careful with the sand though, I have a sand substrate as I prefer it to gravel but I do tend to find handfuls in my filters as the Jag is always randomly digging and moving huge amounts of substrate around!!

Great fish though!

 

[holidayinn]

Not saying it can't be done, but with cichlids anything can happen at any moment, its a game of percentages at times.

 

[ChilliPepper]

Ive got a Jag,GT and Dempsey in a 6x2x2 tank (and Dollars and a common Plec) and the Jag is actually a serious peace keeper, the GT and Dempsey hate each other but 2 years on no serious fights as the Jag stops them, all very strange but works for me! I personally think its cos the GT and Dempsey are similar colours, next time round I wont have them together but saying that I know lots of people who have had no problems, pot luck with personality I think, mine all went in as babies together and as I say 2 years on all is good.

Be careful with the sand though, I have a sand substrate as I prefer it to gravel but I do tend to find handfuls in my filters as the Jag is always randomly digging and moving huge amounts of substrate around!!

Great fish though!

Thanks, so the Jag would be OK with my other suggestions in a 400L? I think they are pretty awesome fish as well. I may go for some natural gravel instead of sand.

What about Texas cichlids?

Not saying it can't be done, but with cichlids anything can happen at any moment, its a game of percentages at times.

This is what makes them interesting And of course why I am using this time before I buy a bigger tank to research suitable tank mates for my GT

 

[ChilliPepper]

Another idea is to try a Severum with my GT instead of a JD or Jag.... I know this could go either way but would get a slightly bigger Sev... Then I could have the 300L

 

[Davo86]

tbh there is a big difference between stocking a 300L and 400L, also Tiger barbs would soon be killed by a GT or Jag as would be a small pleco species
Dollars also get big and 5 adults takes up a fair bit of stocking even in a 400L

In a 400L I would try either
1 x female GT
1 x male Jack Dempsey
1 x Firemouth
5 x Silver Dollars
1 x mid sized Plec

or
1 Jaguar
1 Green terror
5 Silver Dollars
1 Ornate bichir

In a 300L
1 x female GT
1 x male Jack Dempsey
1 x Firemouth
7 Giant Danios
Small Plec

 

[england]

Agree with dave accept for this combo i would only choose one or the other on those cichlids...i had a jag who totally owned my 5/2/2ft tank,was peaceful for 1 and a half years then suddenly one day that was it...

or
1 Jaguar
1 Green terror
5 Silver Dollars
1 Ornate bichir

 

[always4lora]

I had silver doollar'#s and i personally wouldnt have them in anything less then a 6x2x2 not because the size they get just because they so skittish and when slightly disturbed go mentle bashing into the sides of the tank etc.

As for the ornate you'll have to bair in mind they grow quick if fed correctly so the cichlids will have to have a head start as will silver dollar's if you decided to go with them. whats the dimensions of the tank you'r looking at? Ornate do's get long when fully grown , 24" is max recorded but i'd say around 18inch is pretty good size for an adult fish. You might be better off going with one of the smaller species such as the Palmas species ,senegal, Delhezi, mokelembembe or ansorgi if you can find the latter two.

You would also need to make sure got a female jag as the male would go to big for the tank.

 

[ChilliPepper]

I had silver doollar'#s and i personally wouldnt have them in anything less then a 6x2x2 not because the size they get just because they so skittish and when slightly disturbed go mentle bashing into the sides of the tank etc.

As for the ornate you'll have to bair in mind they grow quick if fed correctly so the cichlids will have to have a head start as will silver dollar's if you decided to go with them. whats the dimensions of the tank you'r looking at? Ornate do's get long when fully grown , 24" is max recorded but i'd say around 18inch is pretty good size for an adult fish. You might be better off going with one of the smaller species such as the Palmas species ,senegal, Delhezi, mokelembembe or ansorgi if you can find the latter two.

You would also need to make sure got a female jag as the male would go to big for the tank.

Thanks, I have decided to go for an Oscar now I am going to get a 400L, or as close to it as poss, as this wil definitely be my last tank for a while. Got to save up now

So, 400L:

1 x female GT
1 x Tiger Oscar
1 x Senegal Birchir
5 x Silver Dollars

Could I have a JD as well, or would that be asking for trouble?

I'll probably look about for a 120L tank to put my other stock in, just leaving the GT and Oscar in the 190L until we move and I get the larger tank