Centerpiece species for South American themed tank

[Snagrio]

As some of you are aware, I'm deep in the process of getting a 125 gallon ready for a South American themed community with driftwood and live plants (not going to be particular about the plants fitting the theme though, at the minimum I'll have an Amazon sword lol).

I've gotten most of an idea of how I'll stock it. Two bristlenose plecos that I already have and currently waiting in another tank, cories for the bottom (not sure which species yet), a mixed shoal of neon and black tetras for the middle and marble or platinum hatchets for the top, perhaps some apple/mystery snails as well.

But what I'm unsure on is what I'll go with for the centerpiece. My thoughts naturally went towards angels but I've heard far too much controversy over them snapping up small tetras. Some kind of dwarf cichlids like agassizii, cockatoos or rams maybe?

And keep in mind this is all preliminary, the tank itself isn't fully ready so I have more than enough time to plan things out and hear other opinions first.

 

[Wills]

This sounds really cool!

Dwarf Cichlids would work really nicely, checkerboards or cupids would work really nicely as a group. Both are stunning fish when mature. A hareem of Apistos would work nicely so many amazing species, my favs are Panduro because of the colourful females.

If you wanted to round off the South American tank in this size you should check out some other non cichlid oddballs. Spotted Headstanders would fit in really nicely and wouldnt draw too much attention from the others but add something nice to the mix, splash tetras are a really under rated fish too, really interesting shape and colours if you can find the right species. To go with your bristlenoses you could get some whiptail catfish too, I really like the red lizard whiptails, they stay quite small 3-4 inches and get quite an intense red colour. Between the two hatchets I would go for the marbles as silvers get quite big and I like the nature of this tank with lots of smaller species.

Wills

 

[Snagrio]

I'm erring towards marble hatchets to begin with, but it's based on a "If I can find them" basis. I haven't really been paying attention to what stores have as it hasn't been relevant up until recently.

Not keen on getting more types of catfish though, as I already have the plecos plus eventually the cories so it'd get rather redundant.

I think some type of apisto cichlid would work best. Unique enough from the rest, colorful, and don't need to be in as great of numbers (the plecos aside the other choices will need to be in groups of half a dozen at minimum).

 

[DancingBetta]

Aren’t bristlenose plecos territorial? Or is that just with smaller tanks? Correct me if I’m wrong.

 

[Snagrio]

I think 125 gallons is enough space for them to ignore each other? I'm not sure. If not I'll rehome the bigger one.