Cichlid Tank Stocking Ideas

[strangeworld2002]

Hi,

I recently purchased a Juwel Rio 180 tank. It is my second tank and after doing a fishless cycle I would like it to be a Cichlid tank. I am led to believe that the rule of thumb is 1 inch of fish per gallon of water if this were true surely an Oscar would be Ok in this tank, hell even two could fit in there if that is the correct formula. Oscars can reach 14 inches which means 28 gallons in total. So 47 gallons would have plenty of room for moving around.

If someone could clarify this as it has me completely baffled. Although I do like Oscars I am not saying I want to keep them.

At the moment I am looking for some stocking ideas. I have made a list of all the cichlids I like:

Green Terror
Jack Dempsey
Firemouth
Texas Cichlid
Oscar
German Blue Ram
Blood Red Parrot
Oscar
Convict
Severum
Discus (like them but way to expensive)
Blue Acara
Keyhole Cichlid

I do like Clown Loaches too and know that they can be kept with most Cichlids. An African setup is also a possibility.

If anyone could provide me with some advice or put together some suitable stocking ideas for my tank I would be most grateful.

Thanks.

 

[cheesy feet]

Hi,

I recently purchased a Juwel Rio 180 tank. It is my second tank and after doing a fishless cycle I would like it to be a Cichlid tank. I am led to believe that the rule of thumb is 1 inch of fish per gallon of water if this were true surely an Oscar would be Ok in this tank, hell even two could fit in there if that is the correct formula. Oscars can reach 14 inches which means 28 gallons in total. So 47 gallons would have plenty of room for moving around.

If someone could clarify this as it has me completely baffled. Although I do like Oscars I am not saying I want to keep them.

At the moment I am looking for some stocking ideas. I have made a list of all the cichlids I like:

Green Terror
Jack Dempsey
Firemouth
Texas Cichlid
Oscar
German Blue Ram
Blood Red Parrot
Oscar
Convict
Severum
Discus (like them but way to expensive)
Blue Acara
Keyhole Cichlid

I do like Clown Loaches too and know that they can be kept with most Cichlids. An African setup is also a possibility.

If anyone could provide me with some advice or put together some suitable stocking ideas for my tank I would be most grateful.

Thanks.

The 'formula' is 100% wrong, ditch it.Most cichlids such as red parrot, severum, oscar, texas, jack dempsey, and green terror all grow too large for you tank.If I were you I would go for a small group of medium sized cichlids, such as the firemouth, blue acara and 1 other (keyhole could be an option).Then I would add a small group of dithers like some rainbows or large tetras, and maybe a small plec like the l200...This would be a full stocking.

 

[minxfishy]

The rule of 1" per gallon goes out the window for fish over 6". You couldnt possibly keep an Oscar that can reach 18" in that size tank, they wouldnt have room to swim or turn around.

From your list, I would say rams, keyholes and acaras would be suitable for that tank. All relatively peaceful cichlids, with the larger cichlids aside from the space aspect, they are aggressive fish and any other tankmates wouldnt have space to avoid them.

 

[strangeworld2002]

The rule of 1" per gallon goes out the window for fish over 6". You couldnt possibly keep an Oscar that can reach 18" in that size tank, they wouldnt have room to swim or turn around.

From your list, I would say rams, keyholes and acaras would be suitable for that tank. All relatively peaceful cichlids, with the larger cichlids aside from the space aspect, they are aggressive fish and any other tankmates wouldnt have space to avoid them.

Thanks for clearing that up guys. It has had me baffled for weeks!

I would probably choose from:

Firemouth
Blue Acara
Blue Ram

When you say Large tetra's. Would Congo's be Ok?

What about Clown Loaches? I also have a Raphael catfish in my other tank but my angelicus is bullying it a little. Would he be Ok in a tank with the cichlids?

What about plants?

The fish I have listed above what kind of quantities/genders should I look at?

Thanks

 

[minxfishy]

Clown loaches would eventually get far too big for the tank size Im afraid, so best not to get them. The raphael should be ok, they can withstand Oscars so providing its not too large for the tank should be fine.

Plants would be good, in fact the species you are looking at would apprecite lots of plants, plenty of caves and things to break up 'line of sight' to help them feel more safe in their own territory.

Congos would be good, although quite skittish so not actually the best kind of dithers, I know, mine are useless as acting as dithers, in fact they need dithers themselves. Bleeding heart tetras, Black skirt tetras, Lemon, Sepae all good dithers for cichlids of the size your looking at.

 

[strangeworld2002]

Clown loaches would eventually get far too big for the tank size Im afraid, so best not to get them. The raphael should be ok, they can withstand Oscars so providing its not too large for the tank should be fine.

Plants would be good, in fact the species you are looking at would apprecite lots of plants, plenty of caves and things to break up 'line of sight' to help them feel more safe in their own territory.

Congos would be good, although quite skittish so not actually the best kind of dithers, I know, mine are useless as acting as dithers, in fact they need dithers themselves. Bleeding heart tetras, Black skirt tetras, Lemon, Sepae all good dithers for cichlids of the size your looking at.

So If I said these fish in a planted aquarium with rocks/caves:

Bleeding Heart Tetra
Black Skirt Tetra
Blue Acara
Firemouth
German Blue Ram
Raphael Catfish x1

Would that be Ok? All I need to know now is how many of each I can have and what genders? also will those Tetra's nip? I had Serpae in my community tank and they shredded most of my fish.

Sorry to be a pain I need to get this right.

Cheers

 

[minxfishy]

Your not being a pain

I would stick with one of the tetra species but make it a larger shoal, tetras are nippy, some more than others, but in a larger groups they tend to not bother other fish. So go with 8/10 of the tetras you like best.

So say you have 48" of fish space to play with(approx) 180L = 47 USg

8 x Tetras @ 3" - 27"
1 x acara - 8"
1 x Firemouth - 6"
2 x GB Rams @ 3" - 6"
1 x Raphael @6/7"? - 7"

Total fish = 54".

Now yes that is over the inch per gallon, however you dont add them all at once and you keep up regular water changes you should get away with it.

I would suggest you add the rams last as they are the most sensitive and prefer a more mature tank. The sex of each fish doesnt particularly matter.

 

[strangeworld2002]

Fantastic thank you.

 

[strangeworld2002]

Would anyone else like to throw some ideas out there for my tank? I am still deciding what to put in there and ideally I want a cichlid tank.
I like the stocking idea that minxfishy has suggested but blue acara's are a nightmare to find where I live and I really do like them.

Feel free to tell me what you would do if you were putting together a 180 liter cichlid tank.

Thanks.

 

[kubora666]

Would anyone else like to throw some ideas out there for my tank? I am still deciding what to put in there and ideally I want a cichlid tank.
I like the stocking idea that minxfishy has suggested but blue acara's are a nightmare to find where I live and I really do like them.

Feel free to tell me what you would do if you were putting together a 180 liter cichlid tank.

Thanks.

if you go for the peaceful cichlids you can have a nice active comunity.
say you wanted to have some angels? you could breed them quiete easily many different colours, all the fun of discus without the expense,
you could also have many of the dwarf cichlids (appistogramma) aswell as keyholes, rams etc rainbow cichlids. all the peaceful ones.
im not saying have them all but they are deffinetly an option.

you could have a nice active dither such as rainbowfissh, neons are smaller, and the Boesmani and Irian red are 4" in a shoal rainbowfish make a beautiful display.

in adition you could have Pakistani loaches instead of clown loaches, theyre just as active, same body but with striped pattern instead and smaller adult size

theres otential too for mixed tetras or barbs with some Platys, sword tails whatever you want. some nice gourami's too
dwarf cichlids are less likely to eat plants so you could have a beautifully planted aquarium.

this set up gives you pleasing to the eye not only, but watching the personality and behaviour of these peaceful cichlids that will readily breed for you.


or alternatively you could have one jack dempsy or some of the 8"ish cichlid.


i made the mistake of getting an oscar in a juwel 180 and soon realisd that it wouldnt last so i had to sell him, so dont make the same mistake as they are a hard fish to give away as they become so personable.

 

[strangeworld2002]

Sounds good! please keep the ideas coming.

 

[kubora666]

Sounds good! please keep the ideas coming.

also bear in mind most of the information you see on the internet about tank sizes is in US gallons. and your tank is UK which means if it was US it would be bigger.
180 liter is 40 uk gallon
but its something like 48 49, around 50 in US gallon.
so remember that if you are googling fish and what size tank they can have

 

[strangeworld2002]

I could probably get away with overstocking a little though right? its a 180 liter aquarium but I have purchased an eheim pro II 2026 filter which is oversized as its good up to 350L.

 

[tenohfive]

Overstocking (unless you're going down the mbuna route) with cichlids is a bad idea. They need their space for the most part. Its got nothing to do with filtration, and everything to do with the temperment of the fish you're putting in there.

 

[strangeworld2002]

I am only thinking of peaceful cichlids really.