Compatability In My 300 Litre Tank?!

[DJ_$ure$hot]

OK, so now Ive decided against purchasing a 200 litre Mbuna tank setup (too aggressive for my liking) & Im going to purchase a 300 litre (75 gallons) tank now & am going to start up a large South American cichlid setup.

Ive done some research on what stock I want & wanted to find out if these fish will be compatible?

1 x Oscar
1 x Firemouth
1 x Jack Dempsey
1 x Jurupari
1 x Golden bristlenose Plec.

I will put them all in the tank as juveniles & raise them up together. The only fish I'll be transferring from my current tank is the Golden Bristlenose...

 

[Dave Ehl]

i'm not to familiar with juripari, but as long as your oscar and jd get along (mine didn't) then you'll be fine. the firemouth stays relatively small, and the pleco wont get in the way. make sure they each have territories they can establish. personally, i think the severum is a better addition with an oscar in a smaller tank. they get just as big if not bigger than the jd, but are more passive and will cause less problems than a jd. just a thought. good luck and have fun.

 

[duncs]

Don't keep Satanoperca jurupari with aggressive either JDs or Oscars. The jurupari won't hold their own against aggressive, non-geophagine fishes. Even at full size the jurupari's body shape is nowhere near as large as the Oscar - they get to a TL of around 12" but their caudal fin alone accounts for 2-3".

Although they're reputed to be aggressive fishes, they're not - at least not compared to JDs/Oscars- though they can be aggressive towards less dominant conspecifics. If the jurupari starts being battered about a bit, it'll lose all of its beauty and end up stuck in the corner, only coming out to eat.

Also, there are very, very few true Satanoperca jurupari. A lot of shops mix up other Satanopercoids including leucosticta, daemon and numerous other species from the genus with jurupari, and even though it's the label you'll most often see, jurupari are - at least in my experience - the least commonly seen Satanopercoid fish. Some of the Satanopercoid species are even less boistrous than the jurupari, and all of them, again in my experience, are considerably slower growing than central American cichlids.

If you really want to keep jurupari, I'd suggest setting up a blackwater Amazon biotope with a big shoal of tetras, some Corydoras and 6 to 8 juvenile jurupari.

The rest of the fishes you suggested would be fine together

 

[DJ_$ure$hot]

Awesome guys, thanks for your help on this!! Um, so if a Jurupari is not the best choice with the rest of them, would 1 of these other options listed below mix well with the Oscar, JD & Firemouth?

Heros severus (Gold Severum)
Acarichthys heckelii (Thread Finned Cichlid)
Archocentrus nigrofasciatus (Convict)

 

[Davo86]

The convict is probably the best option although IMO an Oscar a JD and a Firemouth in a 75G is considered well stocked.

 

[ox5477]

The convict is probably the best option although IMO an Oscar a JD and a Firemouth in a 75G is considered well stocked.

Conservativily, an O alone in a 75G is considered "well-stocked" so def agree with Davo.

Ox

 

[Dave Ehl]

your fish will be swimming into eachother if you added a severum. they can get as big as oscars.

 

[DJ_$ure$hot]

Cool, your input is greatly appreciated guys!! I do intend on getting extra filtration for this tank (6 times the tanks volume per an hour)... I think I'll add in a convict as well

My list =

1 x Oscar
1 x Jack Dempsey
1 x Firemouth
1 x Convict
1 x Golden Bristlenose Pleco

Hope this will work well & the filtration can keep up

 

[Davo86]

This combination is usually fine in good sized tanks but in a 75G i'd be prepared for much more aggression when they start to mature
in terms of your extra filtration i'd be having 5-6x volume for just the O and JD nevermind the other 3 fish and in fact 5x the volume is pretty standard filtration regardless of species, so for 5 messy fish i'd be looking at quite a bit more

 

[ox5477]

yep, filtration is not the problem. You could have 20x turnover in this tank and the problem is the issue with territroy. All cichlids are territorial fish and will defend their plot of earth to hunt in, breed and rear young... any competition in that territory is a threat to their purpose in life so they will defend their space usually very violently. To give your stocking list a good chance to work in the long run, you will need at least a 125G or 150G tank for life. Even at this, one of the fish may start striking out at its tankmates. The best chance for this to succeed is to get them as young as possible and let them grow in the same tank together, and maybe with a year to a year and a half when they are mostly all close to full grown and mature, they will hopefully be tolerant roommates... but there are no guarentees....

Ox