Help With Stocking A 135 Gallon Freshwater Tank
- Thread starter Paulyo122
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Ive not kept Fire Eels before... they do get huge, but I have seen them well kept in this kind of tank. What are your dimensions? I would want ideally it to be 2 foot wide and 6 foot long (been basing it on being 6 foot long so far)
What about Rope Fish? They would work in there as a trio? One of the only fish around that tempt me to break my South American theme.
If you go for a GT just be prepared for the need to rehome them. The problem with cichlids is they dont stop growing and maturing until about 5 years old really and the first 3 years are really volatile as to how their personality changes - that goes for all cichlids really.
I think given what you have said this could be a really really nice tank
1 Jack Demspey (could probably do an EBJD here if you wanted)
1 Salvini
4 Firemouths
8 Silver Dollars (you could look at the patterned ones that are becoming available now, like the three stripe or the spotted ones.
1 RBTS
3 Rope Fish?
5 Hoplo Catfish
1 Common Pleco
When you put a group of Thoricthys together you will get a hierachy forming similar to Geophagus. Which often calms down other wise problematic fish.]
Where abouts are you from? Ellioti are getting quite common these days - most Maidenheads stock them quite regularly? Maybe I or an other member can point you in the right direction to find the rarer cichlids there are great suppliers hidden all over the UK these days
For me that sounds like such a good tank, loads of activity all over with the big school of Dollars and the Reed Fish and Hoplos will be between the top and bottom for air and swimming/rest then 4 incredibly colourful cichlids, cover a pretty broad spectrum of colours with the yellow/red/purple of the Salvini and the blues of the JD and the reds and greens of the Firemouths. And the interaction you will get from the cichlids is always good Its why I keep them, its like having a tank full of small, scaley dogs
Wills
What about Rope Fish? They would work in there as a trio? One of the only fish around that tempt me to break my South American theme.
If you go for a GT just be prepared for the need to rehome them. The problem with cichlids is they dont stop growing and maturing until about 5 years old really and the first 3 years are really volatile as to how their personality changes - that goes for all cichlids really.
I think given what you have said this could be a really really nice tank
1 Jack Demspey (could probably do an EBJD here if you wanted)
1 Salvini
4 Firemouths
8 Silver Dollars (you could look at the patterned ones that are becoming available now, like the three stripe or the spotted ones.
1 RBTS
3 Rope Fish?
5 Hoplo Catfish
1 Common Pleco
When you put a group of Thoricthys together you will get a hierachy forming similar to Geophagus. Which often calms down other wise problematic fish.]
Where abouts are you from? Ellioti are getting quite common these days - most Maidenheads stock them quite regularly? Maybe I or an other member can point you in the right direction to find the rarer cichlids there are great suppliers hidden all over the UK these days
For me that sounds like such a good tank, loads of activity all over with the big school of Dollars and the Reed Fish and Hoplos will be between the top and bottom for air and swimming/rest then 4 incredibly colourful cichlids, cover a pretty broad spectrum of colours with the yellow/red/purple of the Salvini and the blues of the JD and the reds and greens of the Firemouths. And the interaction you will get from the cichlids is always good
Its why I keep them, its like having a tank full of small, scaley dogs Wills
Thanks I think I'll be using this stock. One problem I would prefer the electric blue over the normal JD just like no shops sell it where I go and I go crews hill and they have lots of fish their just never seen a Salvini and the rope fish their either and yes it would be helpful if you can tell me where these suppliers are???
So any suppliers near Enfield or Edmonton would be easier
So any suppliers near Enfield or Edmonton would be easier
Almost forgot yes the dimensions for the tank you were going by are correct
also what other cool fish could be replace for the rope fish, I like the fish just want to have more options thanks, haha ik asking so many questions, sorry but thnks for helping
also what other cool fish could be replace for the rope fish, I like the fish just want to have more options thanks, haha ik asking so many questions, sorry but thnks for helping
Is Wildwoods near you? They are a great shop from what I hear about them - You also have a maidenhead near you http
/fishkeeper.co.uk/site/store/enfield who should at the least be able to get you an EBJD on their orders Mine in Beverley, East Yorkshire has about 30 of them after somehow getting about 75-100 of them at about 3 inches but they are getting bigger and have been there for ages.
This is Wildwoods stock list http/www.tropicalfishfinder.co.uk/stores_products.asp?store=54 as they do postage through that site on fish. You can get an instore discount card with that site as well which will help out In their Cichlids - Central American section it looks like they have the Salvini in stock as well
I just did a quick google of Enfield aquatics and quite a few other shops came up as well so could be worth having a google and seeing which ones you fancy.
As for the Rope Fish alternatives - you could look at Bichirs, but stick to the smaller species, I think Senegals are the smaller ones as other wise your RBTS and Hoplos might end up as lunch... The other option is Tire Track Eels - there are a few species that are traded under that name but all should be suitable in this size tank. I like the Rope Fish though, I find them weirdly hypnotic in tanks the way they move and sort of slink around. They are really snake like.
Wills
/fishkeeper.co.uk/site/store/enfield who should at the least be able to get you an EBJD on their orders Mine in Beverley, East Yorkshire has about 30 of them after somehow getting about 75-100 of them at about 3 inches but they are getting bigger and have been there for ages.This is Wildwoods stock list http
/www.tropicalfishfinder.co.uk/stores_products.asp?store=54 as they do postage through that site on fish. You can get an instore discount card with that site as well which will help out In their Cichlids - Central American section it looks like they have the Salvini in stock as well I just did a quick google of Enfield aquatics and quite a few other shops came up as well so could be worth having a google and seeing which ones you fancy.
As for the Rope Fish alternatives - you could look at Bichirs, but stick to the smaller species, I think Senegals are the smaller ones as other wise your RBTS and Hoplos might end up as lunch... The other option is Tire Track Eels - there are a few species that are traded under that name but all should be suitable in this size tank. I like the Rope Fish though, I find them weirdly hypnotic in tanks the way they move and sort of slink around. They are really snake like.
Wills
Yes wildswoods is near me but surprisingly i havnt been in it.Yes that maidenhead I goto but yer I guess I have to ask then to order the JD because I don't see them their. thanks for this info and throughout this convo I'm curious to know whats in your 135 gallon tank. is iit cool that I just skip the rope fish in general and go for something different, could you name me something else
My tank is a South American tank - its been running about 3 and a half years at this size now, my biggest "regret" with it is that I wish I had just one species of the Catfish and more of the Annostomus, possibly without the Giant Tetras. I had a disease outbreak in my tank last year which took quite a lot of my mature cichlids So I have just added the Bujuqueenas and the Cupids in the last couple of months. My Severum is probably coming upto 9 years old now and the Threadfin is about 3 - some of my Annostomus are about 5 and my Sturisoma Aurem is about 6? The Agenisous are over 3 years old as well now - wow thats gone fast!!
1 x Mouth Brooding Severum
1 x Threadfin Acara
2 x Bujuqueena sp. Gold Stripe
6 x Cupid Cichlids
5 x Annostomus Ternetzi
6 x "Giant" Tetras
2 x Agenisous sp.Atronasus
4 x Dwarf Hoplo Catfish
3 x Flagtail Catfish
3 x Whiptail Catfish - 1 x Loricara sp, 1 x Sturisoma Aurem, 1 x Sturisoma Barbatum
Back to your tank though
With the Rope Fish, maybe just leave the space blank for now - you have quite a few months worth of shopping list there in terms of adding the fish And its sometimes nice to leave a little room as you may find you discover something along the way - either in the shops or while browsing the net.
Wills
So I have just added the Bujuqueenas and the Cupids in the last couple of months. My Severum is probably coming upto 9 years old now and the Threadfin is about 3 - some of my Annostomus are about 5 and my Sturisoma Aurem is about 6? The Agenisous are over 3 years old as well now - wow thats gone fast!!1 x Mouth Brooding Severum
1 x Threadfin Acara
2 x Bujuqueena sp. Gold Stripe
6 x Cupid Cichlids
5 x Annostomus Ternetzi
6 x "Giant" Tetras
2 x Agenisous sp.Atronasus
4 x Dwarf Hoplo Catfish
3 x Flagtail Catfish
3 x Whiptail Catfish - 1 x Loricara sp, 1 x Sturisoma Aurem, 1 x Sturisoma Barbatum
Back to your tank though
With the Rope Fish, maybe just leave the space blank for now - you have quite a few months worth of shopping list there in terms of adding the fish
And its sometimes nice to leave a little room as you may find you discover something along the way - either in the shops or while browsing the net.Wills
Wow you have a nice looking stock and some old fishes. some fish I might consider in my tank and that disease outbreak must of been a pain.
So this is the final stock
1 JD
1 Salvini
4 Firemouths
8 Silver Dollars
1 RBTS
1 Blue acara or texas cichlid possibly in replace of the rope fish?
5 Hoplo Catfish
1 Common Pleco
What do you think of the final stock not much change but yer
Or if I can find Thoricthys Ellioti I will get 4 of them instead
Ik I asked about the green terror but is it possible for it to go in a tank with these fish, I could replace the blue acara for it?
So this is the final stock
1 JD
1 Salvini
4 Firemouths
8 Silver Dollars
1 RBTS
1 Blue acara or texas cichlid possibly in replace of the rope fish?
5 Hoplo Catfish
1 Common Pleco
What do you think of the final stock not much change but yer
Or if I can find Thoricthys Ellioti I will get 4 of them instead
Ik I asked about the green terror but is it possible for it to go in a tank with these fish, I could replace the blue acara for it?
I dont think I would add any more cichlids to this tank to be honest. You have 6 good sized cichlids (when fully grown) in there and I from experience I think thats about your limit in this kind of tank... The reason I get away with more is my Cupids and Bujuqueenas are dwarfs and not on the same aggression levels as the fish above.
Swapping the hoplo and RBTS would open up more options but it depends on what you want in there really. I mean if you were to start the tank blank and its 2 foot wide you could look at some of the bigger Centrals like Boucourti and Perseai big Hericthys and Veija Argentina. But that would be a totally different tank. When you get to this size of fish though you may end up with only 2-4 fish in there + very tough tank mates, like your plec and possibly things like pink tailed chalceus.
Wills
Swapping the hoplo and RBTS would open up more options but it depends on what you want in there really. I mean if you were to start the tank blank and its 2 foot wide you could look at some of the bigger Centrals like Boucourti and Perseai big Hericthys and Veija Argentina. But that would be a totally different tank. When you get to this size of fish though you may end up with only 2-4 fish in there + very tough tank mates, like your plec and possibly things like pink tailed chalceus.
Wills
Ahh ok thank. Ill keep the hoplo and rtbs in there until they die and just keep the stock how it is. Thanks for the help, finally found someone with experience, before I was on this I was asking yahoo for help and not much people were experienced and you couldn't have like a convo with them, but anyway if any further problems ill just post another topic until then have a great day
Crikey! Yahoo is pretty bad lol...
Just bare in mind the Hoplo could make 15 years old... Im not sure on the RBTS but some loaches can live a long long time.
Wills
Just bare in mind the Hoplo could make 15 years old... Im not sure on the RBTS but some loaches can live a long long time.
Wills
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