Need Help Stocking

[lilirish]

I am looking to start up a 75 gallon cichlid tank.

I have two cycled Fluval 405s (100 gallons/340GPH each)

I like quite a few cichlids but do not know about their compatibility with each other.

Right now I am considering

*
1-2 Blue acara
1 Blood Parrot
1 Severum
a school of Tiger barbs
a school of corydoras
a few apistos/rams if I can locate any
1 rainbow shark


Any thoughts about compatibility? Any suggestions of substitutions?

 

[Crossfire]

I am looking to start up a 75 gallon cichlid tank.

I have two cycled Fluval 405s (100 gallons/340GPH each)

I like quite a few cichlids but do not know about their compatibility with each other.

Right now I am considering

*
1-2 Blue acara
1 Blood Parrot
1 Severum
a school of Tiger barbs
a school of corydoras
a few apistos/rams if I can locate any
1 rainbow shark


Any thoughts about compatibility? Any suggestions of substitutions?

I'd scrap the cories, they'd be bullied and/or eatend.
Blood parrots are aggressive, and IMO bad fish in general. Inbreeding and hybridization casues them to have a deformed mouth and it's difficult and messy for them to eat.
Wouldn't get rams or apistos, being small, the bigger cichlids will pick on them.
Rainbow sharks are aggressive, but could work. Red Tail Sharks look nearly the same, but more placid.

I would go

2x Blue Acara
1x Severum
16x Tiger Barbs
1x Rainbow or Red-Tail Shark

 

[dougie]

I'd forget the shark. The older they get, the more aggro they dish out. Lovely looking fish, but they can be trouble.

 

[crazyforcordoras]

Tiger barbs, out. Very aggressive nippy fish.

Id do

2 Blue Acara
1 Severum
3 Brazilian Geophagus (1M 2F)
20 Torpedo Barbs

 

[Crossfire]

Tiger Barbs only become super aggressive when they are in small numbers. 16 Tiger Barbs should result in fewer aggressive tendencies.

 

[lilirish]

ok thank you guys -

This is quite helpful.


For the acaras, does gender matter for compatibility?


Any fish that will give a bit of activity to the bottom? I thought cories would be alright but apparently not.

I am going to be looking to buy in a week or so, os I have time to play around with stocking ideas.

 

[Wills]

Tiger barbs, out. Very aggressive nippy fish.

Id do

2 Blue Acara
1 Severum
3 Brazilian Geophagus (1M 2F)
20 Torpedo Barbs

thats a bit of an iffy stocking suggestion.... 20 Torpedo Barbs? Thats 120 inches of fish alone... Brazilian Geos are very very rowdy BAs and Sevs dont stand a chance. They are also massive fish and would need this tank alone.

Tiger barbs are nippy yes but in large schools are quite manageable.

For me I be tempted to stick to American fish but upto you I think I would do

1 Rotkiel Severum
2 Blue Acaras (preferably a pair)
20 Gold Pencil Fish
4/5 Porthole Catfish or Flagtail Catfish
2-3 Small Plecs - Flash or Leopard Frogs are nice. Bristlenoses would work as well. Blue Phantoms are nice


Wills

 

[lilirish]

My husband wanted me to throw JD's into the mix.

If I had that as my centerpiece, what can I look into for tank mates?

He wants a blue toned centerpiece....yes I am rolling my eyes but I told him I would look into it.

 

[Wills]

I would go for a regular JD than the Electics as Electric JDs can sometimes be problematic with health and lifespan.

Good tank mates are central american fish like Blind Cave Tetras, Swordtails, Hoplos, Red Eye Tetras - a couple of plec species.

Wills

 

[lilirish]

If I buy two young acaras as my main fish and they end up both being male, am I going to have problems? (this is minus the JD obviously)

 

[falcon1]

I would go with either
1x oscar
1x common or sailfin pleco
1x catfish of your choice (I like raphaels)

or

2 or 3x firemouth chichlids
1x common or sailfin pleco
and some other suitable fish.

green terrors are also

 

[rob_cool1]

I would get 15-20 5 banded barbs or Odessa barbs as their really placid and are no bother to my ellioti and when I had my blue acaras.

I swapped the acaras in the end as I had difficulty breeding them. The male I had ended up bullying the females I put in there aswell as the other so they lost their colour and didn't grow as they were always hiding and didn't really eat much.they did look really nice though and the male did look coulorful.

the ellioti were much better and breed after 2 days of purchase haha. Really placid too and don't really bother any of the fish, apart from chasing the barbs every so often.

 

[star4]

My advice (for what its worth) get which fish you feel you want as youngsters, but check what size they will potentially reach. Keep a spare filter running in your main tank (internal will do) and keep a spare tank in the shed or something. If trouble breaks out you can remove the trouble maker before too much damage is done to the other fish, then you can re-home or return the trouble maker. Cichlid compatability is not an exact science, some fish will get along really well others just wont. You could end up with a totally placid JD that is fine with blue acara, or you could get one thats a problem. Severums the same, although most are fairly placid I have one thats an absolute beast! and loves nothing more that to beat up other fish. As for two male acara, again it depends on the fish, yes blue acara do tend to be more techy with each other, however if you want an acara thats of similar size to the blue with no real bother of two males together have a look at the aquidens metae, a beautiful placid acara but will hold its own with the severum & JD. For livening up the bottom of the tank I would go with pictus cats, they are cracking bottom dwelling fish Choosing your decor is also important to keep a happy cichlid community tank, you need lots of large plants/wood to break up eye contact between them, make sure you dont create just one "hiding" spot, you will need a few, once a cichlid chooses its "den" thats when bother starts as they all want that one spot. You will find you will need to re-arrange your decor more than your fish to create a harmonious setting for them. Hope this helps

 

[bonzo]

Have to agree with Star. How many times have you read that those types of fish wont mix just for the next person to say that it works for them. Trial and error just because the book states that sort of fish are madly aggressive dosent mean they all are. Buy small and be ready for the scales to hit the fan. As long as your not silly.
I can remember my first cichlid tank, any experienced keeper would have cried with the stocking. Filled with everything but as they grew we soon found out what worked for them and us.

 

[snazy]

Fish surviving in a tank without getting eaten or killed by aggressive tank mates does not mean they were thriving and happy. What works for humans in most cases doesn't work for fish.