One of a kind or two of each kind?

[IwshIwerAfish]

75G tank not live planted
So I have so far a
1x Firemouth Cichlid
1x Bumblebee Cichlid
1x Pleco
1x Tiger Oscar
2x Black stripped Tetras
I am not interested in breeding at all but if it happens I will accept the responsibility.
My question is simple (or not I guess) if not breeding should I continue my stocking with one of different cichlids or is it necessary to pair them?

 

[Sgooosh]

i'm not sure but i think that those chiclids can't breed with each other
for breeding get another big tank and buy another of the same species

side note: skirt tetras need at least 6 to be happy

 

[Colin_T]

Just keep one of each cichlid if you don't want them to fight when breeding.

When the fish pair off for breeding purposes, they usually take over a portion of the tank and consider that their territory. If other fish go near their territory, the pr usually bash or kill the intruder.

The only fish in your tank that needs to kept in groups is the black widow/ skirt tetras that have to be kept in large groups of 10 or more. However, they will probably get eaten by the Oscar when it is bigger.

 

[IwshIwerAfish]

Just keep one of each cichlid if you don't want them to fight when breeding.

When the fish pair off for breeding purposes, they usually take over a portion of the tank and consider that their territory. If other fish go near their territory, the pr usually bash or kill the intruder.

The only fish in your tank that needs to kept in groups is the black widow/ skirt tetras that have to be kept in large groups of 10 or more. However, they will probably get eaten by the Oscar when it is bigger.

The Oscar is only like a inch and half right now you don't think that living together for long time would save the tetras? Maybe oscar will think of them as family perhaps? Lol I don't know

 

[Wills]

I agree just keep it as singletons, breeding or risk of breeding causes too much drama. If you can keep all the same gender it will help too as central americans can hybridise.

Is the bumble bee cichlid a Nanoluteus? If so I'd say they would be at risk from the Oscar, the Oscar will definitely eat the Tetras when big enough, you may have problems with an Oscar and tank mates in a 75, might be ok but its a risk, you could have waste issues too with a pleco and an oscar in that size tank.

Wills

 

[GaryE]

You are right up at the max with numbers - it's always good to assume you will be good at this, and stock for the full adult size of your fish. They grow faster than you think.

I have no clue what a bumblebee cichlid is. It could be a few different things - the store name varies across regions.

 

[IwshIwerAfish]

Just keep one of each cichlid if you don't want them to fight when breeding.

When the fish pair off for breeding purposes, they usually take over a portion of the tank and consider that their territory. If other fish go near their territory, the pr usually bash or kill the intruder.

The only fish in your tank that needs to kept in groups is the black widow/ skirt tetras that have to be kept in large groups of 10 or more. However, they will probably get eaten by the Oscar when it is bigger.

The Oscar is only like a inch and half right now you don't think that living together for long time would save the tetras? Maybe oscar will think of them as family perhaps? Lol I d

I agree just keep it as singletons, breeding or risk of breeding causes too much drama. If you can keep all the same gender it will help too as central americans can hybridise.

Is the bumble bee cichlid a Nanoluteus? If so I'd say they would be at risk from the Oscar, the Oscar will definitely eat the Tetras when big enough, you may have problems with an Oscar and tank mates in a 75, might be ok but its a risk, you could have waste issues too with a pleco and an oscar in that size tank.

Wills

Bumblebee also known as hornet cichlid is a Pseudotropheus crabro and is a species of mbuna family. I definitly dont want haybrids as hybrids become weak and often die easily just like gourami's imo. Thank you for the response. I didnt think I was stocked too much yet but you could very well be right with the expected size of the oscar. I hope that running 2 300gph filters will help a bit with the waste as well as my efforts with proper water changes and vacuuming gravel?

 

[Wills]

The Oscar is only like a inch and half right now you don't think that living together for long time would save the tetras? Maybe oscar will think of them as family perhaps? Lol I d

Bumblebee also known as hornet cichlid is a Pseudotropheus crabro and is a species of mbuna family. I definitly dont want haybrids as hybrids become weak and often die easily just like gourami's imo. Thank you for the response. I didnt think I was stocked too much yet but you could very well be right with the expected size of the oscar. I hope that running 2 300gph filters will help a bit with the waste as well as my efforts with proper water changes and vacuuming gravel?

Ah ok, I wouldnt keep a mbuna by itself and I wouldnt recommend mixing africans and americans, totally different set ups. You wont have issues with hybrids in that case either.

The big filters will do their job to process ammonia and nitrite but you need to think about nitrate which can build up with fish like this very quickly. Just keep testing nitrate and see where you are, if it gets upto over 40/50 you are in territory where issues can arise. You can do a couple of things to help, grow terrestrial plants out of the water, I have a Monsterra growing out of mine which looks good and works well (takes a few weeks to get established though) or you can use chemical filtration. But the best route is to stock a tank in a way where the risk of this can be mitigated.

Wills