Sa Cichlids For A 4' 240L Tank - Any Lists Available Somewhere?

[ZoddyZod]

I'm looking to upgrade from a 3' 125l to a 4' 240l and I'm wondering what options that gives me in terms of SA/CA cichlids.

Are there any simple lists somewhere which shows me what I can look at for stock options when moving to a 240l?

 

[england]

Advice guide which i like
Possible mixes

 

[ZoddyZod]

Nice little biotope suggestion lists on there. I guess i am hoping for a more comprehensive list of SA/CA fish suitable for a 240 but too large for a 125.

Need to justify the upgrade and if it turns out that i can simply have increased numbers of fish that will go in a 125 i might talk myself out of it. Which would be annoying!

 

[acreteos]

well 240 liters is alot more than 125, we are talking almost double the capacity, which means the larger growing cichlids that people usually avoid could live in there, are you looking for a community or a couple of large fish? because you could have more peaceful large fish like severums, chocolate cichlids etc, I would say that the 125 3' tank would only be able to house smaller cichlids like convicts and firemouths.

 

[ZoddyZod]

Obviously the capacity doubles but the change in width is not substantial. I enjoy the community i have so maybe community of larger fish or a single species tank of multiple specimens so that i can watch their social behavior.

 

[Wills]

Interesting topic for an article this. Those Cichlid Forum cookie cutters are a great start but there are a lot more options for you

In a 240 your looking at 3/4 maybe 5 individual medium/small cichlids or 2/3 groups or pairs of dwarfs or a mix of the two.

What fish do you have already and of them which are you really wanting to keep and lastly what fish do you like

Wills

 

[acreteos]

Wills is the man, he knows all You know with that dimensions you could go for a biotope tank, have a group of Geos, a severum or something as your main fish, and then a group of shoaling fish, thats not including the catfish and oddballs you could add.


what exactly do you want?

 

[england]

Wills look like you have an admirer

 

[ZoddyZod]

What fish do you have already and of them which are you really wanting to keep and lastly what fish do you like

Wills

Currently it's your average community tank - neons, harlequins, pair of bolivians, corys...etc, etc. I'm only 'attached' to the angel and the rams, but in theory I would probably be happy to start from scratch.

What I am trying to figue out is what some of the larger fish I could have are (not familiar with anything over angel size due to current tank) so I'm interested in any suggestions really and then go from there. One thing I would like to keep though is a 'community'. I don't think I would enjoy just one or two fish in the whole tank. So a few 'larger' cichlids (breeding pair/hareem would be nice), a shoal of something and a probably a plec (possibly keeping my bristenose).

Firemouths, geos, Green Terrors all sound interesting....

 

[Wills]

Wills is the man, he knows all

Thanks

So in a 240 I think keeping the Rams and the Angel are a good starting point, what kind of Angel is it? What do you think about adding an other Angel?

Angels and dwarfs are a pretty good combo IMO as the Angels will parade the top of the tank and the Dwarfs will take the bottom. There are a couple of good options for you I think but I would forget things like Green Terrors and Firemouths along with other Centrals like the Convict relatives - Sajica, HRP etc.

For cichlid combos maybe something like these would work

1 Angelfish
2 Rainbow Cichlids
4 Bolivian Rams

or

1 Rotkiel Severum or true Heros Severus(has to be Rotkiel or Severus - pic of my Severus is in my thread about gender - these can be hard to find but I can help you find one if you let me know where you live )
2 Angelfish
2 Bolivian Rams

or

1 Angelfish (maybe 2)
2 Bolivian Rams
4 Cupid Cichlids

Then with them to keep the community I would go for disk shaped tetras - Bleeding Hearts are always a safe bet as they are so #41#### fast! I have Lemon Tetras in with mine atm and they look great a really nice subtle tetra that have a really nice natural colour and shape to them. What Cories do you have atm? If they are a larger species a group of them always look nice. And I would always recommend a group of Headstanders to any South American tank and a group of 4 Spotted Headstanders would look great against those cichlids.

For me the winner would probably be

1 Rotkiel Severum - or Severus
2 Angelfish
2 Bolivian Rams
4 Spotted Headstanders
8 Lemon Tetras (or similar)
8 Cory Cats (all the same species and aim for the larger growing ones - or a trio of some of the hoplo species could work)
1 Bristlenose Plec

In there you would have a nice active school along the bottom a nice one in the middle, an interesting group of non cichlids that get to a decent size in their own right and then that selection of cichlids will always look great

With the Severums - Rotkiel and Severus do stay smaller than the common Greens and Golds and are much more suited to life in this kind of tank (though obviously bigger is always better) but you need to be careful and make sure you get the right one. At the moment there are quite a few strains of "red necked severums" and its only the Rotkiels that stay smaller - Rotkiels have a much deeper red than the others and they are also more of a square fish so nearly as tall as they are long (like a discus) where as the larger growing orange shoulder is a longer fish which you can often see in young fish as well. Also an other sign in on the anal fin - so the fin that runs along the bottom of the fish - where the fin starts on the belly on true Rotkiels the spines in the fins are separated where as orange necks (and common greens etc) are fused with fin webbing.

However like I say if we can point you in the right direction to a good source we can find you true species

Wills

 

[y2blade]

bookmarked
very useful info for me too

thanks

 

[ZoddyZod]

Thanks for your time and detailed reply Wills.

The angel is a P. scalare. Not adverse to adding more (would love to see them breed) but unsure about doing so after reading that they can turn on new additions. Could buying one and moving them both to the new tank at the same time reduce the chance of that happening?

Rainbow cichlid - very nice!

Cupid cichlid - not amazingly attractive from the videos/pictures I've seen.

Rotkeil - again, very nice! Would like a larger centerpiece within a community.

Headstanders - know nothing about them. Interesting social behavior?

Disc shaped tetra - already have three (lost a few) Hyphessobrycon bentosi (white tip rosy tetra). Maybe increase their numbers?

Corys - currently have albino bronze, but assume they aren't big/robust enough?

With your proposed stocking, what sort of hardscape & plants would I be looking at? A few pieces of twisted root/brances and maybe some java fern, anbius etc? Would also move to sand substrate.

 

[kizno1]

Rether thank Cupid cichlids/Biotodoma cupido what about Biotodoma wavrini, The links not working but the second picture on google image will show why.
Reather than Corys what about something like Brochis, Flagtail hoplos, Porthole catfish or Spotted hoplo similar to Cory but bigger.
Stocking wise i would go for
1 Rotkeil
1 Angelfish
4 Biotodoma wavrini
1 Dwarf pike or 3 Apistogramma or 2 Red breasted acara
8 Lemon tetra
8 Marble hatchets
8 Corys or 6 Hoplos
1 Whiptail catfish or Plec ( ive recently fallen for Baryancistrus beggini which since they only get to 4" a small group could work.

 

[ZoddyZod]

Rether thank Cupid cichlids/Biotodoma cupido what about Biotodoma wavrini, The links not working but the second picture on google image will show why.
Reather than Corys what about something like Brochis, Flagtail hoplos, Porthole catfish or Spotted hoplo similar to Cory but bigger.
Stocking wise i would go for
1 Rotkeil
1 Angelfish
4 Biotodoma wavrini
1 Dwarf pike or 3 Apistogramma or 2 Red breasted acara
8 Lemon tetra
8 Marble hatchets
8 Corys or 6 Hoplos
1 Whiptail catfish or Plec ( ive recently fallen for Baryancistrus beggini which since they only get to 4" a small group could work.

Just searched using the latin instead of the common and if I can find cupid cichlids that look like this
http/www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/content.php?sid=2738
then I would be very keen!

The second image for wavirini looks very similar to the cupid cichlid images that showed them as mainly silver. Can you post the direct link?

Red breasted acara - had a wild dwarf flag acara that coloured superbly (then attacked my angel, so had to go) and these look even better

Hatchets - always wanted some, so that's something to consider.

thanks!

 

[kizno1]

That is a stunning looking fish, i think you would be lucky to get one quite that colourful but most do get the yellow patch on the side.

I couldnt get the link to work earlier but this is the pic i was on about
http/www.aquatic-experts.com/AQUATIC-EXPERTS%20IMAGES/FRESHWATER/FRESHWATER%20FISH/Biotodoma%20wavrini/Picture%20420%20cw.jpg
The other good think about Wavrini is there normally cheaper.

They are similar in care to Dwarf flags. Couldnt see them being a problem to Angels, i have 7 in with 6 angels no problem at all even now when the Acara look lik there going to spawn theres no problems they just stay out of eachothers ways.

Hatchets are great looking but dont really do much, still worth getting imo just dont feel let down if they stay fairly still most of the time. They will also want floating plants like Frogbit ect.