Stocking Ideas!

[h_ceri]

Hi

I just bought a juwel rio 240, 48" x 16" x 20", which works out at roughly 65gals us/55gal UK. I'm interested in doing a "peacefull" new world cichlid tank, and I was wondering what people thought about the stocking i'm thinking of. It will be filtered by the internal juwel filter (1000lph) and my tetratec ex1200 (1200lph) filter.

As for stocking, if i list the fish I want (in order of preference) maybe people could give me suggestions as to how I could improve the list, what might be better or what might not work, etc?

1. Severum (could I fit more than 1 in this tank?)
2. Angel fish (do these work with a severum?)
3. Clown loaches (4-5) I know these will eventually outgrow the tank but from what I've read this should take years?
4. a big shoal (20 or so) large bodied tetras - I'm not sure which, will decide when I'm at the LFS i think.
5. I really hate common plecs - I've had them before and they're just waste machines, so can anybody suggest a good "cleaning" fish, that doesn't get to big?

and that would be it i suppose. I hope somebody can give me advice as the other 2 tanks I've owned i set up with no idea of how to keep fish etc and had the worst stocking levels etc - so would like to do this properly!

Thanks everyone.

 

[andyourblueblood]

Hi

I just bought a juwel rio 240, 48" x 16" x 20", which works out at roughly 65gals us/55gal UK. I'm interested in doing a "peacefull" new world cichlid tank, and I was wondering what people thought about the stocking i'm thinking of. It will be filtered by the internal juwel filter (1000lph) and my tetratec ex1200 (1200lph) filter.

As for stocking, if i list the fish I want (in order of preference) maybe people could give me suggestions as to how I could improve the list, what might be better or what might not work, etc?

1. Severum (could I fit more than 1 in this tank?)
2. Angel fish (do these work with a severum?)
3. Clown loaches (4-5) I know these will eventually outgrow the tank but from what I've read this should take years?
4. a big shoal (20 or so) large bodied tetras - I'm not sure which, will decide when I'm at the LFS i think.
5. I really hate common plecs - I've had them before and they're just waste machines, so can anybody suggest a good "cleaning" fish, that doesn't get to big?

and that would be it i suppose. I hope somebody can give me advice as the other 2 tanks I've owned i set up with no idea of how to keep fish etc and had the worst stocking levels etc - so would like to do this properly!

Thanks everyone.

so it is 240 gallons?? if so....

1.yes you could fit more than one, but a pair would be come too aggressive and two of the same sex will fight for dominance. i recomend uaru instead. much more peaceful fish, especially in groups!
2.not sure if its a good idea with sevs, or uaru.
3.loaches will be fine for now.
4.try emperor tetras or diamond tetras.
5. just get a smaller plec that feeds mainly on drift wood. drift wood is a very cheap food source. i believe mustard plecs eat it and i think there are a few others.

 

[h_ceri]

Its 240 litres, or 65us and 55uk gallons

 

[Matt_northants]

Why not go for corys rather than clown loaches? Or even a striped dora? That way you keep the S. America theme. Instead of a common pleco how much do you want to spend? Ancistrus are cheap pretty and great algae cleaners. Or there are always zebras? Definately not cheap though!
As for tetras Beacon Tetras are nice looking and deep bodied.

 

[h_ceri]

I'm not too concerned over the theme, but seen as this is my first "big" tank i would like to stock at least one "big" fish, something I've been unable to do until now.

I've not seen uaru before, but I just checked out the profile and they get to 12" and need to be kept in groups? Is my tank even big enough for that?

Also, what are severums like if keep more than 1? is 2/3 a bad amount? Are they peaceful to each other?

 

[shroob]

My severum beat the hell out of the other, so I would say 1 only. Unless they are a mated pair, but then that cuts down tankmates.

 

[h_ceri]

My severum beat the hell out of the other, so I would say 1 only. Unless they are a mated pair, but then that cuts down tankmates.

I thought that would be the case. In that case, what other "large" fish could I put with a severum as the centre piece of my tank?

 

[silverchild23]

My severum beat the hell out of the other, so I would say 1 only. Unless they are a mated pair, but then that cuts down tankmates.

I thought that would be the case. In that case, what other "large" fish could I put with a severum as the centre piece of my tank?

I've also got a 240L Juwel Rio tank, and I was looking for something very similar when I started about a year ago. Personally I'd have your angels as the tanks' centrepiece. For a peaceful but really interesting community tank try:

2x Angelfish
4x Keyholes
12x Rummynose Tetra
2x Bolivian Rams

And for your 'sucker' I'd have a smaller pleco like a Bristlenose - they do a good job of cleaning and they only grow to about 5-6" max in a tank. You can get smaller ones and prettier ones but they do come at a cost.

Keyholes are wonderful Cichlids, really peaceful and very interesting to watch.
Rummynose tetra start off quite small but they're great shoaling fish and very quick so even if your angels try to have a go, 99.9% of the time they'll get away.
I'd either go bolivian or german blue rams, but gb's are less hardy and generally require softer water. They only grow very small so won't bother the keyholes too much, and generally wont fight for territory.

Hope that helps

 

[andyourblueblood]

sorry im still adjusting to the whole gallon/litres. yeah so umm...that idea is shot. haha.

i would go with festivum for the main fish. you could actually put a few in there, as far as i know they do great with angels.

 

[h_ceri]

My severum beat the hell out of the other, so I would say 1 only. Unless they are a mated pair, but then that cuts down tankmates.

I thought that would be the case. In that case, what other "large" fish could I put with a severum as the centre piece of my tank?

I've also got a 240L Juwel Rio tank, and I was looking for something very similar when I started about a year ago. Personally I'd have your angels as the tanks' centrepiece. For a peaceful but really interesting community tank try:

2x Angelfish
4x Keyholes
12x Rummynose Tetra
2x Bolivian Rams

And for your 'sucker' I'd have a smaller pleco like a Bristlenose - they do a good job of cleaning and they only grow to about 5-6" max in a tank. You can get smaller ones and prettier ones but they do come at a cost.

Keyholes are wonderful Cichlids, really peaceful and very interesting to watch.
Rummynose tetra start off quite small but they're great shoaling fish and very quick so even if your angels try to have a go, 99.9% of the time they'll get away.
I'd either go bolivian or german blue rams, but gb's are less hardy and generally require softer water. They only grow very small so won't bother the keyholes too much, and generally wont fight for territory.

Hope that helps

Thanks for the tetra advice, I'd been wondering what tetras would be best as they'd need a bit of size and speed, depending on what cichlid I choose. I'd thought about keyholes too but had read that they were generally quite "boring", but I'm taking it that this is not the case?

Also, are your angels paired? If so, did you just get lucky or did you start with x number of juvies and take out once a pair formed?

 

[Matt_northants]

I prefer deeper bodied tetras with angels such as Garnets or Beacons. Sexing Angels is impossible so its best to get 6 wait for a pair to form, you'll soon know when they do, and return the rest to your LFS.

 

[h_ceri]

I prefer deeper bodied tetras with angels such as Garnets or Beacons. Sexing Angels is impossible so its best to get 6 wait for a pair to form, you'll soon know when they do, and return the rest to your LFS.

Won't having a pair seriously cut down on the "peacefulness" of the tank though? I want to avoid any mating behaviour really as it causes so much problems in what other fish can be stocked.

 

[silverchild23]

To be perfectly honest, I got four angels and over time, two have died (one attacked by another Angel and one that came ill from the shop), I don't know what sex they are but I presume two males as they keep to their own at either side of the tank as their territory.

Personally, I love keyholes. I think they've got great personalities and they're always keeping themselves busy. The secret is to make the bottom of the tank as interesting as possible to keep them occupied and give themselves space for territorial behaviour. Include caves / hideaways / variety of plants / open areas and they'll be happy.

Just be aware that they can be very timid if they are disturbed too much. The more timid they are, the less active they are, and less pretty they are.

As far as tetra go - it's trickly, because some of the deeper-bodied ones tend to be fin-nippers. Personally I'd stick to rummynose and cardinal for variety - or if you want others I'd go for black phantoms/black skirts/columbian tetra (although less of these as they get bigger). That's the beauty of smaller tetra, you can have more in your tank and they'll shoal better - becoming dither fish; breaking up any aggression that normally occurs between S.American cichlids.

 

[Matt_northants]

I prefer deeper bodied tetras with angels such as Garnets or Beacons. Sexing Angels is impossible so its best to get 6 wait for a pair to form, you'll soon know when they do, and return the rest to your LFS.

Won't having a pair seriously cut down on the "peacefulness" of the tank though? I want to avoid any mating behaviour really as it causes so much problems in what other fish can be stocked.

In a four footer it wont really be a problem, when they breed in mine they just keep the other fish away from their nest which is normally the same Amazon sword leaf at one end of the tank, and then its only when they get about 6 inches away. Maybe I just have really peaceful angels. If you dont want a pair I suppose you could take the pairs that form back to your LFS to leave non-paired ones, but Angel fish are impossible to sex.

 

[h_ceri]

I prefer deeper bodied tetras with angels such as Garnets or Beacons. Sexing Angels is impossible so its best to get 6 wait for a pair to form, you'll soon know when they do, and return the rest to your LFS.

Won't having a pair seriously cut down on the "peacefulness" of the tank though? I want to avoid any mating behaviour really as it causes so much problems in what other fish can be stocked.

In a four footer it wont really be a problem, when they breed in mine they just keep the other fish away from their nest which is normally the same Amazon sword leaf at one end of the tank, and then its only when they get about 6 inches away. Maybe I just have really peaceful angels. If you dont want a pair I suppose you could take the pairs that form back to your LFS to leave non-paired ones, but Angel fish are impossible to sex.

So how does a stocking of:

1. 1 x Severum
2. 6 juvie angels (cut down to a pair once formed - how quick does this happen, and if it takes a long time, am i beter just getting 2 or 3?
3. Some clown loaches
4. 20 or so rummynosed tetras
5. another tetra shoal?
6. bristlenose plec?

Feel free to ammend or point any mistakes in the stocking - especially with the angels. I'm not sure weather a pair will form quick enough, as I most certainly wouldn't want 6 large angels in the same 4 footer!