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I've read of a lot more hobbyists that have had highly aggressive salvini than I've read of people who've had peaceful salvini. personally I wouldn't risk it, especially with the other really peaceful cichlids you've picked out like rams and angels.

I'd also stay away from the blue acara's as they might also snack on the smaller fish. You could try a Uari, but for colour you couldn't go past the discus.

The salvini would go great if you wanted to keep convicts, firemouths and jack dempsey's and similar, but with the delicate fish you are putting in there like Bov. Rams, and angels you would be asking for trouble. Currently my salvini has killed a cuban, a redhump geo., and 2 rainbow cichlids. As for the Red Devil, this would be even worse. You could try the rainbows cichlids as mine are very peaceful, and keyholes would also work well, and if there commercially bred angels you could also put in some discus. Lastly having festivums, you could find some of the smaller fish disapearing, especially if you put in neons as they are part of its natural diet.

Theresa,
the reason I suggested Discus, is because I fully believe they would be excellently suited to that tank- with the exception of the Acaras and the rainbow cichlids.
I would personally up the number of discus, and drop the acaras and rainbows, OR be very fussy and choose all one gender of the acaras. When I suggested those fish species, I kind of assumed he would choose the 1 that fit in well.
The rest of the fish he has chosen would do just fine at the higher water temps of Discus, and all those fish would thrive in softer more acidic water.
I also think the Geophagus are overlooked.
When I redo my 75g sometime down the road (once the fish who live there have all passed to the great river on the other side), I would love to have one or a few of the Eartheaters. I think they are fascinating fish.
My Discus are kept in a community tank with fish that apparently they should "never ever be kept with" and they are thriving, doing displays in the center of the tank, and spawning every 6 days like clockword.
I also split the difference, and where Discus like 82F temps, and others of my fish prefer lower temps, I split the diff at 80F.
Everyone does well, even the mountain minnows and the dojo loaches.
But still,
I would drop the Acaras and the Rainbows, and go with a large school of Discus instead - Perhaps 6 of the sweeties.


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The Geophagus is a great suggestion, in my opinion they're far too often overlooked.

I've not kept discus but I think you're going to hear that they don't belong in a community cichlid tank. They require higher water temps and lower pH.

With the number you've listed there's a chance any of the fish might breed. Cichlids in generally are protective parents, in the case of your potential stocking list I'd be most concerned about the blue acara. When spawning my acara claims a good third of my 75g and won't let anyone near her eggs, regardless of their size.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
There is water at the bottom of the ocean

Why do some people keep bringing up Africans when he's talking about a SA tank?

I'm not sure about the discus as they fairly sensitive and timid when compared to other cichlids. This is also coming from someone who has kept SA cichlids, but not discus. Other than that, it sounds great to me. I'm jealous.

Thanks for the input everyone

I now have what I hope is a balanced list.

5 x Panda Corydoras Corydoras panda
3 x Bristlenose Ancistrus sp
7 x Ottocynclas Otocinclus vittatus
6 x Bolivain Ram Mikrogeophagus altispinosus
5 x Angelfish Pterophyllum scalare
5 x Festivum Mesonauta festivus
3 x Blue Acara Aequidens pulcher
3 x Discus Symphysodon aequifasciatus
3 x Rainbow Cichlid Herotilapia multispinosa

I hadn't listed Discus 'til now because I live on the north side of Brisbane and have been to 4 Aquarium stores and have never seen a discus in any of their tanks. I can only try I guess - and pay severely I imagine.

If there happens to be a North Brisbanite that knows a good source for all these fish, let me know. The places I go seem to concentrate more on Asians, goldfish and Africans.

Yikes, tons of posts now. Didn't I tell you there's a lot of cichlid nuts here? Anywho, I had about 3" of gravel in my mbuna tank, and it worked well, as long as you don't mind mountains if the fish happen to want them. I'm not good with conversions, but I think that would be about 8 cm. Us Americans can be stuck in our ways ya know.

just want to say that all of Sneaky_Pete's suggestions would work fine. however, if you're going to research the red-hump eartheater, look under Geophagus steindachneri. G. hondae is an outdated name and you won't get nearly as many results on google.

OK, something larger - like 5 inches plus, colorful, and with lots of personality, and is an american cichlid.
Heres a couple of ideas from browsing the profiles:

Blue Acara
Redhump Eartheater (geophagus hondae)
Green or Yellow Severum
Demon fish/Eartheather (geophagus jurupari)
Discus (why not a beautiful pair or trio of Discus? They would fit right in!!! easy to keep, peaceful, very large, colorful, attitude- this would be my choice - oh wait, it is my choice hehe)
These are all choices just from browsing. I am not sure on some of these individual fishes, but I know several people on here keep some of these breeds.
Perhaps they can cross reference these ideas for you, and you can do a little research and see if this works out.



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yea maybe some pearl gouramis to .. they are nice...
ummm snakeskin are some what aggresive....

I get it - NO RED DEVIL. I am looking for something else as a centrepiece though.

And I want an African, not a Gourami. Also, I've never seen a snakeskin gourami at the Aquarium store here, so it's is either really rare or not available in Australia because of our damn stupid import restrictions.

It would make a nice addition to my Gouramis in my planted tank though.]:|]:|]:|

maybe a snakeskin gourami? or is that on you list already?

no red devil!!
they are so aggresive and they would eat your ottos in a second. same with firemouths for eating the ottos
but it sounds ok just NO RED DEVIL!!!!!

Okay,

As I've said, this will be my first time so I am willing to listen. Thanks for helping.

Is there a large (>20cm) peaceful, colourful (ie not drab old brown, black etc) cichlid that I could use for a centrepiece in an Americas tank? I know the Angels always will be in themselves, but I really would like "that fish" as well.

Like in my planted tank, I have my Moonlight Gourami that is about 13cm long and is "that fish" even though I have other really cool ones like Clown Loaches and other coloured Gouramis.

To me, my selections (minus the thugs) have lots of little bits of interest, but is just missing a statement.

Hi everyone

Until now all I have kept are various Asian community type fish (various Gouramis, barbs etc) a handfull of Rainbows and some Corys and Bristlenoses.

With finally buying a house, I am going to splash out on 3 155*60*60cm (560 Litres approx) tanks. One for Rainbowfish, one for African Cichlids (later) and one for American Cichlids (and others.)

Having never kept this kind of fish before I was wondering if anyone could see any problems with what I would like to keep. Also any Aussies that can see fish not available here, I would like you to point that out too.

Each tank will be individually filtered using 2 fluidised bed filters (rated at 1000L) driven by Aquaclear 802 powerheads fitted with mechanical filtration. I also plan to run "air curtains" at the back of each tank 24/7.I have checked compatibilities, water parameters etc and it seems this list would be a good choice, so please give me any comments:

Firemouth Cichlid Thorichthys meeki x8
Angelfish Pterophyllum scalare x5
Red Devil Amphilophus labiatus x1
Rainbow Cichlid Herotilapia multispinosa x3
Salvinis Cichlid Cichlasoma salvini x3
Panda Corydoras Corydoras panda x5
Bristlenose Ancistrus sp x3
Ottocynclas Otocinclus vittatus x7

I plan to do the same kind of research before I come up with at definitive list for the Africans. And I intend to add the fish over a number of weeks, not all at once.

Last edited by batman at 17-May-2005 16:57

Hi,

I was really hoping to have a bunch of fish (like the rams etc) and then a couple of "centrepiece" fish.

Also you say the Salvinis could be a bit aggressive, but the profiles on this very site says:

"One of the more peaceful fish of the Cichlasoma family, they tend to keep to themselves and generaly will not go out of their way to attack other fish."

Are there any of the larger (ie 20+cm) ones that are both colourful and peaceful?

Keyholes are very peaceful, they'd be a nice addition

I have Laetacara dorsigera, they're living with my keyholes, and again a good peaceful choice. They often show some great color, similar to kribs.



Theresa_M attached this image:


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I agree with Jason, just didnt want to say so because I dont know those cichlids very well.
I think Keyholes would be a great replacement choice,
and maybe you could also try some of the other dwarf cichlids? Apisto Borelli, Cockatoo, etc.
Or you could do a swarm of Bolivian Rams and then a swarm of German Blues!


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If I'm reading correctly, your updated stock list would be:

Rams Microgeophagus altispinosus x 10
Festivum x 5
Angelfish Pterophyllum scalare x5
Red Devil Amphilophus labiatus x1
Rainbow Cichlid Herotilapia multispinosa x3
Salvinis Cichlid Cichlasoma salvini x3
Panda Corydoras Corydoras panda x5
Bristlenose Ancistrus sp x3
Ottocynclas Otocinclus vittatus x7


I've bolded the Red devil and salvini because they are far too aggressive to go into a tank with rams, angels and festivum. Also, I would probably leave out the Rainbows as well...they can be pretty aggressive themselves. Some others you might consider as replacements might be checkerboard cichlids (Dicrossus filamentosus), Keyholes (Cleithracara maronii), or a Laetacara species such as dorsigera or curviceps.