125-150 Gallon Aggressive Stock Suggestions

[Murrayt]

Hi everyone,

I have been out of the hobby for a while now and am eager to return. For years I have kept numerous Central/South American Cichlids. I was previously prone to overstocking the tank and adding numerous fish species that although were able to coexist, became stressful worrying about their well being as the fish matured. This time I would like to keep things rather simple.

My goal is to have a few large central or south american cichlids mixed in with some reasonably sized dither fish, or one large CA/SA cichlid housed with a few large non aggressive sturdy fish.

Footprint 6'Lx18"W. (height to be decided depending on sale deals).

Ideally, I would like to have a male Green Terror in the mix as they are my favorite Cichlid, but I also am a huge fan of Managuense, Motaguense, Festae, Severum, Salvini, Firemouth, Red Devil, Jack Dempsey, Cuban etc.

I recognize that having any combination of these cichlids are very subjective depending on who you ask, but in most cases, it inevitably leads to having just one or two dominant fish.

Here are five stocking ideas, please let me know which one you would prefer and advise whether you think it would work (or be overstocked). Please also feel free to share your ideal stock, I am open to all ideas.

Example 1
1 Male Green Terror
2-3 Male Severum
1 Prochilodus or school of RH Silver Dollars

Example 2
1 Male Green Terror
1 Male Jack Dempsey
1 Male Salvini
1 Prochilodus or school of RH Silver Dollars

Example 3
1 Male Green Terror
1 Female Motaguense
1 Prochilodus or school of RH Silver Dollars

Example 4
1 Male Managuense
1 Prochilodus or small school of Tinfoil Barbs

Example 5
1 Male Festae
1 Female Festae


I may be tempted to add some clown loaches at the bottom or something similar


Please lend me your thoughts and all suggestions are welcome!

 

[Trimapit]

Well I personally like to keep things from the same area together. So Example , I think would work and you call it a South American tank.

 

[Trimapit]

The Severums will make it a little tight though. So maybe just a green terror and the silver dollars

 

[Murrayt]

Thanks f

The Severums will make it a little tight though. So maybe just a green terror and the silver dollars

Thanks for the reply, you think a GT and Silver dollars in a 125 gallon is a good stock? Somehow I feel like I could fit more in a 6 foot tank without it being overstocked. But appreciate the input all the same.

 

[Trimapit]

Think about it...... A 10-12" Green Terror and a school of 4-6" long by 4" tall. So will you have some space... Sure. But it will still be fairly full. You can try some severums, but try the other first and see how it goes. My $0.02 worth

 

[Murrayt]

Think about it...... A 10-12" Green Terror and a school of 4-6" long by 4" tall. So will you have some space... Sure. But it will still be fairly full. You can try some severums, but try the other first and see how it goes. My $0.02 worth

Cheers, makes sense to me. Any opinion on having a pair of Festae in a 125?

 

[Trimapit]

Will be tight at full grown. But would be lying if I said I wouldn't try it.....

 

[AquaAlex1993]

I like example 1.

 

[Aqualoon]

I'm personally setting up the following in a 125 Gallon...

1 Male GT - My personal favorite as well
2 Severums
5 Clown Loaches

 

[Murrayt]

I'm personally setting up the following in a 125 Gallon...

1 Male GT - My personal favorite as well
2 Severums
5 Clown Loaches

I am pretty torn at this point. I like the sound of your set up! Just not sure at this current stage if I want 1 wet pet, a pair, or a small combination of Cichlids. Definitely don't want to do what I did before and buy a bunch of fish which I had to later re-home as they grew.

I think the GT and Severums will look great though. Do Severums grow fast in comparison to a GT? Also if I did a similar combination of:
1 Male GT
2 Severums
1 Prochilodus - would the Prochilodus pick apart the scales of the Severums? I figure the GT will be too active for the Prochilodus to do so, not sure about the Sevs.