650 Liter American Tank

Oscarintheocean

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 23, 2024
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Hello all from Turkey ,
I would like to share my mixed American tank and glad to hear your comments
Tank Stock :
3 Oscar (2 Tiger 1 Albino)
1Gold-Red Hybrid Severum
1 Texas
1 Pearsei
1 Jack Dempsey
1 Vieja Coatza
1 Vieja Blackbelt
1 Red Head Synspilum
1 Vieja Breidohri
1 Orange Head Tapajos
1 Channa Pulchara
2 Upside-down catfish
1Leopard Pleco

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Jexnell

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Jul 17, 2017
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I hate to be the one, but what you have is essentially a blood bath in the works. While everything may be fine now. In time when maturity sets in these fish will start fighting for turf to claim as thier own. These cichlids are not like Africans and calm down with over crowding. Quite the opposite in fact. You also have fish in here that prefer different types of water. The ones from South America want soft mineral poor low PH water. The ones from Central America want hard mineral rich high PH water. The Tapajos prefers a group of its same kind.
650 gallons may seem like a lot. But in the wild one of these cichlids as an adult would claim an area four to five times that area as it's own, not allowing any other cichlids in there. And not sure about the Channa, it may get big enough to outright eat everything else whole.
I would suggest picking out if you want the South American or Centrals and stick with them only.
 

AR1

Redtail Catfish
MFK Member
Jan 27, 2023
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Welcome to MFK!
Beautiful tank and some mesmerizing fish!

But as Jexnell Jexnell mentioned, this setup might not work long-term
 

Oscarintheocean

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 23, 2024
6
15
3
I hate to be the one, but what you have is essentially a blood bath in the works. While everything may be fine now. In time when maturity sets in these fish will start fighting for turf to claim as thier own. These cichlids are not like Africans and calm down with over crowding. Quite the opposite in fact. You also have fish in here that prefer different types of water. The ones from South America want soft mineral poor low PH water. The ones from Central America want hard mineral rich high PH water. The Tapajos prefers a group of its same kind.
650 gallons may seem like a lot. But in the wild one of these cichlids as an adult would claim an area four to five times that area as it's own, not allowing any other cichlids in there. And not sure about the Channa, it may get big enough to outright eat everything else whole.
I would suggest picking out if you want the South American or Centrals and stick with them only.
Thanks for your valuable comments , you have a point in every article.
For fighting issue , there is no any "hard" problem for existing fishes , there was some of them like Vieja Zonatus or an almost full grown Oscar but taken off from the tank. In my former experiences over crowding seems solving this issue but i believe every fish has it's own behavior. So fighting and dominance directly related with fish's character. I am observing them and if i see any over aggresive attitude quickly taking precautions
Yes their PH preference is different but not has huge differences . Sudden PH changes are much more lethal than unsuitable PH level. So i am trying keep the PH Level stable
I would like to take off Tapajos and 1 Vieja Breidohri that i see they are not happy in the tank but i could not catch them😔
My Channa is Channa Pulchara , Pulchara's max growth size is about 20-25 Centimeter and more friendly than other Channa species. But even so , i tottally agrre this tank is not his habitat
I am not only keeping them for my visual pleasure , i am also trying to make them happy & healthy. So if there would be any undesirable situation , i could do whatever needed
 

duanes

MFK Moderators
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Jun 7, 2007
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Isla Taboga Panama via Milwaukee
I also agree with Jexnell.
That tank will very shortly become too small for about half those cichlids.
Most are subadults now, (the Vieja, and Cincelichthys) and when maturity sets in, the lack of adequate space will become obvious.

To me another 650 L tank will be needed.
To me, just the Vieja, and pearsei will require a tank of that size alone.

And considering that the Central American cichlids all do best in pH values above 7.5, yet all the South Americans prefer a pH below at least 7 (50 times lower in acidity) water preferences could soon become an issue, if your water leans one way or the other.
 
Last edited:

Alexxxxsv14

Goliath Tigerfish
MFK Member
Nov 28, 2008
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anaheim/orange CA
Nice looking tank and setup. Even with all those fish the water clarity looks great. Welcome to the forum. Happy fishkeeping 😊
What kind of filtration you running on that bad boy?
 
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ken31cay

Dovii
MFK Member
Dec 25, 2022
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Cayman Islands
I completely agree with the above comments. I cringed when I read your stock list of fish in that size tank. They're small now but once they grow to adult size I could only recommend a total of 2 or 3 of those fish to live in that tank. But absolutely beautiful fish and really nice setup.
 
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