75 Gallon Stocking

[ilovefish2]

Hello!

I plan to set up a 75 Gallon Tank. I want a kind of new world / monster fish Tank. I don’t want to keep giant Catfish or Arowana, my tank would be way to small. The monster fish part would maybe be a bichir or something like that. Nothing that is too crazy or big. It’s very important that the fish accept dried food (Pellets ...) because of holiday.
The Main goal of the Tank is to care for some fish with lots of personality. I don’t have the goal to breed, I’m a beginner and I don’t want even more aggression than there will be without breeding. Also, I don’t have any idea of „how I’ll get rid“ of the babies, because the stores around don’t take fish from normal people and bigger cichlids are not so popular in Germany so they have barely no chance to sell it.
I want a community of cichlids but not to much aggression. Of course, nearly every Cichlid is aggressive or at least a bit, but there are some cichlids like the Salvini Cichlid who is known for being extremely aggressive.
Some species I like would be:
- Electric Blue Acara
- EBJD
- Green Terror
- Firemouth Cichlid
Only a few examples

I would also like to keep some plecos or catfish as bottom dwellers, maybe there’s a species that can go with cichlids and does not hide all day long.

Im Open to any suggestions.

 

[Rocksor]

As a beginner stock less, and not be tempted at filling out the tank. Find out if you have hard water or soft water, which is not the same as the PH value. This will make recommendations easier.

For hard water, green terror or EBJD will fill out the tank as an adult fish. I would just recommend dithers like mollies\buenos aires tetras or similar in a school of 10+. Either cichlid will pick food off of the bottom, so no need for bottom feeders.

FM group (1 male plus 3 females) like to sift the bottom so plan on something like #20 mesh size sand or smaller, no need for bottom feeders. Mollies\swordtails\guppies would do well with FM group. An alternative would be red head geophagus to the FM if you have softer water. Festivums or angels could work as the upper fish for the red head geos.

Out of your choices, it looks like EBA pair would be the best choice with a group of brochis splenden catfish, corydoras aenus, or pictus catfish in a 8+ group, plus over 10 dithers like larger tetras. (congo tetras, buenos aires tetras, etc.).

 

[ilovefish2]

Im only a beginner with bigger cichlids, I already have a tank but with smaller fish in it. So I know the basic stuff like Water parameters, cycling,...
PH: ~7.4
Hardness: ~12 dHG
I don’t want to fill the tank, I‘m more afraid of the Cichlids breeding and then I have frys and I don’t know what to do with it. So if there is a possibility of maybe getting 3 cichlids but from 3 different species, then I would propably choose this possibility.

 

[Chris The Fish Keeper]

Hello!

I plan to set up a 75 Gallon Tank. I want a kind of new world / monster fish Tank. I don’t want to keep giant Catfish or Arowana, my tank would be way to small. The monster fish part would maybe be a bichir or something like that. Nothing that is too crazy or big. It’s very important that the fish accept dried food (Pellets ...) because of holiday.
The Main goal of the Tank is to care for some fish with lots of personality. I don’t have the goal to breed, I’m a beginner and I don’t want even more aggression than there will be without breeding. Also, I don’t have any idea of „how I’ll get rid“ of the babies, because the stores around don’t take fish from normal people and bigger cichlids are not so popular in Germany so they have barely no chance to sell it.
I want a community of cichlids but not to much aggression. Of course, nearly every Cichlid is aggressive or at least a bit, but there are some cichlids like the Salvini Cichlid who is known for being extremely aggressive.
Some species I like would be:
- Electric Blue Acara
- EBJD
- Green Terror
- Firemouth Cichlid
Only a few examples

I would also like to keep some plecos or catfish as bottom dwellers, maybe there’s a species that can go with cichlids and does not hide all day long.

Im Open to any suggestions.

Hey a 75 would be perfect for a Pleco Bichir and a flower horn cichlid I would definitely do some research and you might have to play around with the ph etc. but great choice is the tank!!

 

[ilovefish2]

I don’t know what to think about hybrids, but thanks for your suggestion. I heard flowerhorns have awesome personalities. But it might be difficult to get one here in Germany I’m not even sure if they are legal here. Can you think of a fish with a similar personality?
I love that kind of monster / predator Cichlid tanks, of course not as overstocked as many of the tanks that are shown on YouTube. I just wanna create a similar effect (for example like the biggest tank of dwsdarius or something like that)

 

[Rocksor]

FH can be nasty even to bottom dwellers like bichir and plecos.

4 feet is pretty limiting for bigger cichlids. A single green terror will easily take 6 feet in territorial space. New World cichlids like to have space, and aren't used to being cramped into small spaces like a lot of African Cichlids. The only way to get 3 different species of cichlids is to start looking at smaller cichlids that get no bigger than 3-4" total length.

Look into angels or festivums with red head geophagus tapajos. They both look different enough and feed at different levels that they won't directly compete with one another, hence lower aggression between the 2 species.

 

[adamsfishes]

Your water parameters look more conducive to CA cichlids. I'd personally look at Amatitlania sajicas for a tank this size.

 

[ilovefish2]

Do you know if cichlids like the green terror only are aggressive towards other cichlids or would he also attack other fishes like a pleco or a bichir

 

[ilovefish2]

So maybe I could do a pair of green terror or something like that and with it I add only fish that aren’t territorial like plecos or something in that way. I heard GT have lots of personality, is that right?

 

[Rocksor]

Do you know if cichlids like the green terror only are aggressive towards other cichlids or would he also attack other fishes like a pleco or a bichir

Very territorial to similar shaped body fish (close to 75% of its size) and cichlids first. A 75 gallon tank isn't really a lot of water (and territory) to house a common pleco and full grown male green terror. The green terror can outcompete a pleco in food unless that pleco is an aggressive eater.

Bichir and plecos are generally not that active when compared to a GT. Both bottom dwellers are more like driftwood during the day.