New 125g Setup and Stock opinions

[Sarah J]

Hello All, Im new here. I have had a 50g African Peacock Cichlid tank for a year now but just discovered my love for South American cichlids.

I will be purchasing my 125g and will be taking my time with setup and figuring out how I would like it and what would be best for the fish.
I will be doing sand substrate with a black background for sure
Wondering what the best filtration would be, as far as if I should have 2 over the back filters or try canister filters. Also, if I should have the air pumps that circulate the water.

The stock I want is :
2- EB Acaras
2- EB Jack Dempseys
2 - Sajicas

This would be my initial lot and they will be about 1-2inches each. I know that you shouldn't try to overcrowd a CA/SA tank like you would an African. As well, I know how large they get. My African wasn't even overcrowded really. Anyways, I was overall wanting to keep 8-10 SA/CA cichlids in the 125g. 21X74X54

I have a place and a false upside down catfish that will be in the 125g as well.

On another note. I will have 1 Eureka Red Jake (very attached to this fish) and 1 Rusty Cichlid left. I know mixing is frowned upon but do you think I could add them to the 125g or just let them stay in the 50g by themselves.

2 issues I've recently had are with 2 smaller fish. One getting swim bladder and the other getting "whirling disease". Both were next to the filter with a strong flow. I saw the one that got whirling disease was acting like he almost wanted to get swim bladder so I think he didn't get bloated but his swim bladder burst. That was a hard loss.

Any suggestions would be great. Do I really need to worry about the hardness as much for SA/CA if they were captive bred?

 

[FreshyFresh]

Congrats on the 125! 6 foot tanks offer lots of options. If you intend on running sand substrate, I wouldn't bother with hang-on-back style filters. No matter what I've tried in terms of pre-filters on the suction tube, I always still got sand in them, which ruins the impeller assemblies on HOBs.

In terms of cansiters, I know all the name brands like Eheim, Rena, etc.. used to be awesome. My personal opinion is things aren't like they used to be and is the reason I just mail order "no name" canisters like Sunsun for a fraction of the cost of a name brand.

A sponge bubbler filter or two would be nice backup for your 125g as well.

Sounds like some great plans for stocking too!

 

[Sarah J]

Congrats on the 125! 6 foot tanks offer lots of options. If you intend on running sand substrate, I wouldn't bother with hang-on-back style filters. No matter what I've tried in terms of pre-filters on the suction tube, I always still got sand in them, which ruins the impeller assemblies on HOBs.

In terms of cansiters, I know all the name brands like Eheim, Rena, etc.. used to be awesome. My personal opinion is things aren't like they used to be and is the reason I just mail order "no name" canisters like Sunsun for a fraction of the cost of a name brand.

A sponge bubbler filter or two would be nice backup for your 125g as well.

Sounds like some great plans for stocking too!

thank you! I'm still new to all the setups and such and really have fallen in love with this hobby so I want to take my time on this setup and cycle. the small 2 acaras and jack dempseys are coming in and I am going to place them in my 50g for 2-3 months. ill move everyone over after the 125 gets situated. they will still be small so I figured it would be okay. would you put two tank heaters in the 125g.

 

[FreshyFresh]

Yes, I would run 2 heaters in a 6 foot tank.