Help me stock my new 125

hitemup4u

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 7, 2008
74
0
0
Louisville, KY
Like most married men on here would be, I was pumped when I awoke Christmas morning to find out my wife had gotten me the new tank I had been looking at in th LFS. So now I get get to figure out exactly how I will be setting this tank up. I know it will be used as an all male hap/peacock tank. I plan to buy the fish from a local breeder at www.bluegrassaquatics.com
The substrate will be pool filter sand. Everything else I have a pretty good idea as to what I will be doing, but I have two questions left to answer:

#1 - I am planning on using a Eheim 2080 Pro II (2) and also possibly an FX5 or another 2080. (each of which i can get for $200 shipped )What do you think about this. My reasoning is the the Eheim is so good at bio, and the FX5 at mechanical, and i want pleanty of both. I am not sure if 2 of the 2080's would be enough mechanical filtration for the 20-25 fish I plan to house, and I have heard too many horror stories about the FX5's to put 2 of them up and take my chances. Also, I am not sure if just one FX5 would be enough bio.

#2 - What opinions do you have as far as what I should keep. I would say that I would like one of just about every Hap or Peacock that he offers. The price for most of the fish at 1-1/2" to 2-1/2" unsexed is about 1/3 of what a medium size male starting to color up is. Should I take a chance and save money with the smaller ones and see what males I get and buy the rest at medium size when the other males are coloring up? And if I do this will it cause some of the fish to not color up?

Hopefully someone can help
 

JamesRiggs

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 15, 2008
405
0
0
Huntsville,AL
I would get the FX5 personally, although you will hear "get the eheim" more than once. I prefer Fluval over other filters and if you have never run a FX5 you would be amazed.


Personally I wouldnt mix to much, you will wind up with tons of crossbreeding, unless you do an all male show tank. That is just my opinion.
 

MalawiTango

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 29, 2008
765
2
0
N Virginia
Your wife is awesome, cograts!!!! I would got FX5 it can handle any bioload you throw at it. If you like watching them grow that will be fine but at that size the M/F all look the same and eventually youll have breeding pairs and aggression towards the rest of the tank. I would suggest keeping them in a small tank at that size and try to do water changes atleast 2-3 times per week and supplement their growth with lots of protein. In the meantime you could find larger males to put in your 125G.
 

JIM

Banned
Nov 5, 2008
876
2
18
73
Indiana
The fluval is a good choice but in my experience the males will never color up to your expectations if no females are present. I mean whats the use right, youve got nice colors but who cares.
 

MyJohnson

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 29, 2008
120
0
0
Houston
Just wondering why not get a wet/dry. That will handle anything you put in the tank.

I would get a eheim 2260/62....
 
zoomed.com
hikariusa.com
aqaimports.com
Store