Upgrade planning - help me stock

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
What plants do you have with yours

Java fern, java moss, amazon sword, bocapa (spelling?), annubias, penny wort and i believe one or tow more thay i cant remember
 
  • Like
Reactions: magpie
I would go with a chocolate and a Severum. Both species are normally easy going,and they get to a nice impressive bulky size.
They should be fine with plants like anubias and java fern.
Chocs are stunning when adults and are a surprisingly overlooked cichlid. They have loads of character and are extremely greedy fish.They love to beg for food all day.You may need to adopt a feeding strategy that makes sure your other fish get enough food.
 
  • Like
Reactions: isde02 and magpie
magpie magpie , tank choice is a matter of preference and I love tall show tanks. When I was looking for my first "big" tank, my choice was the taller 210g over the 180g. Even with my new tank I went with the taller 300g over the 240g. But for me it all about fish and no live plants. The shallow tank would be better for plants.

As to cichlids it can be frustrating keeping different varieties together in a community setting. I recently gave my regani away to a local fish store due to it becoming an absolute terror every spring. It would get mating fever and take over the tank. Normally I would catch it and put it into a 75g for a month and reintroduce him in the big tank and all was good until the following spring. This time things changed since we moved and I scaled back on the number of tanks and had nowhere to let it settle down in.

My current batch get along very well with the Pearsei in charge and a red bay snook and my het bickering (gill flare) like siblings at times but no real aggression. Probably helps that the pearsei and snook are female.

This is my little group

Porkchop the pearsei
3014512


Snooki the red bay snook
3014517


Monty the het or common name Monte Cristo cichild (lol, thus the name for my het)
3014515
 
Dmds het is truly impressive.

I would go with a chocolate and a Severum. Both species are normally easy going,and they get to a nice impressive bulky size.
They should be fine with plants like anubias and java fern.
Chocs are stunning when adults and are a surprisingly overlooked cichlid. They have loads of character and are extremely greedy fish.They love to beg for food all day.You may need to adopt a feeding strategy that makes sure your other fish get enough food.

Stanzzz question about the choc. Magpie has a love for polypterus too. The one saving grace that has allowedme to keep polys and cichlids together is the cichlids are herbivores and wont touch anything meaty such astilapia, sheimp, ect ect
With the choc having such a big appetite im thinking they would have no problem going for such food. True ?
 
  • Like
Reactions: magpie
Dmds het is truly impressive.



Stanzzz question about the choc. Magpie has a love for polypterus too. The one saving grace that has allowedme to keep polys and cichlids together is the cichlids are herbivores and wont touch anything meaty such astilapia, sheimp, ect ect
With the choc having such a big appetite im thinking they would have no problem going for such food. True ?
Chocs tend to feed mostly from the surface. If you can give floating and sinking foods, the chocolate should be kept busy on the surface while the poly can eat from the substrate.Well that's the theory anyway.
 
MonsterFishKeepers.com