New South American project

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FishKing5

FishKing5

Aimara
MFK Member
Oct 24, 2013
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Soooooo decided to jump off the vieja train and start a South American project that I've always dreamed of doing. The tank is 220 gallons and will house a group of F1 Geophagus Sveni Rio Parana along with a group of F1 Guianacara Sphenozona from Suriname and then some nice schooling fish like cardinal or neon tetras. Am also thinking of adding some wild angels in there or possibly adult wild discus, we will see though. The Discus would be amazing but am not sure if I want to go through the work of Discus again. The tank will be a mix of RO/tap water with driftwood, live taller plants and floating plants. Only kicker is that I have to raise the sveni and Guianacara starting at 1.5 inches so it'll be a while until I even add them to the 220 gallon but in the mean time I'll take the time to setup the biotope for the tank very nicely and then add the angels or discus to it and then add the geophagus sveni and Guianacara to it once they're a few inches bigger. I'll raise those in a smaller growout tank for while ml. I'll keep everyone posted each month on where I'm at with things. The sveni and Guianacara are coming tomorrow morning so I'm pretty pumped about that. I've been wanting to do a display tank like this for a very long time.

If anyone has any other ideas on what I should add instead of the angels or discus please share! Thanks


 
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That would be one of my dream tanks, if it was me I would add some oddball pairs of cichlids like sajica, niguragua and a rainbow cichlid pair.
 
Quick question, why do you have to raise the smaller cichlids in a smaller tank if their both around the same size?

In my experience cichlids grow significantly faster in the larger tank. The only time I use grow out tanks is when the larger tank has fish in it that can eat the smaller fish I want to grow out. If your starting fresh why not just add them right in once your scaped?

Gonna be a nice tank man. Interested to see it when it’s up! Good luck
 
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Covetous said:
Quick question, why do you have to raise the smaller cichlids in a smaller tank if their both around the same size?

In my experience cichlids grow significantly faster in the larger tank. The only time I use grow out tanks is when the larger tank has fish in it that can eat the smaller fish I want to grow out. If your starting fresh why not just add them right in once your scaped?

Gonna be a nice tank man. Interested to see it when it’s up! Good luck
Click to expand...
I figured growing them out in a smaller 40 gallon breeder tank would be easier because then they can find the food easier and I can do larger water changes and a lot of them with ease. Also I want to get the larger tank fully setup with its new aquascape before adding the fish so I don't stress them out. This will allow a little time for me to get everything just the way I want and then can add the fish. They're only about an inch, so not big at all but to won't be long until they are moved to the 220 gallon.
 
I agree with stanzzzz7, not only because the Central Americans would be geographically incorrect for the biotope, but because the Central Americans come from waters that are (for most of the year) harder, and much more alkaline than their South American cousins.
I raised a number of Guianacara in a 6ft tank right from the get go (at only 1") and they did very well. In fact they started spawning at only @ 2" in that 6 ft tank.
The 2" Guinanacara below have their green eggs hidden in the algae coated wood.

And in the large tank, with heavy water changes, didn't hamper their growth, I believed it enhanced it.
 
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