75 Gallon American Cichlid tank stocking help

[Gilled21]

Hi guys, I'm new here, but I've been keeping fish for about a year now. Currently, I have some multies in a 10 gallon, but I just bought a 75 gallon tank as my new project. I want it to be an South/Central American cichlid tank... preferably with a few different types of medium sized fish. I have a SunSun 304b canister that I'm going to run on it and I'll probably get 1-2 Aquaclear 110s as well.

Here's the stock I'm thinking about right now, but I'm totally open to suggestions and other stocking options as well.

1x Blood parrot
1x JD or green terror
1x Red spotted gold Severum
1x Delhezi bichir or BN pleco or geophagus??

This is my first "big" tank so I appreciate any feedback I can get! I also think black diamond cichlids are cool if anyone has more info about those. Thank you everyone for helping!

 

[Ogertron3000]

It should work but things are always unpredictable when mixing cichlids.
I don't kmow,anything about bichirs so won't comment on them. Geos are best kept in a group so I wouldn't get just 1 of them. I personally don't like parrots so would go for another Severum if it was my tank with the JD and
Pleco. You have some nice options with a tank of that size, just don't get carried away and overstock it.
You will need to do a bit of trial and error regardless of what you choose but hopefully will learn a bit and have some fun. Good luck with it all.

 

[Bertie07]

I would do a Central American tank or South American if I were you, for the Central American you could do
1 jd or green terror
1 salvini or convict
and a group of sword tails

For the South American you could do
1 severum or chocolate cichlid
5-6 Cupid cichlids or Bolivian rams
10 columbian tetras
These are just examples but the stock you’ve suggested would work but there is no definitive answer as cichlids can be unpredictable

 

[justarn]

1 threadfin acara (looks like a geo)
1 notatus severum (very pretty severum)
3-4blue acara (regular not electric blue look very similar to green terror but a little smaller)
10 Buenos Aires tetra
1 gold spot pleco
3 spotted pictus cats.

Would be a nice stock?

 

[justarn]

If you like polleni/bleekeri (black diamond)
You could maybe do 1 alone but it will look cramped once it approaches 12". Personally if you want to mix fish keep sizes below 9-10".

 

[Stanzzzz7]

I would do a Central American tank or South American if I were you, for the Central American you could do
1 jd or green terror
1 salvini or convict
and a group of sword tails

For the South American you could do
1 severum or chocolate cichlid
5-6 Cupid cichlids or Bolivian rams
10 columbian tetras
These are just examples but the stock you’ve suggested would work but there is no definitive answer as cichlids can be unpredictable

I agree with Bertie about keeping either c/a's together or s/a's together. Not a fan of mixing continents personally.

Green terrors are actually from Western Ecuador so not a typical amazonian fish like Severums, biotadoma or chocolate cichlids. They are south American though and not c/a's.

 

[Bertie07]

I agree with Bertie about keeping either c/a's together or s/a's together. Not a fan of mixing continents personally.

Green terrors are actually from Western Ecuador so not a typical amazonian fish like Severums, biotadoma or chocolate cichlids. They are south American though and not c/a's.

Oh I didn’t know that green terrors were South American, I always though they were Central American but don’t really know much on them anyway

 

[duanes]

I don't see a 75 gal as really a large tank, but as an area for moderately size cichlids (I wouldn't put anything larger than 8" in it myself).
And agree with some of the other suggestions.
Geos are best kept in groups, they are a social species, so 4 young Geos and a few young Severum might work for a while until they out grow the tank, as a South American biotope.
JDs are north American cichlids, and I find they also do best as a single cichlid species with live bearers as dithers in a tank. A friend of mine kept a group of 1 male and 3 females successfully in a 75 until they outgrew it, but no other cichlids.
JD video in nature below
Eden2
All I know about bichers is they are African, so would seem to me, to be out of place in a new world tank, so if I wanted to keep them, my cichlid choice would be African Nile basin riverine species, like Coptodon, or others of the Tilapine group. (again, just a personal bugaboo)

Coptodaon zilli above.

 

[duanes]

Just to add one more thing, Paratilapia are some of my favorite cichlids, and if you get a small one could work in a 75 for a while, but they do get rather large (more than 12" inches "so in my world" will eventually need a larger tank.
They seem to ignore other cichlids most of the time, although housing them with a similar colored, blue spangled species like a JD or Herichthys can be risky, as they may be thought of by the Paratilapia as rivals.
My outgrew even my 150 gal tanks, and had to be housed in a 400 gal kiddy pool to be fair to them as adults (IMO)

and even in the 400 gal, could be quite aggressive to anything considered a rival

 

[Gilled21]

Thank you everyone for all the options. Unfortunately, my 75 gallon will be a permanent tank (can't fit much bigger as of now) so black diamonds look like they won't be an option.

I like all of the stocks you guys suggested, but I really want at least one cichlid that has a big personality (recognizes me, follows me around the room, etc.) which is why I was thinking about BPs/JDs/Green Terrors. Would severums or chocolates behave this way? Are there any other options for a personable cichlid in a 75 gallon?

Also, do you guys suggest getting a bottom dweller like a pleco or geo to help clean up left over food?