Recommendations for my Mixed 6ft Tank

[AKKADIAN]

Hi all. Long time reader, first time poster!

I've been keeping cichlids for about 6 years now. For the first 4.5 years I was keeping Africans with some success (you know how it goes with their aggression). Anyway for the past year and a half I have moved over to Americans - a mixture of both SA and CA. For the most part, I have kept a tank with a single Oscar, however in the last 4 or 5 months I have attempted to make it more of a community tank.

My current stock list is:
1 x Oscar (35cm / 13.7 inches)
1 x Petenia Splendida (Red) (25cm / 9.8 inches)
1 x Petenia Splendida (Green) (20cm / 7.8 inches)
1 x Synspilum (30cm / 11.8 inches)
1 x Pearl Cichlid (25cm / 9.8 inches)
1 x Pleco (35cm / 13.7 inches)

I believe all fish to be males.

I had a 25cm (9.8 inch) Green Terror in there too. However once I introduced the Pearl Cichlid, within a couple of weeks the GT died. I also had a JD in there that ended up dying (although I am convinced there was something wrong with this fish when I purchased it. It never really suited the tank well).

Anyway... I would like to know what fish you would recommend adding to this tank. I would like a balanced tank with as little aggression as possible. The tank specs are:
* 540 Litres / 142 Gallons
* 6 ft x 2.3 ft x 1.6 ft
(The tank is an AquaGrand 180 with plenty of filtration).

Any recommendations or suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[dan518]

Personally think your maxed out, the petenia splendida can hit 20+inch.

 

[tlindsey]

Hi all. Long time reader, first time poster!

I've been keeping cichlids for about 6 years now. For the first 4.5 years I was keeping Africans with some success (you know how it goes with their aggression). Anyway for the past year and a half I have moved over to Americans - a mixture of both SA and CA. For the most part, I have kept a tank with a single Oscar, however in the last 4 or 5 months I have attempted to make it more of a community tank.

My current stock list is:
1 x Oscar (35cm / 13.7 inches)
1 x Petenia Splendida (Red) (25cm / 9.8 inches)
1 x Petenia Splendida (Green) (20cm / 7.8 inches)
1 x Synspilum (30cm / 11.8 inches)
1 x Pearl Cichlid (25cm / 9.8 inches)
1 x Pleco (35cm / 13.7 inches)

I believe all fish to be males.

I had a 25cm (9.8 inch) Green Terror in there too. However once I introduced the Pearl Cichlid, within a couple of weeks the GT died. I also had a JD in there that ended up dying (although I am convinced there was something wrong with this fish when I purchased it. It never really suited the tank well).

Anyway... I would like to know what fish you would recommend adding to this tank. I would like a balanced tank with as little aggression as possible. The tank specs are:
* 540 Litres / 142 Gallons
* 6 ft x 2.3 ft x 1.6 ft
(The tank is an AquaGrand 180 with plenty of filtration).

Any recommendations or suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks.

Welcome aboard

 

[cjdesmit]

I have to second dan, I'd add nothing. You are already pretty heavily stocked as is...

 

[Stanzzzz7]

Your going to be very overstocked soon.
You need to be removing fish,not adding them.
Cichlids are territorial and get more aggressive with maturity. To make things worse,yours all get pretty big.
Personally I would remove all of the cichlids you already have and perhaps keep the Oscar. You could then add a few more non cichlid tank mates.
Whatever you decide,you need to slim things down.
Sorry if this is not what you want to hear but your stocking,just won't work.

 

[AKKADIAN]

Thank you all for your replies.

I do not mind removing fish when they get too large for the tank.

Am I to gather that we are not to treat SA and CA cichlids similar to Africans, where over-stocking to spread aggression is the aim? I am happy to leave my stocking as-is, I just want to make sure that any possible aggression is dispersed evenly.

 

[demonknight]

With African's it's hit and run whereas with SA/CA it's kill or die trying imo

 

[jaws7777]

Id remove most of them..if not for aggression the maintenance alone would be a no go for me

 

[Gourami Swami]

I agree that you will have quite an overstocked tank when all fish are at max size. I think if you removed the petenia splendida, you could probably keep the others in there, as long as they get along well enough. Those three grow into brutes, will still be a full and entertaining tank.

 

[Toiletcar]

Overstocking American cichlids never works in the long term. Usually the weakest fish becomes a target for the most aggressive and dominant. A lot has to do with the individual fish and tank size. Some cichlids try to pick off one fish at a time until all competition is gone.
One reason the stock works now is because these fish are on the same aggression level. Adding something to an established tank can create more aggression too.