130 gallon redo

[mattison187]

Go with a butti and some nice dithers. They generally will leave small tetras and stuff alone

 

[Bertie07]

Could probably squeeze an angelicus in, though your tank with this stocking plus the catfish will be heavily stocked and require plenty of maintenance. So if you don't mind 2 WC a week for example, go for it. If you can't see yourself doing more than 1, I would stick to a lighter stock, maybe just the O and catfish, or the O and 3 smaller fish.

Some alternatives to geos/bandit:
Blue acara
Biotodoma Cupido or wavrini
Rainbow cichlid (Central American but behaves more like a SA cichlid)
These fish would work in a small group like 1m/3f, or a pair if you get them bonded.

How big would the 2 water changes a week be as I do a 60% water change a week now

 

[Bertie07]

Go with a butti and some nice dithers. They generally will leave small tetras and stuff alone

What dithers would you suggest as I would want them to be quite large because I don’t really like small fish

 

[Gourami Swami]

How big would the 2 water changes a week be as I do a 60% water change a week now

hard to say, it depends on how much you feed and other factors as well. I'm just trying to say, it may be necessary if you stock that heavily, so if the idea of two a week doesn't sound fun, I would stock on the lighter side.

 

[Bertie07]

I think I’m gonna go with a oscar, pair of rainbow cichlids and some sort of catfish, thanks for all the help

 

[Gourami Swami]

I think I’m gonna go with a oscar, pair of rainbow cichlids and some sort of catfish, thanks for all the help

Sounds like a nice tank!
I would try to buy the rainbow cichlids larger than the Oscar, as the O will grow much faster. Don't want the O to outpace them so much that he can eat them.

 

[Bertie07]

Sounds like a nice tank!
I would try to buy the rainbow cichlids larger than the Oscar, as the O will grow much faster. Don't want the O to outpace them so much that he can eat them.

Yeah I thought that do you know the growth rate of rainbiow cichlids

 

[Gourami Swami]

It's much slower, they only get to about 5" total. I would try to get some that are already at least 2". And buy the Oscar small, to give them as much time as possible to grow. I think after about 3.5" they would be safe even from a big Oscar.

 

[Bertie07]

I’ve decided to change my mind on the tank and I wanted some bigger cichlids but not an oscar, would a female red terror, jack Dempsey, yellow jacket cichlid or loisellei and maybe a paratilapia polleni if there’s space, any suggestions would be appreciated

 

[Gourami Swami]

Decent chance that could work, it's impossible to say for sure. CA communities are a balancing act. I would get all the fish at about 2" and grow them up together. Probably going to have to shift fish around, buy and sell fish, until you get a mix that works.