125 gal stock going at it - advice please

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
biguebs

biguebs

Dovii
MFK Member
Mar 5, 2011
568
381
102
Fort Wayne, IN
Sorry, long post.

125 gal, inhabitants as follows:

6” male gold jag
5” oscar
4” JD
4” chocolate cichlid
6” common pleco

Alright so here’s my situation, going through an ich cycle here.. so my temp is up at 86 and have added salt. I had this crew altogether and all was fine, pecking order was as follows: JD, chocolate, Oscar, jag. That’s top to bottom, the jag was the new introduction (week or so back) and seemed to accept bottom spot to my surprise. I wasn’t thinking it would stay that way but you never know, each fish is different. Had temp at 72.

Anyway the temp hit 80 and (to nobody’s surprise) the jag went off like a BOMB. I was monitoring so no real injuries luckily. Put up tank divider and gave him 1/3 of the tank for time being. That was fine until the temp hit 85 and now the JD and the chocolate are taking turns kicking the oscars butt and he doesn’t really have enough room to get anywhere. I was hoping to try the 4 together again once ich cycle was over and temps went down but now I’m not sure it will ever work.

Scenarios I’m considering:

1) Hope everyone makes it through ich cycle ok, rehome Oscar/JD/chocolate and just give the jag the 125.

2) shuffle it all up. Leave the JD and pleco in with jag and hope dropping temp back down makes them compatible. JD isn’t really scared of anything. put Oscar and chocolate in my other 125 with 8” Midas. Other mix that may work?

3) Drop temps back down after ich cycle, rearrange 125 and take out divider, hope for the best

4) “other” - what do the pros think?

I would have a hard time giving up the jag or the Oscar. Could live with rehoming others.
 
A 125 is too small for all those fish together, and it will only get worse as they become more territorial with age, and growth.
To me its too small a tank for just the oscar and managuense alone, although is is a possibility depending on their individual personalities.
Whenever cichlids try to kill each other, 90% of the time, its because the tank is too small to meet "their" perceived needs.
What we as humans believe is adequate, is not relevant.
Most successful cichlid communities with such rough and tumble, territorial species like that, (that actually work long term) are 300 gallon tanks or larger
 
  • Like
Reactions: biguebs and jjohnwm
duanes said:
A 125 is too small for all those fish together, and it will only get worse as they become more territorial with age, and growth.
To me its too small a tank for just the oscar and managuense alone, although is is a possibility depending on their individual personalities.
Whenever cichlids try to kill each other, 90% of the time, its because the tank is too small to meet "their" perceived needs.
What we as humans believe is adequate, is not relevant.
Most successful cichlid communities with such rough and tumble, territorial species like that, (that actually work long term) are 300 gallon tanks or larger
Click to expand...

I agree with you 100% - I was planning on moving the jag out of this setup into his own 125 in the coming months but was hoping they would be ok in the intermediary. I need to rebuild another stand to accommodate the new 125. In all honesty I hadn’t planned on getting a jag but when I was looking at a Midas from COTA he had a $100 minimum and couldn’t resist grabbing a sexed male gold jag to hit that minimum.

I think the Oscar JD and chocolate will be ok together in a 125 long term. I will rehome JD and/or chocolate if need be. Ultimately i want to have the Oscar, the Midas, and the gold jag regardless.

I may just end up with 3 solo 125 setups. Can’t rehome any of them until I know ich is cleared though.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Gourami Swami
I guess this brings a new question to mind- is a 125 enough space for an Oscar, JD, and chocolate cichlid? I know people are definitely stocking 125s a LOT heavier than that on here but that has never been my approach.
 
biguebs said:
I guess this brings a new question to mind- is a 125 enough space for an Oscar, JD, and chocolate cichlid? I know people are definitely stocking 125s a LOT heavier than that on here but that has never been my approach.
Click to expand...

I've seen a 15 inch Oscar in person. At that size, an 18 inch wide tank is pretty subpar.
 
Ash02 said:
I've seen a 15 inch Oscar in person. At that size, an 18 inch wide tank is pretty subpar.
Click to expand...

Hey, thanks for dropping in to state the obvious. However, this isn’t a “i have an Oscar, jag, dovii, rtc, and two Texas in a 55 grow out and I swear I’m going to give them all what they need but i can’t figure out what’s wrong post”.

I’m talking about 3 fish in a 125 that are normally probably shoved in a 55 / 75 or an Oscar having a 125 to itself. Admittedly i am trying to buy time with the jag but only to rebuild the stand that my 180 is on to accommodate an additional 125. Possibly a 180 if i can find one, 125s are just a little easier to come by.

Any Oscar that finds its way into a 125 that doesn’t have a keeper utilizing overcrowding to spread aggression and is making sure there is compatibility is in the top 1% of all non-wild Oscars in terms of living conditions.

Also, not that many 15” oscars out there bud. More like 12”.
 
biguebs said:
Hey, thanks for dropping in to state the obvious. However, this isn’t a “i have an Oscar, jag, dovii, rtc, and two Texas in a 55 grow out and I swear I’m going to give them all what they need but i can’t figure out what’s wrong post”.

I’m talking about 3 fish in a 125 that are normally probably shoved in a 55 / 75 or an Oscar having a 125 to itself. Admittedly i am trying to buy time with the jag but only to rebuild the stand that my 180 is on to accommodate an additional 125. Possibly a 180 if i can find one, 125s are just a little easier to come by.

Any Oscar that finds its way into a 125 that doesn’t have a keeper utilizing overcrowding to spread aggression and is making sure there is compatibility is in the top 1% of all non-wild Oscars in terms of living conditions.

Also, not that many 15” oscars out there bud. More like 12”.
Click to expand...
The response given was pretty mild and candid, and that person's opinion. Not to fan the flames but lets not get defensive here, lets keep a cool head and talk fish!
I agree a 125 is not ideal for a large 12"+ Oscar, but yours is not that large and I personally think it should be adequate. On your question of compatibility with the JD Oscar and Chocolate, I think it is plausible that could be a good mix, but will depend on the fish's individual personalities. I would give it a shot and keep an eye on them. Also watch your nitrates when they are all adults since they all tend to be bullky, large fish.
I think your Jaguar would be more likely to work out with the midas than with the more mild-mannered cichlids, but I have found that 2 cichlids in any tank tends to be a bad number, and whoever is subdominant gets bullied. I think unless you can spring for a larger tank in the 300 gallon range, Managuense and Midas may have to be solo-tank fish ina 125.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ash02, Milingu and kno4te
Gourami Swami said:
The response given was pretty mild and candid, and that person's opinion. Not to fan the flames but lets not get defensive here, lets keep a cool head and talk fish!
I agree a 125 is not ideal for a large 12"+ Oscar, but yours is not that large and I personally think it should be adequate. On your question of compatibility with the JD Oscar and Chocolate, I think it is plausible that could be a good mix, but will depend on the fish's individual personalities. I would give it a shot and keep an eye on them. Also watch your nitrates when they are all adults since they all tend to be bullky, large fish.
I think your Jaguar would be more likely to work out with the midas than with the more mild-mannered cichlids, but I have found that 2 cichlids in any tank tends to be a bad number, and whoever is subdominant gets bullied. I think unless you can spring for a larger tank in the 300 gallon range, Managuense and Midas may have to be solo-tank fish ina 125.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the input. The passive aggressive responses to a lot of posts drive me nuts and I went off the rails a bit there. Lol

The Oscar/chocolate/jd combo should be fine, they have been together for an extended period of time. It’s possibly the JD may end up being a bit of a tough guy but I think the fact that the others will be larger should make it work long term. I test water with the good ol API kit every day or two, both tanks are running 0’s across the board.

I had thought about trying the Jag with Midas but definitely agree - two doesn’t ever seem to work with cichlids. Midas is really settled into being his own man in there and i think he’d be ready to go to war with anything.

I think I’ll just end up going with Midas and jag in their own setups and the 3 others in the 125. Will have to keep the divider up longer than I want to in order to keep jag separated but will just move the timetable forward faster than planned on incorporating another stacked stand setup into things.

Will be up to two 125s stacked and either two 180s or a 180/125s in a second stack! Kind of excited about that.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Gourami Swami
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom