120 Gallon Tank Central American

[Darkskies]

Hi,
This is my first post on these forums but I am an experienced aquarist. I have an empty 120 gallon aquarium(might actually be 125 gallons) and was looking for ideas on what to stock it with. I know that I want to have at least one breeding pair of cichlids in there but was unsure as to whether having any other fish in there with them would be feasible. My tentative plan is to have a breeding pair of Jack Dempseys along with some other central american cichlids in there with them. Would it be possible to have a pair of dempseys and a pair of firemouths or convicts? Am I just asking for disaster with multiple pairs in that size tank? Alternatively if I make it a JD only tank and buy 6 young JDs and let them mature in the tank, once a pair begins to form, will I have to remove the remaining JDs? Any of your tank suggestions and cichlid combinations would be appreciated as well(I just know I would like to have at least one breeding pair of cichlids in there). Thanks in advance!

 

[Sarah88]

WELCOME TO MFK!!! i think in that size tank a pair of smaller cichlids like dempseys would probably be ok with tankmates, but first could you tell us how long the tank is, if it is 6ft like a standard 125 then the answer would be definitely while if its only 4ft like a standard 120 then it could still work but your chances are slimmer. but i think a dempsey pair with a con pair would be just fine, cons are small but they are little brutes and i wouldnt be surprised if they actually end of being the bosses of the tank over the dempseys, but yeah if you do a dempsey only tank you would definitely have to take out the remaining ones after the pair forms or they will take them out themselves, pair almost never tolerate an extra of the same species in their tank unless its massive

 

[Slim2634]

If you really want to breed just get a pair of Jags or Red Devils. They get bigger and have more personality. That is all you'll get in that tank but its worth it. If you want more fish just get a pair of convicts and like 5-6 other medium size cichlids like JD's, Green Terrors, Etc.

 

[Darkskies]

Thanks for the Welcome! I just measured my tank and yes it is 6 feet so in actuality I guess the tank's a 125 gallon. So a pair of dempseys and a pair of cons should be fine with no losses or extreme stress? What about a pair of firemouths or green terrors instead of the cons?

I know that this is branching out of the scope for the central american cichlids forum but what about angelfish? If I make it an angelfish species tank would the pairs that form tolerate conspecifics and each other better(since angels are more mild mannered)?

If I decide to go with the pair of dempseys and pair of convicts, what other fish could I add? Thanks again!
Darkskies

 

[Darkskies]

If you really want to breed just get a pair of Jags or Red Devils. They get bigger and have more personality. That is all you'll get in that tank but its worth it. If you want more fish just get a pair of convicts and like 5-6 other medium size cichlids like JD's, Green Terrors, Etc.

I don't really know how to edit my posts so I apologize for posting twice instead of editing my last post. Could one of the mods change my thread title so that it reads as a 125 gallon tank?

Regarding the Jags, I thought they get too large for a 125 gallon. Would a pair really be content in a 125? If so, I would be very interested in setting that up!

 

[Sarah88]

yeah jags could go in a 125 but then then you could only do the pair by itself in the tank, and yes i think you could do a dempsey pair and a con pair or even a GT pair with the dempseys, you would just have to decorate the tank so that their territories would be on opposite ends of the tank and have site breaks and put some kind of dither fish like silver dollars or something to create distractions, but yeah you could do angels as well but not with the dempseys or GTs, maybe one of those fish with angels but not a breeding pair, im actually restocking my tank right now to have wild angels with either my argentea or a GT, for a 125g tank if you dont have pairs you could do 4-5 med size cichlids with no problem i think (med= 12in or less), trick is to just find ones that get along with each other

as far as editing, for a certain period of time after you submit a post there is a button at the bottom of the post square that says edit/delete message on it

 

[Slim2634]

Jags would be fine in a 125. If I were you I'd do a pair of Green Terrors and and pair of Jack Dempseys. Don't get me wrong convicts are great but GT and JD's are much more colorful, a little bigger, and pairs are a little less common.

 

[Darkskies]

Jags would be fine in a 125. If I were you I'd do a pair of Green Terrors and and pair of Jack Dempseys. Don't get me wrong convicts are great but GT and JD's are much more colorful, a little bigger, and pairs are a little less common.

Thanks for the messages guys. A lot of the sites I keep browsing through say that you need a 150-180 gallon for a breeding pair of Jags. Jags look awesome and I'd be really excited to have a pair in the 125 gallon even if they're the only fish but would that be doing them justice once they're full grown or will they be cramped?

Having a pair of Green Terrors and a pair of Jack Dempseys would be great too. How should I go about setting this up? Should I buy 6 of each species and then wait for the pairs to form before I return the other 8 fish? What kind of tank decorations are necessary? I was planning on having some large flowerpots and rocks on either side of the tank with the rest being open for swimming space. Is it really important to have hiding places that only the females can enter when they're stressed? If so how do I go about creating those?

 

[Finheaven]

I dont think putting 12 growouts in it would be a very good idea.

 

[Sarah88]

i dont think you would have to get that many, i would just get 4 of each, with dempseys and GTs you can usually have a good idea of their sex at a young age, so i would get 2 likely males and females of each