125 stocking suggestions? geos? or already full?

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BPags52

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 22, 2009
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Tallahassee, FL
Currently have a 6ft 125g setup stocked with:
5 6"+ Red Hook Silver Dollars
6 5"+ Common Silver Dollars
1 3.5"+ Electric Blue Jack Dempsey
4 plecos ranging from 3"-5" (L-14, L-114, L-264, L-326)

filtration: 2 Emperor 400 power filters, 2 25g sponge filters (1 powered by air pump 1 by powerhead). Also a Koralia 4 (1200gph) powerhead for circulation.

Heres a video of the setup to give you a better idea of what I'm talking about (fast forward to the 40 second mark for full tank view, not much happens in the first 40 secs anyway ;):

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One of my 2 EBJDs that I got back in May at 1" died last week at 3.5". Before this I had considered my tank fully stocked, but now that theres only 1 cichlid I want to get a few more (that would be compatible w/ the current stock, especially the EBJD).

What are my options? or is my tank already fully stocked?

I've never kept geos (earthearters) before but I think they might work with my current stock based on what I've read about them. But I've only recently started researching them. What are some popular geo species that'll work in my setup? I figure I'll want to get 5 or 6 of a single species, and I'd prefer they don't get larger than 8", 10" max. Tank is only 18" wide.

What do you guys suggest?
 
I would say get rid of the common SD's, leave the Red hooks, add a group of 5 geos that dont grow larger than 6".
 
I like the idea of getting rid of the common sd to make more room. But I personally think it may look a bit odd with the redhooks being so much bigger than 6" geos IMHO.
 
Ya. Thats why I personally dont care for silver dollars. They take away from the centerpiece fish.

Great lookin tank BTW. You may consider one or two larger growing Geos and/or a Severum.

....Bill
 
^^ agree. You have a nice setup. Very clean! but I would go with a group of 5 Geo's really fun fish to watch. I have 3 groups of fishes in my 210.
Geos/Heckelii/Clownloaches and my centerpiece is a 14" Jag. Here is a sample picture.

IMG_1655.jpg
 
How often are you willing to do water changes and what's the nitrate reading of the tank? This will give you your answer.
 
Thanks for the suggestions everyone (and the compliments).

The thing is I don't want to remove any of the current stock, so maybe geos just aren't a good fit for this setup. But I don't want my 3.5" EBJD to be the only cichlid, so what are some other options? I've considered a green terror but I don't want to run into aggression issues down the road. I don't have any severum experience either, and don't know much about them.

I do 2 water changes a week usually (one on the weekend and one during midweek sometime). But if I get busy/distracted sometimes I only do the weekend wc. I typically change 25g at a time (the lowest I can take the water down without turning off the filters), and gravel vaccing during the wc). Nitrates are in check. Haven't tested them in about a week though. I was treating bloat last week and was doing 2-3 water changes daily so I know the nitrates are probably under 5ppm now. Haven't seen it over 20ppm in months (and have commonly seen 10ppm results).

I've considered an Oscar also, I liked my old oscar. but it started making my 125g look small before it died (at about 14-15"). If it got spooked by something it could do some serious damage to itself and/or tankmates (and the tank! lol), so I don't really want something as massive as an Oscar.

Preferring something that has a similar behavior as my EBJD. and by that I mean a cichlid that spends most of its time hanging around its territory in or around cover/etc. (as opposed to the silver dollars always being out in the open middle water column).
 
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