135 gal SA stocking ideas

[Belly_up]

I'm currently building a 135 gal with fx6 filter set up for South America cichlids I have a couple ideas on stocking and wanted to see what you guys think.

1:
Group of 6 geophaugus ( probably red heads) , 2 severums ( liberifer) and a half dozen corys and a half dozen tetras

2:
Group of four severums and corys/tetras

3:
One large center piece fish like true parrot or astronotus crassipinnis (fat Oscar ) and a group of 6 silver dollars and possibly a catfish.
My tank dimensions are 72x24x18w would and Oscar or true parrot be suitable in this tank forever? Also heard silver dollars can be skittish and this tank will be in a high traffic area of my home and don't want fish banging into the glass at full speed evertime I walk by. What would yall recommend ?

 

[Rocksor]

Either an Oscar or True Parrot will be fine in that tank. Personally, I would skip the silver dollars. The ones that I had made all the fish jumpy, and my tank was in the main area of the house. Without them, the cichlids were calm and used to the traffic.

There's a lot of larger catfish (8-10") that you can get to fit that tank with the oscar/true parrot.

 

[Gourami Swami]

Your options are all reasonable and would all make for nice tanks. Personally I like the sound of 2, but make sure you get giant full grown cories, in case a severum tried to eat one. They have spines that get them stuck in cichlids' throats, and are hard to get out (I've had to manually remove them before)

 

[Rocksor]

Brochis splendens get pretty large

 

[duanes]

I have not seen any consideration of your tap water parameters in any of your posts?
Maybe you have already done the research, and the fish you have chosen fit tour water type.
Just in case. you haven't.
H liberifer, and most to the genus Heros prefer very soft, mineral free water, with pH between 4 and 6, they also prefer slow flow to placid condition and tannins can help.
The Amazonian Geophagines usually prefer higher flows, highly oxygenated conditions, and can tolerate slightly higher mineral water parameters , pH up to the low 7 area is tolerated . I assume by "red head" you mean "red head Tapajós".
But if either is not provided, these species tend to develope chronic HLLE. True parrots are also HLLE susceptible if water parameters are to far from ideal.
In your tank (because it is large enough), both flow conditions can be achieved with the use of a powerhead aimed strategically to provide contrast flow areas.

 

[neutrino]

I agree it's good to consider your water, but I've kept Heros species since the early mid 1990s and most do just fine with neutral pH up into the mid 7s, some a bit higher. Just keep water clean. Two notable exceptions are Heros severus and Heros sp inirida, which do better in lower pH. I haven't kept liberifer, but they come from a variety of water types, a lot of people keep them in mid and lower 7s pH without issues. Heros sp. rotkeil can handle a reasonably wide range of pH ime, up to the upper 7s with moderate hardness with no issues in good clean water. Mine, including wild, lived a long time in mid to upper mid 7s pH. A wild female rotkeil I had was full grown when I bought her, so at least between one and two years old already, and then lived 15 years in my tanks. Common 'green severums', golds, etc., are captive strains, few of them are raised in low pH and they don't need it.

Geos vary somewhat, most true Geophagus do just fine above neutral pH, some can handle higher than others. Geo sveni, for example, come from neutral pH to slightly above, at least those found in Argentina. I'm on my second group of them and they're just fine in mid 7s pH. I kept and bred red head tapajos for years, they had no problem with mid to upper 7s pH-- the Tapajos river has varying pH up to the upper 7s, so that shouldn't be a surprise.

I kept a group of 6-8 adult rotkeils in a 135 , I was breeding them so the numbers varied-- rotkeils aren't one of the larger Heros and don't typically get much above 8 inches or so. It made a nice tank.

There are definitely some blackwater (soft water, low pH) adapted species that tend to have issues otherwise, but some have a wider geographic range than we think, may actually be found in branch rivers with higher pH than the main river, or have members in the genus that actually are soft water fish while others in the genus are not-- like discus, the green and Heckel types come from lower pH, the blue/brown types have been found in varying water, up to 7.8 pH. (Symphysodon (discus) are one case where the scientific species names are almost as confusing as common names because experts from different countries disagree and use different names.)

 

[Belly_up]

I haven't checked my water in a long time as I've been out of the hobby for close to 10 years but my last tank was stocked with oscars, severums and silver dollars and had no issues for years before I buy anything I will def check my water again but I don't expect any problems

 

[Belly_up]

I tested my water out of the tap and it came out somewhere around 7.6 ph (hard to tell with api kit) . Would any of my stocking ideas work with this water? Most of the fish I listed are tank bred if these fish won't work any ideas on what will?

 

[Belly_up]

Update* I added a pair of juvenile red spotted severums and within a couple of days they laid eggs. My intention was to have 4 severums and a group of Tetras and corys but I'm wondering if I will have issues adding more severums now that these two are paired up?

 

[Stanzzzz7]

Update* I added a pair of juvenile red spotted severums and within a couple of days they laid eggs. My intention was to have 4 severums and a group of Tetras and corys but I'm wondering if I will have issues adding more severums now that these two are paired up?

In my experience you will have issues adding more sevs. I think a group of tapajos red heads would be a wiser choice.