75 Gallon, need suggestions on what to stock it with (newcomer)

[Razor7Music]

How about 900 tetras?! JK!

 

[BigCountry]

hey man im from the charlotte area and go to fintastic on tryon they are a little expensive but the fish are always beautiful and the staff there is pretty knowledgable when it comes to fish, and if i were you id get a trimac i have one and its a great fish to have

Heck yeah man I live 5 minutes from that place literally, off 485 and the Fort Mill exit, in Berewick. Great information!

 

[Mike fail]

1 escondido 1 gt and 1 firemouth plus others is really stretching it, my escondido wont allow anything in a tank that size except a female during breeding.

 

[barley pop]

a pair of Uaru

 

[BigCountry]

oh no no no. That video for the escondido wont do at all. let me find you a good one give me a minute or two.. this video is the one that convinced me to get the fish btw =D

Found it:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWSEq7TT_Dw

Make sure you view it in HQ.

Man that is one cool looking fish.....

 

[nmadsen4]

My mom has a juvi escondido, even at such a young age the colors are already very good. It would be a nice fish to have considering that many of the other choices you have dont brighten up until later in life.

 

[BigCountry]

Ok I checked out Fintastic, since it's only 3 miles from the house. Great selection of commercial fresh and salt fish there no doubt. Very cool store. Their salt water coral selections are amazing...

I checked out/priced the following:

8 Clown Loaches ($5.00+- small/medium)
4 Rubbernose Pleco ($10.00+- small/medium)
1 GT/1 Blue Acara ($6.00+- small)
2 Firemouths ($6.00+- small)
2 Green Severum ($7.00+- small)
1 Gold Severum ($11.00+- small)

They do not carry the Carpintis Escondido (since it's not a true commercial fish) so the guy recommended Severums instead - said they would go good with the Firemouths.

He also was not keen on the idea of dropping that GT in the mix...said when it got larger it would kill everything hehe. So I might take that out, I am not sure. He suggested I replace it with a Blue Acara.

 

[nmadsen4]

Only get 2 severum instead of 4 and only get 1 pleco. That should leave enough room for you other fish. Except the loaches do get kinda big i think.....

 

[teqvet]

I checked out/priced the following:

8 Clown Loaches ($5.00+- small/medium)
4 Rubbernose Pleco ($10.00+- small/medium)
1 GT/1 Blue Acara ($6.00+- small)
2 Firemouths ($6.00+- small)
2 Green Severum ($7.00+- small)
1 Gold Severum ($11.00+- small)

You really don't want to go with clown loaches. They get incredibly huge as they grow and would do much better in a 125+gallon tank. My stocking is pushing it as it is regarding aggression but I'm fine with that as I plan on rehoming a few as they grow older. I think you'd definitely be better off investing in some smaller loaches such as kubatoi or yoyo's or striata. Not to mention clowns lose their color when they grow larger (have you seen adult clowns? someone on the site has a mammoth tank of them and they are like miniature pigs with fins!! lol)

Aside from the loaches, it looks like you're spending around $125 roughly before taxes?

let's say you shopped with ken at Fish Farm, over in teh vendor section:

Heros efasiatus F1 $8 (2) 2-2.5" ( these are severums juveniles born from wild caught parents)
Cryptoheros cutteri F1 Rio Jutiapa $5 (25) 1.5-2.5" (he's out of Thorichthys species it seems - these guys look great as well and would be a cool replacement if you weren't set on them)

He's out of carpintis escondido now as well but currently stocking:
Herichthys cf labridens Blue "Taniul" $8 (50) 1-1.5"
Herichthys labridens Media Luna Yellow $25 (50) 1"

The blue and yellow are both intensely colored fish, view this thread to see some nice pics of teh yellows.. though they are pricey!.. they are pretty dang rare in the hobby.

Shipping will run about 35$ I would assume, give or take a few bucks. The only reason I had the amount of plecos I have is because they are all colorful and fancy plecos. If you just want some for algae control, then 2 bristlenose plecs should do ya fine (they look cooler than rubbernose imo, but ymmv.)


Speaking of online vendors, N-E cichlids has some great prices too, though I'm not sure the shipping charges on his deals:

SEVERUM GOLD 1-1.5" $1.59
SEVERUM GREEN SM $0.79
YOYO LOACH $1.49


(different BN's from colors to sizes)
1.5-2" ALBINO BUSHY NOSE $3.50
2" ALBINO BUSHY NOSE $4.75
2.5-3" ALBINO BUSHY NOSE $6.99
3" LONGFIN ALBINO BUSHY NOSE $8.99
BUSHY NOSE LG $6.99



The LFS's near me don't really have much in teh way of quality, so I try to support the vendors here on MFk as much as I can. Like I said before though, and another on of your local residents in NC and you yourself have verified.. you may have good quality fish available immediately to you.

You could always see if they can make a special order for you too! I've done that a few times in the past.


At any rate, sounds like you're definitely getting a better blueprint of what ya want. Good luck with whatever ya end up going with. IMO it's hard to go wrong period regarding CA/SA fish. I'm working on dumping our african tank if my wife will let me and replacing it with maybe honduran red points or cutteri

Keep us posted on any purchases or changes! I'm stoked to find out what you go with. Makes me want to go find another tank on craigslist =D

 

[FSM]

You really don't want to go with clown loaches. They get incredibly huge as they grow and would do much better in a 125+gallon tank.

Surely you're aware of clown loach growth rate.