75 Gallon setup?? Acarichthys heckelii

[leopio]

I have a 75 gal. long(5ft * 1.5ft wide* 16in. high) tank that i want to restock. Fish are getting big and it seems a bit crowed (maybe because i have piles of driftwood in the background of my tank). Currently have a pair of Acarichthys heckelii, 4 Geophagus altifrons(all males), 1 blue acara, and 6 Bosmani Rainbows. So what am thinking about doing is getting rid of the 4 altifrons, rainbows, and adding a pair of angelfish and maybe keyhole, Bolivian Ram, Apistogramma, or curviceps don't know which one would work best.
Would i need ditcher fish with this setup?if so should i keep the rainbows or is their a nicer looking ditcher fish i can get?

 

[bl00]

IME, apistos are too small and prone to stress/bullying to be put in a tank with all of those big fish, especially the acara. Larger rams might be ok and keyholes should be fine if they grow up together.

I love your tank, btw.

 

[crmarti]

wow that is a badass tank...the rams would look cool in there

 

[Ullopincrate]

Real nice tank. Nice set up. I love the rams. I vote rams. Mine chase my Angelfish around and they are in a tank with a full grown syno multipunctatus, a 12.5 inch pleco, some large kissers etc. They dont' get bullied they hold their own. But cases vary as do fish.

 

[leopio]

thanks for the comments about my tank. But am still trying to figure out what else i can put in my tank or if i should leave it as a pair of Acarichthys heckelii and 1 blue Acara. where are all the eartheater people at?

 

[leopio]

o forgot i will just show u guys one of my fish. enjoy!!! pic color sucks looks nicer in person

 

[japes]

Pair (I presume you mean non-breeding) of A. heckelii will be taking up a good amount of the room in that tank when they're reaching full size.

First step for me would to be sell the Blue Acara, and then the altifrons as they'll eventually get a bit large. Either look at picking up a shoal of three or four smaller Eartheater species, you can get Orange Heads like myself and everyone else - or pickup something you see a little less often; I'm quite fond of G. sp. "Pindare".

Fill out with any dwarves you're interested in, but don't keep them by themselves. I've got Laetacara dorsigera with my Orange Heads in a 75, but any Laetacara sp., Cichlasoma sp. (the actual South American genus of course), or Cleithracara will do fine. I'd be worried about Apistogramma females being eaten by full sized heckelii when it eventually gets there.

If you plan on doing a full community setup steer clear of small bodied tetra, and opt for the big high profile species like Bleeding Heart.

Tank looks good though, and the Eartheater obsession is contagious - the amount of PM's I've received about A. heckelii since February POTM is huge

 

[japes]

Thought I would also bring up something Weidner says in South American Eartheaters, in relation to your photograph.

Distribution: A. heckelii is a South American cichlid with a wide distribution. It is found along the Amazon in Peru near Quisto Cocha and in the northern and southern affluents of that river, as well as in the Rio Negro, the Rio Branco, and the Essequibo-Rupununi system in Guyana. This wide distribution has led to the evolution of different populations which may differ in their colouration as well as their body form. Thus forms with a distinctly pointed head were imported at the end of the 1980s, although today it is mostly a form with a rounder head that is imported, as the other type is resident in Guyana whence few importations are received.

In relation to your photograph, this heckelii has pretty well developed streamers, and definitely isn't underfed. But it's head is much pointier and less angled than mine (and most of the specimens I've seen).

My bigger male is probably around the 15cm mark at a guess, I'm horrible at estimations, has probably about the same length streamers as your fish (although your specimens caudal extensions seem a little bit more developed), maybe very slightly overfed, but definitely looks completely different.

My other, slightly smaller specimens, are essentially exactly the same just smaller.

Is your second member of the pair similar to the one already pictured?

Here's an example of one off google that I think features the same differences in characteristics.

Interesting to see how they develop further.

japes.

 

[Aphilophus]

get angels and festivums

 

[boxerfish]

My bolivian rams chase my geo altifrons. They make a great addition to peaceful SA tank. You could get away with adding dwarf or apistos since you have lots of hiding places. With all the blue you got going on, a apisto borelli would look good.