75g cichlid advice please

[pckts]

Grammodes

 

[jbnebres]

Grammodes

x2 what he said- but you'll have to get rid of your other fish to accommodate a pair of grammodes- or they'll do it for you.

 

[themancmt]

1 male Gt and a pair of salvini. if you want color there it is. female salvini look sooooo nice when breeding!!!

 

[Otherone]

Gts can get big and nasty..............Salvinis are a kingkong if aggitated.

Personally Electric blue Dempseys sounds great but don't mix them with Green Terrors unless your prepared for a possible tragic loss of money and fish...........an ebjd can easily fit in a gts mouth.

Salvini's would probably ignore the ebjds they prefer bigger fish to pick on so long as they have rock work to hang out in. @ 75 gallons I'd steer clear from larger aggessive fish with salvini's this tends to bring out the kingkong in them. Firemouths will also most likely bully those expensive EBJD's but would probably work with the salvini.

 

[Aquadi]

1 male Gt and a pair of salvini. if you want color there it is. female salvini look sooooo nice when breeding!!!

They'd kill the rest of my fish too when breeding wouldn't they since they are rock dwellers and I am heavy on the bottom inhabitants as it is?

Gts can get big and nasty..............Salvinis are a kingkong if aggitated.

Personally Electric blue Dempseys sounds great but don't mix them with Green Terrors unless your prepared for a possible tragic loss of money and fish...........an ebjd can easily fit in a gts mouth.

Salvini's would probably ignore the ebjds they prefer bigger fish to pick on so long as they have rock work to hang out in. @ 75 gallons I'd steer clear from larger aggessive fish with salvini's this tends to bring out the kingkong in them. Firemouths will also most likely bully those expensive EBJD's but would probably work with the salvini.

How about 1 GT and 1 FM or a pair of FM's?

 

[rmcder]

After seeing some of the GT's here I'd love to go with a G and a few other slightly smaller cichlids. The are 8 loaches should max out around 5" and there are 4 plecs that wont go past 5". I'd like to get some colorful guys if possible, and the GT's really seemed to have that. If I could do a few other good looking SA/CA cichlids that'd be primo.

Folks are focussing on what would be nice to add, but I'm not sure how much attention is being paid to what is already in there. As you can see from my signature, I have three clown loach in my 75g. They are about 6-7" now and really beefy. It's hard for me to visualize what EIGHT of them would look like in the tank. Then we throw in four plecos, which, if they're common, will get larger than 5". You've potentially got twelve fish that will grow to considerable size (certainly the clowns will). Basically, the bottom of your tank is already carpetted with fish. You have (or will have) a lot of bioload already. Now you have lots of space above the floor of the tank, so if you MUST add something, I'd say you'd want something that will be happy up high - oscar, severum, angels, maybe gt. Whatever you decide, you're going to have to monitor your water A LOT, because you have a crapload of fish in there!

You're considering ebjds... I'd recommend against it in your case. They are fragile when small, are expensive, and the water quality has to be kept REALLY good when they're small. Most people aren't willing to do water changes a couple times a week, and I think that's what you'd need to do to keep them healthy in that environment.

 

[Aquadi]

Folks are focussing on what would be nice to add, but I'm not sure how much attention is being paid to what is already in there. As you can see from my signature, I have three clown loach in my 75g. They are about 6-7" now and really beefy. It's hard for me to visualize what EIGHT of them would look like in the tank. Then we throw in four plecos, which, if they're common, will get larger than 5". You've potentially got twelve fish that will grow to considerable size (certainly the clowns will). Basically, the bottom of your tank is already carpetted with fish. You have (or will have) a lot of bioload already. Now you have lots of space above the floor of the tank, so if you MUST add something, I'd say you'd want something that will be happy up high - oscar, severum, angels, maybe gt. Whatever you decide, you're going to have to monitor your water A LOT, because you have a crapload of fish in there!

You're considering ebjds... I'd recommend against it in your case. They are fragile when small, are expensive, and the water quality has to be kept REALLY good when they're small. Most people aren't willing to do water changes a couple times a week, and I think that's what you'd need to do to keep them healthy in that environment.

Not nearly as bad as you make it out to be. I think you assumed the worst case scenarios on everything. The loaches are called zebras I think? They aren't supposed to be bigger than 5" and are just barely 2" right now. The plecos are fancy plecs of various L-numbers.. none of them are commons. The biggest one will max at 5" but even that will take a few years.

As for water care and fragile fish, some of my plecs are very fragile and require pristine water. I am doing biweekly water changes of 30-40% depending on the day and will keep up the same routine so the 'fragileness' of the EBJD shouldn't be an issue when it comes to water conditions.

 

[rmcder]

Not nearly as bad as you make it out to be. I think you assumed the worst case scenarios on everything. The loaches are called zebras I think? They aren't supposed to be bigger than 5" and are just barely 2" right now. The plecos are fancy plecs of various L-numbers.. none of them are commons. The biggest one will max at 5" but even that will take a few years.

As for water care and fragile fish, some of my plecs are very fragile and require pristine water. I am doing biweekly water changes of 30-40% depending on the day and will keep up the same routine so the 'fragileness' of the EBJD shouldn't be an issue when it comes to water conditions.

Ok... Not as bad as it might have been, obviously, and I'm sorry if I assumed the worst, but it's always safer that way. Your water change schedule is also more than adequate. No offense intended.

I still think my cichlid suggestions are valid: stuff that will stay in the mid-upper levels of the tank. I'll withdraw my concerns about ebjds relative to water quality, but they are really not mid-level fish, for the most part. With as much bottom activity as you already have, I would be looking for at least mid-level dwellers. Or... I would also consider shoals of something to occupy the upper-level to balance things a little.

 

[Aquadi]

Ok... Not as bad as it might have been, obviously, and I'm sorry if I assumed the worst, but it's always safer that way. Your water change schedule is also more than adequate. No offense intended.

I still think my cichlid suggestions are valid: stuff that will stay in the mid-upper levels of the tank. I'll withdraw my concerns about ebjds relative to water quality, but they are really not mid-level fish, for the most part. With as much bottom activity as you already have, I would be looking for at least mid-level dwellers. Or... I would also consider shoals of something to occupy the upper-level to balance things a little.

I was looking at a shoal of lemon tetras since they are quick or bosemani's for upper level activity. There are so many hiding spots, you honestly never ever see the plecos Sad really, but it makes it a treat when they do come out. I think with the amount of scaping I am doing would allow for at least one lower/mid level cichlid and possible a mid-upper?

I understand I may be pushing a touch on overstocking, but the tank won't be truly overstocked for at least 2-3 years, at which point we'll have a 6 ft tank of some sort. How's that sound?