Advice needed on first fish for new 100 gallon tank

[bluemandarin]

if your looking to house them for life in that tank i'd hold off on the indo dat. Oscars are played out but like adrianm said they are really cool fish. we have an oscar who was pushing 12" in a 55g. We upgraded to a 240g and once we got him in there he became a lot more active and shows a lot more personality. He swims right up to the glass to greet you whenever you walk into the room. With that being said, I think there are plenty of better looking large CA and SA cichlids that I would go for next time. Dempseys, female red terrors, jaguar cichlids, wolf cichlids, etc. It could be cool to stock it with a few more smaller cichlids like severums. They still reach a decent size and would be very colorful. Just depends on the look your going for.

The Oscar is a "must-have" for me, precisely for their personality and beautiful coloration. =) Agree that there are alot of other cichlids that are attractive but I just have a soft-spot for Oscars. Heh. Thanks for the post though. Appreciate it.

 

[bluemandarin]

I had a 10" green terror (I bought him as an adult) and he was relatively mild mannered. I bought him from a guy who had him in an overstocked 100G with Managuense, Oscar, Pacu, JD, and all sorts of African Cichilds. The GT was king of the tank, but all the others knew it and steered clear of him. With cichlids you never know what you are going to get...they all seem to have unique personalities. In my experience, raising fish together from a smaller size will give you the best odds at compatilbility. Buying a larger glass banger and letting him establish his space in the tank can make it tough to add new fish down the road. Any reason you want to buy a larger fish to start out with? Since you have the ability to start with smaller fish, why not buy some babies and grow them out?

No particular reason to get larger fish, only that my LFS seldom seems to get fish of a smaller size. I am really tempted by GT though. Have half a mind to get an Oscar and a GT from the get go and hope that they get use to each other since i'll be introducing them at the same time.

 

[Aro_addict]

datnoids are awesome I recommend getting a few of them. You throw in arowana in there too

 

[aldiaz33]

No particular reason to get larger fish, only that my LFS seldom seems to get fish of a smaller size. I am really tempted by GT though. Have half a mind to get an Oscar and a GT from the get go and hope that they get use to each other since i'll be introducing them at the same time.

That's interesting. It's the other way around at all my local fish stores (almost everything they sell is on the smaller side- around 2"). In my opinion, a healthy full grown GT is one of the most stunning freshwater fish out there, but you are right, they can live up to their name.

datnoids are awesome I recommend getting a few of them. You throw in arowana in there too

An Arowana in a 100G is ok for about 1 year. It will outgrow that tank quickly. Hold off on getting an aro until you can properly care for it; wait until you have at least a 360 gallon tank.

@Aro_addict- is that a HOB filter behind the aro in your avatar pic? How big (or rather) how small is that tank?

 

[Aro_addict]

That's interesting. It's the other way around at all my local fish stores (almost everything they sell is on the smaller side- around 2"). In my opinion, a healthy full grown GT is one of the most stunning freshwater fish out there, but you are right, they can live up to their name.



An Arowana in a 100G is ok for about 1 year. It will outgrow that tank quickly. Hold off on getting an aro until you can properly care for it; wait until you have at least a 360 gallon tank.

@Aro_addict- is that a HOB filter behind the aro in your avatar pic? How big (or rather) how small is that tank?

Interesting question I actually use to power filters, 2 blow out valves, a canister with this arowana in a 55 (temporary home) until he gets a little bit bigger

 

[alexanian]

No particular reason to get larger fish, only that my LFS seldom seems to get fish of a smaller size. I am really tempted by GT though. Have half a mind to get an Oscar and a GT from the get go and hope that they get use to each other since i'll be introducing them at the same time.

GT's r awesome, I had 2 golden saum GT's with an Oscar aa they got along very fine even though Oscar was there first. Wait till the Saums get over 3" the colors r just amazing. They got two big for my tank at 6" and they had to go to the lfs and i'm still missing them. I'm looking for Red terrors now they look amazing too. U could get the green and red with the oscar, I know I would really like to try that combo.