Back in the hobby, 125g stock opinions/advice welcome

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Getmuddy350

Gambusia
MFK Member
Dec 30, 2005
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Greetings MFKers! After several years removed from the hobby, I had my 125g long aquarium given back to me as the gentleman I sold it to has moved to England. I am lucky enough to have a significant other who is as interested as I am in fish keeping, so the timing couldn't have been better.

One thing I've learned over the years is planning and preparation is key, and doing things right the first time is invaluable. I have learned many lessons the hard way, and this will not be one of those situations.

Filtrations will come by way of Fluval FX5, with surface agitation provided by plenty of air flow. HOB filters aren't an option as I would like to keep it as close to the wall as possible. I'm going low light, with a home-made 3d background (finally making use of my art school "education"), driftwood, and a few expoxy'd down silk plants.

Now comes the questions of what to stock. I was thinking two med/large SA/CA cichlids, maybe jags, JDs, Red Oscar, something along those lines, we both REALLY like the Jags, and the are my first choice.

My personal favorite fish is the Sevrum. Not sure why, just love the fish, they are nice looking and have a good presence when they get big. I could do 4-6 of them, and the tank would look fantastic as they get larger.

No matter what, I would like the tank to stay a single species tank. I have gotten carried away in the past with housing too many different species (salvini, random pike, royal plec, jds, sevs) in the same tank and I'd just like to keep it simple.


So what do you think? 2 med/large SA/Ca's or go with a few severums and call it good.

Any input/advice/opinion is huge as I haven't started my build yet, and want to start off on the right track! Thanks in advance!!
 
severums are a personal fav of mine too and i dont know why either. I currently have a big male sev with a deformed mouth from birth. I think a few sevs would look great in the 125. You cant go wrong with the jags either but look over the parachromis family as the freddy and loiselli will fit better in the tank when full grown
 
That was a worry of mine with the jags, especially with a background eating up some of the footprint.

I just really like the look of the jags, as does my old lady. I'm just unsure if we'll get bored with "just" a pair of fish.
 
Only thing is, I will not be upgrading any time soon. 125 is the biggest I can put in the room. It's in a small room, and the 125 seems HUGE as it is. So my stock will have to be good for years to come.

I've never housed Jags, or any of the parachromis species for that matter. If two Jags won't be comfortable in there for their full life-cycle, it won't be an option. I've just seen folks housing two on here in 125's and the "stocking police" didn't get called in, so I assumed they would be fine.
 
I really like the freddies, sharp fish. I couldn't get them at the LFS up here though, and I'm not sure if having them shipped would be an option due to my schedule and the cold Maine winters.
 
during the winter most vendors will do overnight am shipping. You can usually work something out with the vendor. Other than that you can try and get your lfs to get them but usually u wont get a freddy since they get mixed up with loisellis all the time. I just ordered 5 juvenile la ceiba freddys from jeff rapps and they will be here friday with overnight am shipping. He's the easiest work with in my many orders with him. What are your options of fish with your lfs's
 
choclates look good in a 125 ,and are good with sevs....usually
 
Very limited up here. You'll see most of your common sa/ca's (oscar, firemouth, managuense, ram, GT, Chocolate) a few assorted pikes, silver aros, RTC (terrifying to me), and some oddballs. On occasion, they'll have some treasures mixed in, fancy plecos, some other rarer cichlids, but it's not very often and I've noticed their stock get really thinned out over the years. Their fish will occasionally have health issues, and they'll almost always have three or 4 hospital tanks that shouldn't be hospital tanks.

Although they seem to really neglect their tanks, I've had very good luck with their fish in the past. They must be pretty resiliant just to stay alive as long as they do there.

At one point they had a few lungfish nearly as thick as a colt 45 bottle, and they'll almost always have a tank or two set up with peoples large fish that they just couldn't take care of. The only thing that bothers me about this is the fact that they are almost always fish they sell there. If you're willing to foot the $44.99 they are asking for one of their 3" RTC's, they'll sell it, period. Can't blame 'em I guess, anything to mke a buck.
 
Oh my god I just moved from England its a **** hole in a recession lasting another 10 years full of aweful aweful people. that guy needs a tonne of good luck.
but better for you right cause you get a tank again!

On the subject of chocolate cichlids I highly recomend them, I've got one now and he is no bother at all. The one I had before years ago a big male was actually really well behaved too especially with my severums. they seem to know how to avoid aggression from the more aggro cichlids, but they will stand up if they have to.
 
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