Central cichlids with nitrate

[Tripping Willow 91]

With the geo redheads being bottom feeders, I personally wouldn't add a hoplos. This will reduce your bioload.

For that length and width of a tank, I would upgrade to 24" high for more water volume (110g), especially since you don't want a heavy bioload. A lone store bought heros efasciatus will be fine.

I did think it may be a bit much bottom activity, I'm not too worried about the hoplo, I'd be happy with just the red heads and a heros. I think the deal with the missus is I can go longer if it's lower so don't think 24" will be possible

 

[cmsbthebest]

I hear most people say that their heros are peaceful. This is not my experience. Everyone I have tried has ended up being quite aggressive, especially with its own kind. However that may just be my luck with the ones I have had. Rotkiels are a very attractive fish when mature and don't grow quite as big as some of the other species. I also believe they are not over fussy about water parameters.
A good tank mate for a group of red head geos would be a pair of wild coloured tank bred angel fish. They would occupy the higher levels of the tank while the geos are more bottom.
A couple of hoplo catfish could also be a nice addition.
I would definitely stay away from nippy fish like some of the tetras if you have red heads. They produce beautiful trailing tail and fin extentions when they get older. Would be a shame to see them nibbled off.

In my experience with my group so far, the biggest culprit of nipping my RHT trailers, are my other RHT lol. They all bicker just enough to nibble trailers, never any other damage though.

 

[cmsbthebest]

Thank you, I'd assumed all south American cichlids were just not gonna work with my water, you may have just opened another door for me. Those steindenchari are very cool, bit weird looking but I think that gives them personality. Are the other s/a cichlids that will bee fine with my water? I really like heros (severum)

As others have said, I think a H.efasciatus could work for you. I'd be wary of the lesser available species as some are sensitive to hard water.

 

[Stanzzzz7]

I did think it may be a bit much bottom activity, I'm not too worried about the hoplo, I'd be happy with just the red heads and a heros. I think the deal with the missus is I can go longer if it's lower so don't think 24" will be possible

Hoplos I've kept swam as much on the surface as they did on the bottom. Pretty much all over the place.
My suggestion was for the proposed 60inch tank.
Having said that I think less is often more and six red heads on their own in an intricate scape would be a very nice tank.

 

[Tripping Willow 91]

Hoplos I've kept swam as much on the surface as they did on the bottom. Pretty much all over the place.
My suggestion was for the proposed 60inch tank.
Having said that I think less is often more and six red heads on their own in an intricate scape would be a very nice tank.

The tank with any luck will be 60" (will need to find another place for a bookcase) but only 18"wide and 18"high. I'm not to keen on overcrowded tanks, I'd prefer to have a tank where you have to stop and look for the fish. With the scape I'd like to use a fair amount of wood and stone but nothing to fancy and easy for maintenance
This is some wood I've collected soon to be soaking ready for the cichlid scape, those branches are around 3-4ft

And this was my previous scape that was a nightmare for maintenance

 

[Tj203]

The tank with any luck will be 60" (will need to find another place for a bookcase) but only 18"wide and 18"high. I'm not to keen on overcrowded tanks, I'd prefer to have a tank where you have to stop and look for the fish. With the scape I'd like to use a fair amount of wood and stone but nothing to fancy and easy for maintenanceView attachment 1477497
This is some wood I've collected soon to be soaking ready for the cichlid scape, those branches are around 3-4ft
View attachment 1477498
And this was my previous scape that was a nightmare for maintenance

I stop and look for fish everyday

 

[Tripping Willow 91]

So it sounds like I might have decided on what fish I'm going to keep, 6 RHT and a severum ?. Now I just need to built a stand/cabinet, buy the tank, get it scaped and cycled and then acquire the livestock. Where do you guys from England get your cichlids from, the lfs, online shops, fellow cichlid keepers? I had a look in a lfs (jaws aquatics) today and they had small 3-4cm RHT for £15 each and some fancy coloured severum (I'm after wild type colours) around 6cm for £40, do these prices sound about right?

The gourami under the counter seemed to like my lad

 

[Tripping Willow 91]

I stop and look for fish everyday

View attachment 1477500

That's nice, too marine looking for me but I can still appreciate all that rock work, you've got some good height with it up the back. I bet it's interesting watching all those fish interact with eachother. When you compare it to my old scape though, you can really see what I mean when I say I like to stop and look for the fish

 

[Stanzzzz7]

So it sounds like I might have decided on what fish I'm going to keep, 6 RHT and a severum ?. Now I just need to built a stand/cabinet, buy the tank, get it scaped and cycled and then acquire the livestock. Where do you guys from England get your cichlids from, the lfs, online shops, fellow cichlid keepers? I had a look in a lfs (jaws aquatics) today and they had small 3-4cm RHT for £15 each and some fancy coloured severum (I'm after wild type colours) around 6cm for £40, do these prices sound about right?

The gourami under the counter seemed to like my ladView attachment 1477501

Those red heads sound a little expensive to me. I got mine at around the same size for £7,50 each from sedgley road aquatics near Wolverhampton.

 

[Tripping Willow 91]

So I've been looking into nitrates a bit since I started this thread and I've found that different kits measure different things, this would explain what RD. has seen on a UK forum.

Also, on a UK forum in the past I recall one of the moderators explaining that nitrate readings in UK tap water, are not taken using the same method as in the USA, and that 10 ppm US, is actually the same as approx 42 ppm UK. You might want to look into that as well.

The API kit I use measures nitrogen compounds in terms of concentration of the ion/compound, for nitrates this is no3-, whereas NT labs test kits measure nitrogen compounds in terms of nitrogen content, for nitrates this is no3-n. The difference between the two is a multiple of 4.43 (NT×4.3=API) so if my nitrates are 20ppm using API this would only be (20÷4.43) 4.5ppm using NT labs kit. What I'd like to know is -
1 Do you have API kits in the US?
2 When people say keep nitrates below 20ppm are they referring to no3- (API) or no3-n (NT)?