Cichlid Noob, New 135 gallon help

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TheLorax

Gambusia
MFK Member
Aug 6, 2011
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Houston, TX
Hello,

I have been reading extensively about cichlids and recently purchased a 6 foot, 135 gallon tank. I plan on setting it up and starting to cycle it over the next few days. I want to have a community CA/SA cichlid tank and would really appreciate some recommendations. I chose American over African because I would like some slightly bigger fish with more personality as opposed to 30+ small colorful ones. However, I don't want just a couple really big fish. Any suggestions as far as stocking? Also, how would pairing some of these fish affect things? I'd like to have at least one breeding pair of something. Here are fish I am interested in so far:

Severums (I've seen a lot of beautiful red/white ones in local stores)
Jack Dempsey (electric blue?)
Convict Cichlids and Pikes (too agressive?)
Ghost Knife

Other points:
-I'm leaning towards sand as a substrate
-Should I even bother with live plants? I've read different things
-I'm not interested in parrots
-I'd like to maybe add some bottom dwellers, like stingrays or albino plecos

Thanks in advance for any advice/recommendations!
 
Well, you have plenty of room for many possibilities. If you have a breeding pair in a community tank, your other fish would probably be fended off to the other side of the tank and limits the number of cichlids you can keep with a breeding pair. Unless you strictly want a breeding pair, I wouldn't advise it in a community tank but it's possible if they aren't too aggressive.

Judging from the cichlids you are considering, I think your aim is going semi-aggressive?
Severums are nice for a community and are not too aggressive but rather mellow.
EBJD need close attention to signs of illnesses and I wouldn't advise beginners to start out with one. If you want the EBJD, make sure to get it first and grow it out a bit before buying other fish for the tank unless your buying one that is 3" or bigger as they tend to be prone to parasites due to their weak immune system and their relatively slow growth rate. Keeping and using a UV sterilizer properly in your tank will reduce the chances of parasites.
Convicts are nasty in pairs and overall I believe they are considered pretty aggressive so I have read.
A BGK should be fine with cichlids but may have a hard time getting food since they are pretty much blind and if the competition for food is too steep, your BGK might not get any.
Some other cichlids that would work for a community tank would be (assuming your going semi-aggressive):
- Firemouth
- Sajica
- Cutteri
- Acara
- HRP
- Geophagus
- Uaras
You might also want to consider some dithers, something that grows to at least 3" in length that schools.

Sand is an awesome substrate. I prefer it over gravel. It's easier for cichlids to dig in.
I wouldn't bother with plants. They can become a hassle and some cichlids love to uproot them.
You can add a pleco and may want to add some cory's or loaches to be the clean up crew.
 
I'd research geophagus. Great community cichlids, very colorful and active. They mix well with severums and you usually don't have too many aggression issues.
 
While most severums are tank bred and can tolerate a range of ph and kh levels, I prefer to keep cichlids from south America with other fish from south America. This is called a biotope and can get as specific as you want it to--some people choose to only keep fish from a specific river that would be found in nature together in a tank but I think that's unrealistic for someone starting out and will limit the fish you can keep. However, I would stick with south American tank mates as they tend to be more peaceful than their central american counterparts.
Some good choices with severs would be a group of geophagus as mentioned, acara (blue acara are most commonly seen in fish stores), maybe some dwarf SA cichlid species, corydoras catfish, plecos, the black ghost knife, larger tetra species like columbians, etc. There are many other choices and you greatly expand them if you're willing to buy from online vendors who specialize in cichlids.
 
Hmm, thanks for the tips so far, guys.

I want to get some severums and geophagus for sure, and I still would like a JD and maybe acara if I can find one as well as some dither fish. What are your suggestions as far as how many of each to get? And what about combinations of red/gold sevs? Also, once the tank is cycled, what is a good order in which to add the fish?
 
TheLorax said:
Hmm, thanks for the tips so far, guys.

I want to get some severums and geophagus for sure, and I still would like a JD and maybe acara if I can find one as well as some dither fish. What are your suggestions as far as how many of each to get? And what about combinations of red/gold sevs? Also, once the tank is cycled, what is a good order in which to add the fish?
Click to expand...

My advice would be to get singleton sev, JD and blue acara. THis reduces the chance of breeding or aggression.
With geos, however, they do much, much better in groups of at least 5. However, you are going to be a bit limited as to which species you can get as G.altifrons, for example, get too big to fit a shoal of 5 in your tank really.
Personally, I would go for a pair of uaru instead of the geos. Not as pretty but way, way more character !
 
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