Gonna try for a near impossible stock for my 150....

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
It's possible! I got a pair of 6inch cubans, 6inch female festae, 5inch male Lyonsi, 5inch male Vontehillo, 4inch RT and a small salvini all in my 150g. They get along fine, some chasing but no damage at all! My fish were all raised together from 1-2 inches tho? Give it a shot, get all small fish. Good luck!
 
all my fish were bought at 1 inch and have been housed together from the start. I have tanks as back ups and dividers so ill be fine. There is a little chasing but thats it. I love trying hard fish combos to see what i can get to work. Everyone told me it was impossible to get my 12 inch mala wolf fish to stay with tankmates but i had him with a 2 inch convict a small catfish, 4 inch pike, and a 7 inch ck with no problems. Things can be done but people just dont wanna try to keep their favorite fish together. I would never put my fish in harms way now saying it on here doesnt say much as people will say bs but im the type of person who tells people they are keeping fish wrong. Once my fish start to show aggression that cant be controlled they are rehomed or moved to another tank
 
The main promblem is you have take no prisoners cichlids. They are fine when small but when they hit say the six inch mark or so all hell will break out. You will find dead fish the next mornig as all the crap usually happens at nite while you are asleep. I have tried all types of combos and realize it just doesn't work. I finally went with of a colony of geophagus orange heads and roseline sharks in my 85. My male 8 inch grammodes has a 50 breeder to himself. You state you have some chasing already. It will only escalate but you seem like you still want to try it so good luck and maybe just maybe it will work but remember they are cichlids/
 
Well I have to completely disagree with all of the nay-Sayers. I have read a lot of the posts explaining why this or that did not work for this person or that person. I have responded many times to these posts. Yes there is a potential for a fish to snap at night and kill. Just curious why none of this has happened to me. I have all community tanks, all of the inhabitants have grown up together or with a group of other cichlids before being transferred into their eventual tank.

My 300 is home to (all fish are over 8") Hogabooarum, Devils, Loisellei, Kraussi, Pikes, Grammode, Urophthalmus, Hon. Jag, Beani, Heterospila.
My 250 is home to (all fish are 5" or larger) Argentea, Black Belt, Zonatus, Bifa, Fenestratus, Catamaco, Polys, Regani,
My 210 is home to (all fish are 5" & larger) RTMS, La Ceiba's, Freddies, Dovii, Carpintis, Cuban
My 150 is home to 30 different grow-outs of various other different species.

And please dont respond to what I said with, dude you are so overstocked. You have not seen my set up and I have plenty of filtration and keep up on the water changes. I breed several different types of all these cichlids and distribute them throughout the state of Washington. Id like to think that I do know what I am talking about. Though I do have people visit my fish room all the time and can not believe that my tanks are so peaceful. I understand that a lot of you have had serious issues with psycho fish, and maybe I have been lucky. But I have 27 tanks and over 75 different species, and all of them co-exist or co-existed before I pulled them to breed them.

If that is what you want as a community, start them young, feed them well, interact with them often and you will have very good success.
 
Madness said:
Well I have to completely disagree with all of the nay-Sayers. I have read a lot of the posts explaining why this or that did not work for this person or that person. I have responded many times to these posts. Yes there is a potential for a fish to snap at night and kill. Just curious why none of this has happened to me. I have all community tanks, all of the inhabitants have grown up together or with a group of other cichlids before being transferred into their eventual tank.

My 300 is home to (all fish are over 8") Hogabooarum, Devils, Loisellei, Kraussi, Pikes, Grammode, Urophthalmus, Hon. Jag, Beani, Heterospila.
My 250 is home to (all fish are 5" or larger) Argentea, Black Belt, Zonatus, Bifa, Fenestratus, Catamaco, Polys, Regani,
My 210 is home to (all fish are 5" & larger) RTMS, La Ceiba's, Freddies, Dovii, Carpintis, Cuban
My 150 is home to 30 different grow-outs of various other different species.

And please dont respond to what I said with, dude you are so overstocked. You have not seen my set up and I have plenty of filtration and keep up on the water changes. I breed several different types of all these cichlids and distribute them throughout the state of Washington. Id like to think that I do know what I am talking about. Though I do have people visit my fish room all the time and can not believe that my tanks are so peaceful. I understand that a lot of you have had serious issues with psycho fish, and maybe I have been lucky. But I have 27 tanks and over 75 different species, and all of them co-exist or co-existed before I pulled them to breed them.

If that is what you want as a community, start them young, feed them well, interact with them often and you will have very good success.
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Aquamonster is a good guy, and I am hardly a "naysayer". If I think he is doing something that could cause trouble, I'll tell him, and hope he returns the favor for me. I'm pretty sure when I pushed the limits too far and had a war break out in my tank, it was not because my fish were underfed, and ignored by me, and I'm sure others would share that sentiment.

That said, I am glad you have had so much success, and hope for continued success for your fish. You seem to have quite an impressive collection!

-Rich

-Rich
 
I am not on here trying to dog on those of you that do not agree. I am just trying to give the OP some light at the end of the tunnel. That not all fish when kept together have issues.

When I read something like this, it makes me wonder.
VRWC said:
No, youre not. Im just tired of saying it over and over again , just like 99% of the other members here. Its why SO many posts get so few responses as of late. No one wants to help people that dont heed the advice they are given when they previously asked questions.

It reminds me of a saying...

There is no more miserable human being than one in whom nothing is habitual but indecision.

and dont take any of this wrong please. I dont mean any disrespect to the OP or anyone else...its just that its REAL easy to see what will and wont work by browsing the forum for an hour or so and youll learn why it did or didnt as well which will save you all the pain/ guesswork etc in your setup.

No, its not flawless info, but no ones re-inventing the wheel around here. If you can think about it, its been done and probably documented to some degree either here or on one of the other forums.

I only wish we had the web and forums 30+ yrs ago when I was a kid trying to keep oscars & JDs in a 29g.
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I have read them, and about 50% of that 99% are wrong, IMO.

So I feel that I do need to say that its not all bad when stocking your tanks. Now I agree that there are a lot of NEWBS out there that dont research or that dont know anything about raising Cichlids. Believe me, I have ignored many a posts because I thought the OP was ........:nilly: lol

So help with but dont discourage. If you screwed up by introducing something at the wrong time, then explain that, but dont just flat out tell the guy no it wont work. Im not saying that you did this, just explain why. Thats all I am trying to say, because it can work. Believe me, it takes some careful thought and planning, but it can work.
 
I won't comment on any of the advice given here, but instead I'll tell you my experience. In my 300, I currently house 5 cichlids( Jd,Midas,Freddy,Festae and a Con) and it is working......... For now. I had to move a few fish in and out of the mix to find the right balance, and for the moment, I seem to have found it. But that doesn't mean things can't or won't change overnight. Every fish is different and every combo is different as well. As my fish have grown, so have the dynamics and pecking order.

I think trying it for awhile is worth a shot. Just be ready to make adjustments as necessary. Personally, I think longterm housing in the 150 is gonna be tough though......not saying it can't work, just that the odds aren't good. Good luck trying it though!
 
it takes many many hiding places, caves, and lots of luck when they hit the 5 inch mark. the responsible thing to tell people is the odds of a comunity tank full of sa/ca cichlids of actualy working is low. i have had many. i still have 1 today. i know that trouble could happen at any time. i wont say either way 100% good luck with your fish. when there all together its amazing. when your fav cuban is missing all of its scales on 1 side of its body when you wake up, be ready for that cause it can happen. on a good note my comunity has had 0 deaths and its been together now 10 months.

225 gal acrylic housing:
8 inch rainbow king
8 inch istlanum
7 inch cuban
8 inch chreni
7 inch dovii x convict
6 inch polleni
4 inch rt
5 inch rt
5 inch black nasty
3 inch green terror
6 inch green terror
4 inch bgjd
6 inch tire track
6 inch albino bichir
 
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