Help me stock my new 125

[hitemup4u]

Like most married men on here would be, I was pumped when I awoke Christmas morning to find out my wife had gotten me the new tank I had been looking at in th LFS. So now I get get to figure out exactly how I will be setting this tank up. I know it will be used as an all male hap/peacock tank. I plan to buy the fish from a local breeder at www.bluegrassaquatics.com
The substrate will be pool filter sand. Everything else I have a pretty good idea as to what I will be doing, but I have two questions left to answer:

#1 - I am planning on using a Eheim 2080 Pro II (2) and also possibly an FX5 or another 2080. (each of which i can get for $200 shipped )What do you think about this. My reasoning is the the Eheim is so good at bio, and the FX5 at mechanical, and i want pleanty of both. I am not sure if 2 of the 2080's would be enough mechanical filtration for the 20-25 fish I plan to house, and I have heard too many horror stories about the FX5's to put 2 of them up and take my chances. Also, I am not sure if just one FX5 would be enough bio.

#2 - What opinions do you have as far as what I should keep. I would say that I would like one of just about every Hap or Peacock that he offers. The price for most of the fish at 1-1/2" to 2-1/2" unsexed is about 1/3 of what a medium size male starting to color up is. Should I take a chance and save money with the smaller ones and see what males I get and buy the rest at medium size when the other males are coloring up? And if I do this will it cause some of the fish to not color up?

Hopefully someone can help

 

[JamesRiggs]

I would get the FX5 personally, although you will hear "get the eheim" more than once. I prefer Fluval over other filters and if you have never run a FX5 you would be amazed.


Personally I wouldnt mix to much, you will wind up with tons of crossbreeding, unless you do an all male show tank. That is just my opinion.

 

[MalawiTango]

Your wife is awesome, cograts!!!! I would got FX5 it can handle any bioload you throw at it. If you like watching them grow that will be fine but at that size the M/F all look the same and eventually youll have breeding pairs and aggression towards the rest of the tank. I would suggest keeping them in a small tank at that size and try to do water changes atleast 2-3 times per week and supplement their growth with lots of protein. In the meantime you could find larger males to put in your 125G.

 

[JIM]

The fluval is a good choice but in my experience the males will never color up to your expectations if no females are present. I mean whats the use right, youve got nice colors but who cares.

 

[MyJohnson]

Just wondering why not get a wet/dry. That will handle anything you put in the tank.

I would get a eheim 2260/62....