Help me stock my tank!

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C

ccp2007

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 29, 2014
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united states
I have a 55g tank I want to find pets for. I can't decide if I want a couple of peacock cichlids or 1 large south American. I really want something that'll be red, orange or yellow so it really stands out with my river gravel, plants and driftwood. If I go the S.A. route I'm thinking: red terror, Midas, Texas or maybe a bright red flowerhorn (personal stories/advice on these appreciated). If I go peacock route I'm thinking: red dragon but would prefer to keep 3 so need help picking out a couple others that are red, orange, or yellow. Or should I go with an oddball? If you have any suggestions please feel free to voice it. I will need a fish that can handle 7.6-8.0 Ph that won't outgrow my 55 for at least a year+

Mommy of 3 babies, 2 fur babies and 12 gilled babies
 
Midas and red terror will outgrow a 55. A smaller flowerhorn would work nicely but may kill everything in the tank. Another option may be blood parrots you could fit a few in a 55

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A peacock tank would look nice, although I've never kept them so I couldn't give experience. Add in a school of 6 S petricola and then you're good :).
 
Yeah and an FH that gets buff enough may even break a smaller tank ramming the sides. You could do a single red terror or maybe a red tiger motaguense? They get quite colorful. Salvini are also smaller one that are quite colorful.

Ampilophis like RD and midas get beefy I don't think they'd last a year in a 55. Green Texas would be a good one but we are also talking single specimens.

If you can find em cichlasoma ornatum or gorgeous and get smaller then even festae

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So, just an update. I found a beautiful Festae. I have been told it's female. I was also told they are slower growers than,most SA cichlids but my hubby told me he would trade me tanks. He has a 75 with 7 African cichlids. I really want a 100+ but hubby said i had to wait until we remodel the livingroom and bedroom. Any suggestions on a top shelf color enhancing pellet that contains spirulina? My LFS guy told me what they use but I wanted to get my MFK peeps opinion first. Here's a picture of her. She's still a little stressed from the move. I put her in the aquarium about 11 hours ago. Do y'all think it's female?View attachment 1010397

Mommy of 3 babies, 2 fur babies and 12 gilled babies
 
Yup female, got some very nice colors on her for having no male in there! If you want some bottom dwellers bichirs have worked with festae for me, you could keep one of the smaller ones like Senegal, delhezi or mokelembembe. Any plecos though? Theyll sometimes suck the slime coat off bichirs usually killing em.

My buddy uses hikari cichlid excel with good effect, I use NLS cichlid pellets that are color enhancing to good effect, another color enhancing food is Krill so any feed with that in it will also help color. I also feed mine hikari carnivore pellets but those are mainly for the bichirs

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I don't have a pleco. I want a Albino BN but I'm afraid she'll kill it. I want an algae eater but the common pleco IMO is very boring to look at and get too big. I thought about getting a few snails (mystery or assassin) but I don't want a snail infestation. I'm sure she would kill those too? Would it hurt her if ate snails? Can I throw a few dozen ghost shrimp in there? I was told not to feed her live food but I don't understand why ghost shrimp would matter. I can see the issues with feeders like minnows and goldfish.

Mommy of 3 babies, 2 fur babies and 12 gilled babies
 
Ghost shrimp, idk much about it for festae but they can be hard to digest for some fish unless fed after molting. They may also carry parasites so like any feeder you should quarantine and gut load for a while to make sure its not sick before feeding

I really like the Gold Nugget plecos, and they're panaque so they eat wood and generally don't suck slime coat. I agree the common is boring lol I wish hillstream loaches were warm water (they require cooler water), they look awesome and are just about the best algae eater ever. Thinking about doing a species tank for em

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