How do you think of this tank stock?

[duanes]

I will only address the cichlids.
Although a 75 gal is really not enven large enough for 1 Paratilapia, two (unless they are a young mated pair) uwill sually kill each other.
I put the pair below in a 400 gal, hoping that might be big enough.
But as you can see below, it wasn't.

The two squaring off above, were each about 12", the tile they are hovering over is a 16" square.
They are very territorial with others of the genus, and territories are large, larger than 8ft X 10ft.
They quickly killed each other within about 24 hrs.

The photo above is when it was half grown

And my experience with Tomocichla asfraci, (and I've kept them twice,) is that a pair will need at least a 6 ft tank to itself, with just dithers.

 

[Something Fishy Here]

I haven't kept most of the fish you asked about so I won't advise you on those, but don't get discouraged. I know you get a tank and you get excited and start trying to plan it on paper, and like you said, on paper it makes sense to you. But It's not a stationary display where you can just plug in x top swimmers with y middle swimmers and z bottom dwellers. It is an ecosystem, a living community you're creating. Most of the time when you see a minimum tank recommendation, it's for 1 fish, so not 6 different fish with a 75 gallon minimum recommended.

You're in the right place and there's a lot of experience here. Pick your favorite that you want to build your tank around and research that fish and ask questions, then fill in with what else might work, if in the case of the more aggressive or predatory fish, there might not be any filling in. You also haven't mentioned water ph or hardness, which I have learned a lot about in the past few months on here. What your source water is can make a difference in what fish you can keep healthy unless you're willing to adapt the water to the fish you choose, through RO units, or adding buffers etc to go the other way.

 

[duanes]

One thing to take into account, on many of the aquarium recommendation sites, they are using regurgitated info from species profiles written by someone who has never kept, or maybe just kept a certain cichlid as a juvie.
When I often read recommendations about tank size or compatibility, I can tell the writer, has absolutely no first hand knowledge about that species, never kept it, or kept it for a very short time.
For most cichlids, the recommended tank size is total BS (always too small), filtration is never adequate as are the required needed water parameters depending on what part of the world the cichlid comes from.

 

[Backfromthedead]

I completely misunderstood this...thought there were 3 separate 75g tanks involved.

Yes this tank idea is a fantasy. Since you have the ranchu already i would just use the 75g for it, or just keep it in the 36g and use the 75 for a tomocichla tank. I wouldnt try to put any cichlids with the goldfish though.

 

[Deadeye]

Too add on the case of the wolf fish - whoever said they are peaceful and bottom dwellers never kept one.
Mine spends most of its time pacing the front, waiting for food (very personable fish). Rarely is he ever hiding. He will destroy ANYTHING that touches the water - making cleaning a royal pain (have thick gloves ready) and even took out snails (despite not having the build or teeth of a snail eater), probably because he saw something move and assumed it had to be food.
With tankmates they often hide out of intimidation not because it is their true nature. If it wants to trike though, just about every other fish on your list wouldn’t stand a chance against those teeth.

The 8 inch Red wolf fish is the least aggressive wolf fish species, and the reason I chose it over the smaller 6 inch purple wolf fish. From what I've heard, wolf fish tend to be friendly with fish that aren't the same species.
The ranchu look nothing like the cichlids or the wolf fish. I heard that puffers get along with cichlids because they don't even register in the cichlids mind as a "fish", so I applied the same logic to him.

To address the puffer, whoever said that must have never even seen a fish before. Puffers are some of the most mean spirited, insatiable vacuums out there. One being a slow moving clumsy fish with a beak that cuts a crayfish like butter and the other being a territorial ox of a fish is asking for trouble. Both are not a fan of company (very few puffers can safely be cohabitated with other fish) and the first run in results in a dead or horribly injured fish.

Also to address the goldfish, there’s a reason they are sold as feeders (despite dangerously high thiaminese), and it’s not because they are easily ignored.

The advice given by everyone here is very good. Everyone who has posted here has experience with at least some of the fish you have listed and has seen enough experiences with the rest. There’s a reason people don’t try to keep them together. Also, some of those fish get pretty expensive, and nobody wants to throw money down the drain just to watch their fish mutilate each other.

 

[jjohnwm]

I dunno...I think that if you keep the temperature down around the 50F mark, aggression should be pretty well eliminated...

Sorry, but add my name to the list of people who are dead set against this gongshow stocking list. I know that I'm at the extreme end of the scale when it comes to acceptable crowding of a tank, but if this were my tank the stocking would begin and end with the Red Wolf; in fact, I am in the process of preparing to move my own Red Wolf into a 48x18x18 tank of his very own. He "snapped" shortly after being introduced to a single tankmate, a similar-sized Hoplo cat that was fine for a few days, but became a tattered near-dead mess literally overnight after the Wolf went psycho. Since then, his behaviour towards other fish floating in clear containers in his tank, or even in adjacent tanks, has made it clear that he is flying solo from now on.

The Ranchu is a bumbling, clumsy oaf of a fish. You may or may not like its weird misshapen body, but either way...even if it manages not to be picked on and picked apart by some of those other choices, there is no way that it could compete at feeding time with the other ruffians and speedsters you have listed. Maybe just that fish (since you already have it) and one or two more like it would work...although even three of them would still stretch the limits of that tank size when they grow up.

I get it; you have a new "big" tank...which, like all tanks, will become "less big" the longer you have it...and there's a whole wide internet world of cool fish that are all irresistible. But...you must resist! You will not enjoy this aquarium as you have imagined and described it...and for dang sure the fish won't be enjoying it either. Do the research, think it through, consider all the opinions and suggestions throughout this thread...and then make a reasonable choice. Good luck!

 

[esoxlucius]

I don't own any of them yet

The above quote from your opening post is, thankfully, music to all our ears no doubt. At least you have time to tear that list up and start over.

Personally I have little experience with hardly any of those fish, except the chalceus. I don't need to know anything about the others because I know that other members will speak up, and have!

As far as the chalceus goes you can forget about that one too. Ideally they need a bigger footprint than what you're offering.

Go back to the drawing board and keep it simple. That wish list of yours is a hodge podge from hell!

And in your second post you seem to say, "from what I've heard", and "in theory". I have a feeling that, up to now, you've been looking in the wrong places for advice.

The good news is that moving forward, now you're here, you'll get some better advice on what to put in your 75. I wish you luck.

 

[TheTerminutter]

Okay, so the red wolf is out of the question

75 gallons
Fx6 canister

How is this revised list?
Pinktail chalceus
Hujeta gar*
Red tailed barracuda*
Vieja synspilum
Ropefish
Raphael cat
Goldfish

Lowest temperature will be 22 degrees C, only on cold winter days, and about 24 in the summer.

*both can live with similar sized mid and bottom dwellers
All species in the list can live in 22c water

I would especially like some more feedback from those who have kept pink tailed chalceus, Viejas, red tail barracuda or hujeta gar.
I'm specifically looking for odd fish that can live in subtropical water, bonus points if it looks prehistoric, so suggestions would be appreciated as well.

 

[Hybridfish7]

Okay, so the red wolf is out of the question

75 gallons
Fx6 canister

How is this revised list?
Pinktail chalceus
Hujeta gar*
Red tailed barracuda*
Vieja synspilum
Ropefish
Raphael cat
Goldfish

Lowest temperature will be 22 degrees C, only on cold winter days, and about 24 in the summer.

*both can live with similar sized mid and bottom dwellers
All species in the list can live in 22c water

I would especially like some more feedback from those who have kept pink tailed chalceus, Viejas, red tail barracuda or hujeta gar.
I'm specifically looking for odd fish that can live in subtropical water, bonus points if it looks prehistoric, so suggestions would be appreciated as well.

How many times do we have to tell you everything in there is going to kill the goldfish
None of the cichlids you've suggested can go in a 75, vieja synspilum (now melanura by the way) can easily hit over 15". Googling "monster fish 75 gallon", picking a bunch of stuff that looks cool and then googling if those can go with goldfish (or their temp requirements or whatever), does not count as research

 

[jjohnwm]

Okay, so the red wolf is out of the question

75 gallons
Fx6 canister

How is this revised list?
Pinktail chalceus
Hujeta gar*
Red tailed barracuda*
Vieja synspilum
Ropefish
Raphael cat
Goldfish

Lowest temperature will be 22 degrees C, only on cold winter days, and about 24 in the summer.

*both can live with similar sized mid and bottom dwellers
All species in the list can live in 22c water

I would especially like some more feedback from those who have kept pink tailed chalceus, Viejas, red tail barracuda or hujeta gar.
I'm specifically looking for odd fish that can live in subtropical water, bonus points if it looks prehistoric, so suggestions would be appreciated as well.

Okay, I'll make some predictions based strictly upon personal experience:

The first three species listed I know nothing about, so won't comment.

The goldfish will be dead within days, perhaps even hours.

The ropefish will be dead a few minutes after the goldfish, which will save it from the protracted death by starvation that would otherwise be its likely fate due to an inability to compete quickly enough for food.

The raphael cat might survive long term by doing what it does best, i.e. hiding in a dark hole and never coming out except in the dead of night. This habit, combined with its tough armoured exterior, might allow it to survive with...

...the Vieja, which will revel in destroying...not just killing, but literally destroying...all those other fish. My single Vieja was one of the two smallest fish in my long-ago large cichlid community; the other "little" guy was a Tilapia buttikofferi. Those two small fish terrorized much larger fish and killed several before I learned my lesson...and that was in a 360-gallon tank, not a 75.

You are doing extremely selective research, which apparently delves into low-temperature sensitivity but completely ignores questions of temperament.

Try googling the definition of terms like "aggression", "over-crowding" and "compatibility" because all of those concepts have been mentioned several times here as potential problems for your stocking ideas...but you seem to be ignoring them. I think this revised version is actually worse than your first one.

Over and out...best of luck to whatever fish you get...