How many altifrons and red head tapajos in 170

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FishKing5

FishKing5

Aimara
MFK Member
Oct 24, 2013
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Hey I am getting a really cool 170 gallon double viewing sided tank and am adding my five juvie red head head tapajos, 7 juvie paretroplus menarambo pin stripe dambas, and three juvie rokteil severums to it. I am wanting to add a group of altifrons in there as well. How many do you think I could add in their for long term with the rest of these fish. All the fish are in the 1.5 to 2 inch range right now. The altifrons will be 2 to 3 inches when I get them since that's the only available size I can find them in. I will post pics of the tank once I get it setup and running. It's going to look super natural with lots of driftwood and rocks, and fake plants for plenty of hiding places and all that. Let me know what you think. I know the altifrons get pretty large and the red heads get medium sized. The severums and paretroplus menarambos are all very chill fish. I will get rid of a few fish if the space ends up getting too cramped and if fish start getting too territorial. I don't see there being too big of a problem though. This 170 is a deep and tall tank and 5 feet long
 
IMO your tank will already be heavily stocked when finished. G. altifrons are capable of growing 10 - 12" so even a small group would be a lot for a 5' tank.
 
I agree with Ryan, although the tank may seem sparse at the moment, those fish are going to get big. The menerambo not only get 14" long, but quite tall and round.
It no wonder they were overfished almost to extinction as human food in Madagascar.
 
ya i agree with you guys. what i usually do is just grow out the juvies and sell off the ones i dont want that dont look as nice once they are overcrowding the tank. the menarambo and geophagus red heads are quite slow growers.
 
Sounds like you're getting all of these fish at a pretty small size. If that's the case, you've got plenty of time to figure it all out before space becomes an issue. I always like to overstock when I'm growing out, then cherry-pick the best as they start getting older.
 
Although cherry picking does well with many cichlids, Geophagus and most Paretroplus (including menerambo) are very social, and build a strong bonded hierarchy over time, that can be disastrous if altered. My menerambo were together for about 3 years, and due to an impending spawning I removed the pair. As soon the pair were removed the remaining 4 started killing each other, the pair bond immediately broke down and one of the pair was killed. When I tried putting he remaining living half of the pair back, more death ensued.
I have learned the hard way, most Paretroplus are long term commitment fish, and due to their precarious position in the world of extinction , I have learned to not take them lightly.
I now have a group of Paretroplus maculatus I have been working with for about 3 to 4 years, soon the group (no other fish) will be moved to a 500 gallon pool to promote breeding.
 
Sorry I wasn't more clear on the fish I would remove. I will NOT ever be moving any paretroplus menarambo from the tank. Everything and every fish I get is going to be built around the paretroplus. I was more talking about the geos.
 
IMO in a 5 ft tank you'll end up with room for the dambas and not much else, maybe one other species, or some smaller dithers, or the odd individual complementary fish or two. Sure, you can fit more fish as juvies, so you can tinker how you want while they're small. But your question was regarding the long term, so you'd need some plan or thought as to what to do with them later on because eventually they're not all going to fit or be happy in the current tank.

Not that there's anything wrong with having a tank with eventual limitations (because of the adult size of the fish) evolve from more of a mix when everyone's smaller to being more focused on the primary species later on. I've done it many times.
 
Well, you know your tank better than I do, so not to be dogmatic. But ime tank length is important with fish that grow 10 inches or longer and it affects how many fish of that size will work in a particular tank. I've read of people successfully keeping P. menarambo in a 5 ft. tank, so I'm not saying that's the issue.

But-- adding another good sized species (altifrons) that also needs tank length? All I'm saying is (except maybe a single altifrons pair) that's probably going to be taxing the proportions of a 5 ft tank. Both species inhabit similar depth levels in the tank, both like to sift sand, and eventually, in both species, there's going to be courting, pair forming, and spawning that will increase the need for real estate in the tank. Just my opinion that you'd be fine for now, but I think you'll eventually find that keeping adult groups of both species in that tank-- and a group of red head geos and a few severums-- a bit much for the tank. But since neither species are fast growers, you'd have a while before you got to the point of having to make that call.
 
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