Ideas for 240 Gallon?

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shamrock

Piranha
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Feb 26, 2006
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So, going try American Cichlids again in my 240 gallon, here are my stocking ideas:
1. Red Oscar
2. Male Black and Grey Convict
3. Green Terror
4. Jack Dempsey
5. Texas Cichlid
6. Salvini

do I have enough room for more? was thinking Jaguar, Festae, Black Belt, Motaguense, Red Devil, Barred Midas, Kraussi, Trimac, Cuban, Buttekefori
not all of them maybe 2-3 more and yes I know Buttekefori is African.

In the past I had almost all these together or at one time or another, I am staying away from Dovii and Umbee this time around, was successful but too much work. Anyways, let me know what you all think.
 
You have plenty of room to work with but you will have to pick a stock list based on compatibility of fish. The oscar, GT, convict, salvini, and JD are probably all fine together and you wouldn't necessarily even be fully stocked with just one of each of those guys in my opinion. If you start throwing more aggressive fish in there like texas, midas, triamacs and, butti's they are going to probably beat up on the fish listed in the first list.

If it were my tank I would go either just aggressive CA fish that can handle the pushing and shoving of tank mates or a more chill SA setup with GT's, Oscars, Geo's, Severums, and other fish of similar temperament. There are exceptions to the rule of course, and all fish have individual personalities but this school of though is probably a safe bet to start thinking about for your stock list. There are also fish from either continent that could possibly be successful with fish from the other but its case by case.
 
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MonsterFishCreeper said:
You have plenty of room to work with but you will have to pick a stock list based on compatibility of fish. The oscar, GT, convict, salvini, and JD are probably all fine together and you wouldn't necessarily even be fully stocked with just one of each of those guys in my opinion. If you start throwing more aggressive fish in there like texas, midas, triamacs and, butti's they are going to probably beat up on the fish listed in the first list.

If it were my tank I would go either just aggressive CA fish that can handle the pushing and shoving of tank mates or a more chill SA setup with GT's, Oscars, Geo's, Severums, and other fish of similar temperament. There are exceptions to the rule of course, and all fish have individual personalities but this school of though is probably a safe bet to start thinking about for your stock list. There are also fish from either continent that could possibly be successful with fish from the other but its case by case.
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ty! was thinking or contemplating, know I am going to get flamed for this, but I saw a tank that was overstocked, fish appeared healthy and the guy said he had no aggression issues. With that said I would need to clean the tank atleast 2-3 times a week. As far as overstocking was thinking 13-14 cichlids, like I said just contemplating the idea.
 
It's a good size tank but cichlid "communities" seem to always be a gamble. To increase your chances on said gamble, I'd say drop the Texan and the salvini. Long term I think the Texan will put down the hurt and I've always heard salvinis go nuts. If you want more than that original list I'd say look into a chocolate cichlid, or maybe even a good sized severum. Also not SA/CA but paratilopia sp. (bleekeri/polleni ect.) have been great and may work out.
 
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shamrock said:
ty! was thinking or contemplating, know I am going to get flamed for this, but I saw a tank that was overstocked, fish appeared healthy and the guy said he had no aggression issues. With that said I would need to clean the tank atleast 2-3 times a week. As far as overstocking was thinking 13-14 cichlids, like I said just contemplating the idea.
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These tanks that are heavily stocked with big aggressive ca cichlids you see on YouTube all apparently work well but so far I haven't seen one that's been up and running for say over 4 years, you get a few updates then never see them again
 
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dan518 said:
These tanks that are heavily stocked with big aggressive ca cichlids you see on YouTube all apparently work well but so far I haven't seen one that's been up and running for say over 4 years, you get a few updates then never see them again
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Too true,and they never tell you about the fish that have been killed or beaten to near death on the way.I believe most of these tanks are just time bombs.
Tick tick tick booom!
There are fish that could be a safe bet based on the law of averages. Start mixing these cichlids with reputation is like playing Russian roulette in your fish tank.To my way of thinking, best not take the gamble.
 
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How about some festae, jaguar , devil , black belt and motaguenese only in the 240. Lot of space to swim around and some driftwood to break the line of vision and some getaways. This should look cool.
 
I'd do a pair of festae (or a pair of any species you like) with a bunch of fancy silver dollars and flagtails.

Overstocking definitely reduces aggression. Years ago I saw an aquaponics tank with hundreds of fish packed like sardines. No aggression whatsoever.
 
shamrock said:
ty! was thinking or contemplating, know I am going to get flamed for this, but I saw a tank that was overstocked, fish appeared healthy and the guy said he had no aggression issues. With that said I would need to clean the tank atleast 2-3 times a week. As far as overstocking was thinking 13-14 cichlids, like I said just contemplating the idea.
Click to expand...

I would avoid intentionally overstocking with American cichlids it doesn't help to spread out the aggression like it does with mbunas and other Africans at least not as well. It seems like the successful tanks are ones with a carefully selected stock list, enough space for territories, and to some degree good aquascaping with places for fish to get away if they need to. I won't pretend to know the exact way you would want to go about stocking a heavily stocked CA bruiser tank but I do think that if you want a decent amount of fish the SA 'peaceful' cichlids are the way to go. You'll still have some super impressive fish.

If I were looking at dealing with stocking a tank for the big bruisers look at how some of the more experienced guys do it by watching a few videos from guys like Andy Woods and GuapoteMel on YouTube. I for one am very envious that you have such a big empty to stock. It's gonna be fun!
 
A lot of aggressive fish that you may or may not get away w/. I'm getting ready to try something similar w/ my new 300 (less the oscar, which won't have a chance - as he is not aggressive and is also big enough to get noticed). But I have never had a grown black belt that wasn't a total prick - they seem to be (for me at least) not just territorial, but relentless as pursuing other fish down all over the tank, w/out giving them a break. Go w/ a synspilum instead. I saw the CA/SA aggression difference firsthand when I witnessed my 8" female dovii ram my 11" green terror (biggest I have ever had or seen and outweighed her several fold) and burst his swim bladder. Just like that, my pride and joy fish was done. She had shown no aggression until then and I actually heard the thud outside of the tank. She wasn't spawning (had no make in there). It was like she just studied him and picked her moment. The green terror went into a 40 breeder by himself and never recovered.
 
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