Ideas for 240 Gallon?

[toffee]

What Frank Castle said....I think that'd work.

Only problem is getting all the fish at once. And what happens if you buy a species you really really want, after a few months you see that the particular one you have won't grow. Some fish are runts.

So now, you want to replace it but all your other fish are 6 inches. The only replacement you can find is 2-4 inches. Or, 2-3 of your fish catch a disease, and your eventual 240 is only half stocked now.

You'll end up having to add new fish, possibly smaller, to an existing community. Not saying it will happen, or that it's likely, but it happened to me.

That old thing about "best laid plans of mice and men".

Get what you want, try it. Everybody's mileage will vary.

you are absolutely right, even the best planning or intention may not work out. Always down to execution and intangibles.

 

[axs377]

So I'm currently doing something similiar. Let me tell you with no doubt there will be an occasional spat or even worse. In my 320, which all fish were added to at about the same time some created issues at even a small size. The first fish I ended up rehoming was a 5" trimac with insane levels of aggression. Within the last couple weeks 2 chanchos which I believed to be male turned out to be female. I removed one and stupidly left the other in there who had paired up with my red devil. One day later, fish that could have easily defended themselves against the rd or the chancho were pummeled by the pair. I ended up pulling her. I don't think there will be any causulities because I caught it in time, but had I been on vacation I'm sure I'd be returning to just the pair. Good luck and my suggestion is monitor the fish daily and stick to one gender...

 

[jaws7777]

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.

Good luck with your tank man but all of these methods may or may not work. Allot of times we are " hey i have x amount of fish and have no issues"

The real question is for how long ? The goal is to have them get along when they are adults too. You dont hear about all the removing and adding fish to get the comm to work. Allot of fish dont carry their temperments when young to adulthood. Imo once they get close to 6 inches things often change.

 

[ragin_cajun]

It's always something. You see pics of big bad cichlids, you're seeing the end result of a lot of effort and patience. I've had truly stunning fish, after 2 years, catch a disease and just die. I've had fish after 2 years go psychotic, just when they start looking good at around the 12 inch mark. Now, I'm dealing with spawning--a total hassle if you ask me. I've had a pair of Regani for over 2 years, they're still about 3 inches long.

It takes time to get cool fish. so start right now. Buy a bunch of small fish, put 'em in a tank, and start growing them out.

 

[vinod_uthaiah]

Over stocking is a hit or miss , too much stress on fish , you always have to keep an eye out , need heavy filtration with regular water change schedules.
If you can limit your stock , with all males or all females. You can do a GT , JD , Oscar and some dithers.. I feel , you should be ok with this

 

[aquaticeye]

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.

GT and EBJD would be acceptable tank mates to peaceful geos in a 240G? I'm asking because that's what I always wanted to do but feared for the safety of the geos! So instead I've been planning a geo/severum community tank. Was really bummed out not having GT/EBJD too. But if you're telling me that they would be okay together... you're giving me hope!