Ideas on stocking a 125 with my first Bichir

[sevs and sajicas for me]

I've been following your stocking thread over in the cichlid section, nice to see you made your way over here. The water is much warmer

I don't see any issues with your stock, granted I've never kept Bichirs but I know a thing or two about cichlids. Simply watch for aggression and react accordingly, unconventional stockings can work.

As a matter of fact your stocklist isn't all that different from my future stock list for my big boy tank..... I've said too much.

Thank you. The water does seem much warmer, and much more responsive

 

[thefredpit]

Thank you. The water does seem much warmer, and much more responsive

I agree the poly forum is incredibly responsive

Thank you for the food tips! So you'd go cichlid gold over sinking carnivore pellets for the bichirs as well?

Am I correct in thinking if I had a fully enclosed canopy, that would be a better option for keeping the bichirs safe than glass lids? Or should i do the lids as well as the canopy?

Are albinos blind?

The albino's are not blind I have had 2 albino sengalus and their sight was fine.

I don't duct tape my lids but they do fit tight.

You defiently want ropefish while technically they are not bichirs they are in the family.

as far as wet spot goes 2 weeks ago I got a sengalus, gold dust, and teugelsi(consider one of these too) from them and they are awesome and all have grown over an inch already. I would get both a Sengalus and an Albino

 

[kewpiefishypewpie]

So I'm in the planning stages of stocking a 125/135 (don't have the tank yet). I've been over on the cichlid forum as this will mainly be a cichlid tank but I have been perusing the poly threads here and have to say that I'm intrigued. J jaws7777 has been a MAJOR help but suggested I start a thread for other ideas. Here is my current plan

1 Vieja heterospila (maybe 2 if I can figure out my severum situation)
1 Blood Parrot (yes hybrid, ugly, eww, I like them)
1 Chocolate Cichlid
1 Gold Severum (if I did 2 hets I wouldn't have a sev in this tank)
4 Rainbow cichlids
1 Senegal Bichir
1 Delhezi Bichir

Does anyone see any issues with this stock? As for food I have always ordered food from kensfish and he makes awesome flakes. He also has earthworm/beef heart sinking pellets and the likes. Would these sorts of pellets be a good idea for a staple? Any tips/pointers in keeping these guys with cichlids? Do I have room in this tank for 2? Or should I go with 1. Anything I am missing or not thinking of?

Take this information with a grain of salt but I have 10 Heterospilas, all around 1 inch, with a Severum babysitting all of them. I'm not really sure what the issue with hets and severums is? Also notice the lack of judgement for your blood parrot love

 

[Polyaddict86]

I dont have any expireince with cichlids, but like kno4te mentioned i do love polys, if your going to run 125g with two canister, you can have 6 UJ poly in the tank, most UJ that are mentioned are good, most only grows 1'.

 

[sevs and sajicas for me]

I agree the poly forum is incredibly responsive

That's good to know. I'm seeing a lot of albino senegals out there but wanted to make sure they didn't have any issues typically.

I've seen a few teugs out there. Will have to look into them

The albino's are not blind I have had 2 albino sengalus and their sight was fine.

I don't duct tape my lids but they do fit tight.

You defiently want ropefish while technically they are not bichirs they are in the family.

as far as wet spot goes 2 weeks ago I got a sengalus, gold dust, and teugelsi(consider one of these too) from them and they are awesome and all have grown over an inch already. I would get both a Sengalus and an Albino

Don't know what happened to the original post but here it goes again

Good to know that the albinos are not blind I've seen a ton of them out there and I just wanted to make sure they didn't have any issues.

I'll have to check out the teugs. I've seen a few of them available

 

[kno4te]

Wetspot has a good selection. All my upper jaw as are from there except two. Great store and service as well.

Lots of cb teugelsi around as well. Still get big but a wanted poly no less.

 

[ShanerBock888]

That is true. And if I could figure out the lid situation, lids would be much cheaper...and my wife wouldn't get so mad that I was spending lots of time in the garage working on "fish stuff"

Taking your wife into consideration is an important part of the planning for any tank build!

 

[sevs and sajicas for me]

Take this information with a grain of salt but I have 10 Heterospilas, all around 1 inch, with a Severum babysitting all of them. I'm not really sure what the issue with hets and severums is? Also notice the lack of judgement for your blood parrot love

Yes I did notice no one commented on the BP...which is nice. It can be frustrating when you mention you want to keep one and all you get back is "Oh I wouldn't do them...they are ugly" ...Great...Thanks super helpful

Sorry I probably wasn't clear about the sev thing. Right now I've got two sevs in a 75 but they are giving me issues. One is being a total jerk so I have a feeling that both will not be able to stay in there. Once I get the 125, one of them will probably have to go in that tank. I wasn't originally planning on doing a sev in there but now it's looking like I probably will need to. I was originally planning on doing 1 chocolate, 1 BP, and 2 hets or 1 het and a nic (4 large cichlids total) but now it's looking like 1 severum will end up in here which means I will have to forego the second het/nic. I didn't feel like I had room for 5 large cichlids plus 4 rainbows, plus the polys (thinking starting with 3 and go from there). But you guys know more about big tanks than i do so I'll defer to you if you think it would be ok.

It's good to hear that your sev is babysitting your hets. I plan on getting a few young ones as soon as I can track them down or get a group order together for Cota and they'll go in the 75 with my pushover severum.

 

[sevs and sajicas for me]

Taking your wife into consideration is an important part of the planning for any tank build!

That's the reason I'm not getting a 180

 

[Vancouver_98683]

That's the reason I'm not getting a 180

Get the 180 and imply it's a 125 The size is identical when u look at it from the front.

 

[sevs and sajicas for me]

Haha...oh she'd know. She knows more about fish tanks then she likes to know. She doesn't want the 180 because it sticks out farther than the 75. I can keep most of the fish I'm interested in in a 125 or 135. Though if a 180 pops it's head up on CL (my fish tank store of choice) and it's a good deal, I could probably talk her into it. But being safe and planning on a 125.