Looking for suggestions for a large colorful fish for my 225...

[jclyde13]

My 225 gallon tank seems sort of empty and boring lately, with practically no color (with the exception of my flagtail's caudal fin), and an extreme lack of activity apart from my arowana pacing back and forth. So I'm considering the possibility of getting something to liven it up a bit, but the problem I'm having is coming up with a species that is relatively colorful and large enough to fill in some of the empty space (I'm thinking 10-16"), and fairly fast-growing, while not being too aggressive to keep with my eel and flagtail. Options I have thought about so far are:

Oscar - possibly too aggressive?
Severum - grows a bit too slowly
Red Bay Snook - from what I've read, males can get up to 20" (although I've never seen one larger than 14", personally), but otherwise would possibly work
Vieja sp. - most of them are too hard to find around here, and possibly aggressive
Jade Goby - I don't know much about them
Tinfoil Barbs - could work
Midas Cichlid - possible aggression
Jack Dempsey - slow growth rate
Datnoid -slow growth rate

So are there any possible options I'm just not thinking of for some reason and/or any rebuttals for the reasons I gave for the above species not working out? One thing I'm really wondering about is how one of the larger cichlid species might fair with my eel... I know cichlids are generally not to be mixed with eels if they are going to be be grown out together (due to the fragility of younger eels), but what I wonder is if they would be okay with an eel that is already 20" long...

 

[Loves severums]

What about a salvini or archocentrus sajica

 

[jclyde13]

Both are smaller than the size range I'm looking at.

 

[C L O W N K N I F E]

Vieja Synspila?...oh missed the part where you said they're hard to find...hmm

 

[bbortko]

Your typical Oscar would be fine. A chocolate cichlid would add some color without aggression same with geophagus brasiliensis. Bay snooks are supposedly very low on aggression, actually saw 2 today and wished I had room, and since your other stock is too big to eat I don't see why they wouldn't work.

 

[bomber]

King Kong Blood Parrots... I love mine. 6"+

 

[johno27]

Cichla would work but would eventually pass your target size

 

[jclyde13]

Your typical Oscar would be fine. A chocolate cichlid would add some color without aggression same with geophagus brasiliensis. Bay snooks are supposedly very low on aggression, actually saw 2 today and wished I had room, and since your other stock is too big to eat I don't see why they wouldn't work.

Yeah, I've kept two large oscars in the past, and neither of them ever showed any kind of aggression toward smaller tankmates, but some of the oscar horror-stories I've heard since then have made me a bit hesitant to buy another one. As for the red bay snooks, how big do they really get on average? If they really get to 20", then that would be too large imo, but otherwise, they do seem like a nice possibility.

King Kong Blood Parrots... I love mine. 6"+

KKP's are nice, but I'm not into commercial hybridization of cichlids.

Cichla would work but would eventually pass your target size

Yeah, I'm trying to keep my stock manageable long-term (I've decided that my aro and my eel will be my last "monsters" until I get a much larger tank, which will be a long time from now, if ever).

 

[bbortko]

Males bay snooks will go 18-20", but females stay closer to 12". I don't know how aggressive cichla are versus how predatory they are since a lot of people confuse the two making them hard to research but the kelbeiri stay around 12" and are very attractive.

 

[jclyde13]

Males bay snooks will go 18-20", but females stay closer to 12". I don't know how aggressive cichla are versus how predatory they are since a lot of people confuse the two making them hard to research but the kelbeiri stay around 12" and are very attractive.

How do you sex red bay snooks? And regarding Cichla, the only species I have seen available in my area have been mono's and ocell's (both of which get to around 24-30" if I'm not mistaken).

Edit: I looked it up myself, and it looks like they can't be sexed until around 8", which won't work for me, since they are sold around here more like 2-4" (I'd rather not go through the trial-and-error method).