My thorichthys helleri tank and hello

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I was hoping to go bigger with my new tank, but it looks like I'll have to settle with a 48x18" holding about 75 gallons of water.

Do you think this is big enough for a big group of Thorichthys? I'll be building a big wet/dry and UV plus will also probably put a skimmer in it, but I don't really want a heavy bio load because I don't like doing a lot of big water changes... I like to do just enough water change to siphon waste from the bottom.

So I'm thinking about just doing a planted SA tank with dward cichlids for now because I ultimately want both.

Appreciate your opinion.
 
I think it depends on your water.
Thorichthys and the bulk of s/a dwarf cichlids have opposing water needs.
Hard for the thorichthys and soft and acidic for a lot of dwarf s/a species.
Did you have a species of dwarf in mind? Some do better than others if your water is hard.
 
You could try a smaller group of thorichthys from the meeki group.6 firemouths, 1 male and 5 females should work in a planted set up with a lot of rocks and hiding places.
Thorichthys from the helleri group such as socolofi will need the water changes.They don't tolerate nitrates to well.They tend to be more sensitive than thorichthys from the meeki group like pasionis.
I would also avoid maculipinnis, beautiful though this fish is, its the most aggressive from the meeki group.
 
If your going to buy a uv and skimmer I think your money would be better spent on extra filtration.
 
I wasn't going to mix SA dwarfs and Thorichthys ... those are two completely different options I'm considering for this tank, sorry if that was unclear.

Thanks for the thoughts ... Still deciding, but I'm now leaning toward SA for this tank. I can't get access to the helleri I would want here in the US anyway. The only one available here is Chacamax.
 
There is not a lot of difference in the chacamax helleri to the laguna catazaja ones.
What I ment was test your tap water for hardness and ph values.
If your water is very hard then some s/a dwarf cichlids won't do well,especially wild caught ones.
Alternatively if your water is very soft it won't be ideal for the more sensitive of the thorichthys.
My own water is quite hard from the tap so I try to choose species that can do ok in it.
As I said before some fish will tolerate a wide range of water chemistry, it's just worth knowing which ones.
German blue rams for example are supposed to do ok in harder water.Normal rams thrive in very soft water.
A lot of apistogramma prefer very soft water,
Bolivian rams can tolerate either.
If I was torn between s/a or C/a fish I would let my tap water decide.
 
The Chacamax look a lot different to my eyes, but it can be hard to tell with pictures. The Chacamax look to be more uniformly yellow, almost gold. The Laguna Catazaja and Rio Bascan seems to have more colors, especially the pinkish highlights. Your fish are beautiful.

This Rio Bascan would probably be my "Holy Grail" fish if I could get it:

ThorichthysPinkRioBascan_zps97f4c6ae.jpg


I'm sure you've seen that picture before, was posted by someone named Andy on eacichlid. Are you batman by chance?

I was planning to test all my water parameters but don't have test kits yet. So I will go ahead and order my test kits now. Regarding hardness from what I understand it's pretty easy to harden it by adding a bag of coral and/or other minerals to the filter. I'm building a big wet/dry sump so I will have plenty of room for stuff.

In terms of fish, I'm thinking a pair of Apisto borelli and a pair of Laetacara araguaiae plus a school of pencilfish and maybe a school of corys. Possibly a pair of Bolivian rams as well. Not sure how much territory these dwarfs deman but a 48x18 footprint is a pretty decent size for little fish.

But I think I want the centerpiece to be a matched pair of Santarem discus. Very "wild" looking:

DSC01432.jpg


So maybe like:
2 Santarem discus
2 Apisto borelli
2 Laetacara araguaiae
2 Bolivian Ram (maybe)
8 Pencilfish
6 Corys

Not 100% sure on anything though...
 
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You found me.I got my helleri off Andy he may have some left?Are you a member of the eacg?
Your proposed stocking sounds good.Should be an interesting tank.
 
I'm in Maryland, USA, just found the eacg threads and put 2+2 together. I think I've read every thread in existence on Thorichthys!

I'm jealous of you guys, you have all the cool fish over there. You'd think that since we border Mexico we'd have more varieties but for whatever reason we don't. Maybe it's import laws or maybe just more Eurpopeans are there collecting these fish.

If I decide to do a CA tank then I'd probably limit it to 6 Green Swordtails and 6 helleri or aureus, but that's not my "dream" CA tank. I wanted to go bigger with a lot more Thorichthys and mix in some Crytpoheros as well.
 
Hi again,

You mentioned that maybe I should let me tap water parameters determine what fish I decide to keep. I ran some tests, and my water is fairly soft: 3 dH and 89.5 ppm. However, it is also alkaline, with pH reading in the 7.4 - 7.6 range. A minor paradox but it is what it is.

Since it's soft, and I'm planning to add leaves/driftwood, I'm guessing the pH is going to come down. I'm not sure how quickly that process happens in response to ~50% water changes though. If I went with a SA tank, I wouldn't want it to be a constant fight to bring down pH.

If I was going to stock CA/Thorichthys, I guess I would have to harden the water a bit. Adding crushed coral to my sump in a filter bag would probably do the trick, which would also buffer the pH to counter the drift wood effects.

Your Thorichthys seem to be thriving - what are you typical water parameters?

I'd appreciate hearing your opinion on my tap water and options.
 
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