New cichlid tank.

[Backfromthedead]

It's either or for the Lima or the pictus/acara. Though a Lima is not a huge cat, its still a cat and anything that fits in it's mouth will be eaten. The saying is "never trust a catfish"

The only way you'll be able to introduce any other cichlids is at the time when you put them in the 180. The 75 is more than claimed by the O's by now and any other cichlid will either kill or be killed. EBAs may or may not work, their chance of survival solely relying on your O's accepting them in their space. That is not very likely being as that the EBAs are 1 cichlids and 2 close to food size. A severum may work but same thing and being the odd man out may prove difficult. But again nothing else in the the 75, it's far too late for that.

Well the oscars are only 3-4 inches now. I got them very small two weeks ago but yes they are pigs and are growing. Most of the eba and severums I've seen for sale are about that length so I thought I could throw them in while everyone's still juvenile and that would help them bond or at least they'd be on equal footing. But what you're saying definitely makes sense to me. I just thought that when the oscars are 8 or 10 inches long in 5-6 months when I have the 180 up and running (realistic estimate) I would experience more or less a feeding frenzy when I threw a bunch of pictus or smaller cichlids in.

Same with the lima, could I introduce a smaller lima with two established larger oscars and expect a bloodbath?

 

[Gourami Swami]

A lima will eventually get a little big for a 180, although they grow super slowly and If you got a small one could keep him in there for years. Plus, a big lima would be pretty easy to sell online if you needed to. As stated, it will eat anything that fits in its mouth (which is a damn big mouth) so probably no EBA with the lima.
I would do more along the lines of
2 Oscars
severum
EBA
5 pictus

If you wanted the Lima, switch Lima for EBA and Pictus.

And I wouldnt't worry too much about aggression with the O's they are generally big babies. It's possible, but unlikely imo, that they will kill other cichlids even if you add them after.