SA "Educational" Tank

[wfex4]

I'm 17 and lately life has been busy but productive, senior year of high school, class vice president, swim team, and all that other good stuff that comes with high school, but unfortunately all of this takes up more time than I have.

Since I'll be moving off to college within a year and I don't have all the time I would like to maintain 5 tanks I decided to donate the largest, my 75 to my biology class, which will be a South American biotope, something I've always wanted to do but never really seriously tried (yes i know the fish below are all SA).

Old occupants:
1 7" male geophagus brasiliensis
1 7" male hypselecara temporalis
1 7" female heros sp. rotkeil
5 2" corydoras delphax
1 4" male ancistrus sp.

I moved the tank to the school and re-filled it on Monday. I moved the sand in a bucket and kept it wet. The filter (rena xp2) was only off for a few hours and this is about how long the sand stayed in the bucket as well. The tank is mostly set back up and is "cycled" (it never really needed to be as most of the BB didn't have a chance to die off) and I've been doing daily 30% water changes on school days. Thursday of last week:
Nitrates 5
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
pH 6.6
Temp 80
I also moved all of my driftwood to the tank and have some swords and vallisnera in there now with plans of adding more once I can reconfigure my canopy for more lighting. The corys and rotkeil are happy in their new home and I plan on bringing the geo and chocolate to the lfs for credit. They're both in thier own 29 gallon tanks right now.

My question now concerns the other tank inhabitants.

My plan/hope for this tank is to set it up with multiple breeding pairs of different kinds of fish but since I do not plan on them breeding yet, I posted it under SA cichlids. I would like to find a male rotkeil severum and add some more corys as well as two females and a male bristlenose to the tank. Once I bring the other fish to the store, I will move the emperor 400 to the 75 gallon as well and then I would also like to add a couple bolivian rams, german blues, or some other inexpensive dwarf cichlid that shouldn't fit in the mouths of the sevs.

Given enough driftwood, caves, and plants, is this too ambitious for the 75? I don't want to add tetras because most will get eaten and if any of the fish breed, hoping they do, I'll move the eggs/fry to a tank at home, which will be empty by then.

I don't have any pics yet but Ill upload some tomorrow afternoon.

 

[Camphilophus]

sounds like a little too much for a 75. I would not mix corys with dwarf cichlids who will also be hanging out on the ground.

 

[japes]

I would not mix corys with dwarf cichlids who will also be hanging out on the ground.

Perfectly fine mix right there, they do well together.

Chocolates pretty much need a 75 as is so you're well stocked. You don't want breeding pairs in there, the tanks too small. If you're going to try Tetras, they'll slowly disappear as the Chocolate and possibly the Brasiliensis/Sev reach full size, even higher bodied species such as Serpae or Black Widow. Even if they're quick, they rest and night.

Your species selection is similiar to mine in the way that it's all SA Species, but not biotope (which is the recreation of particular tributary or river, not continent).

 

[Aphilophus]

do several pairs of apistos, cacatuoides , agassizzi,borellie, then do your ram and coreys and i would even through some cardinal tetras in as well . would be a sweet tank

 

[wfex4]

I wont be keeping the choc or brasilienses, theyre going to the lfs.

 

[wfex4]

Okay, so I'll call it a SA themed tank.
So heres a look at what's going on so far.

The severum is adjusting well, loves moving the plants but isn't actually eating them...yet. The corys are doing a good job of cleaning anything the sev doesn't eat, but they did that in the old setup so no big surprise, and I plan on adding some more driftwood branches and a black background soon as well as some more sand once i can pick some up and get it rinsed off.

That's not the canopy that I'm going to use, I kept it at home until I can put in the lights that I want, three spiral compact fluorescent 2 6500K and a 5000K and two 24" aquaglows. The marks in the glass aren't scratches, they're reflections of desks and chairs.

The internal filter in the corner will eventually be filled with some type of media, probably just a sponge. Right now its just keeping stuff from settling on the bottom.

Tank parameters same as last testing.

Hopefully, trading in the chocolate and geo tomorrow or thursday, depends on when i get down there, for four or five small bristlenose and a couple more corys.

And despite the squiggles on it's face, the severum is a female. When I got it a year and a half ago, it was with a younger male whom I should have bought but didn't because I had no more money at the time of purchase.

Enjoy.

 

[Aphilophus]

nice sev

 

[mssassysan2000]

Nice severum goodluck with those rams.