Severum Biotope?

Adoinc

Exodon
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Jul 18, 2014
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Stocking my 180g is right around the corner and I'm wondering if these stocking examples will suffice or if I have to take out fish/ or if I can add more. The first ex is a community biotope and the second I have as an option just because I like wet pet behavior out of fish and Jaguars are known for that.

If you have any others ideas for stocking I'd like to hear, but if its a community-esque tank I'm looking for a somewhat accurate biotope not as general as a "SA biotope" - - a little more specific than that but it doesn't have to be 100%.
ex 1(deepwater sev biotope):

1x BGK

3x l204

1x Severum

6x Angelfish

ex 2:
2x Jaguar cichlids


The tank will have a wet/dry-sump filter rated for 300g with a pump rated at 1400gph.
I also have an insane pond UV sterilizer going through the same pump.
Probably 50-60% w/c once a week

Edit: oh and I pref severums to be my main show fish other than the jag idea so if you have stocking ideas other than that centered around sevs I'd like to hear.
 
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fishfanatic80

Piranha
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Feb 7, 2011
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Stocking my 180g is right around the corner and I'm wondering if these stocking examples will suffice or if I have to take out fish/ or if I can add more. The first ex is a community biotope and the second I have as an option just because I like wet pet behavior out of fish and Jaguars are known for that.

If you have any others ideas for stocking I'd like to hear, but if its a community-esque tank I'm looking for a somewhat accurate biotope not as general as a "SA biotope" - - a little more specific than that but it doesn't have to be 100%.
ex 1(deepwater sev biotope):

1x BGK

3x l204

1x Severum

6x Angelfish

ex 2:
2x Jaguar cichlids


The tank will have a wet/dry-sump filter rated for 300g with a pump rated at 1400gph.
I also have an insane pond UV sterilizer going through the same pump.
Probably 50-60% w/c once a week

Edit: oh and I pref severums to be my main show fish other than the jag idea so if you have stocking ideas other than that centered around sevs I'd like to hear.
You can also add some keyhole cichlids one of my favorites peaceful enough to get along with angelfish and severums will still be the spot light and won't harass the keyholes. Your stock list doesn't include any small shoal fish such as tetras which you may want to add that aspect to your tank. Another cichlid that may work if you want variety is festivums which also get along well with angelfish and have good size to them. I personally don't like bgk since they don't like to come out much being nocturnal but that's a personal preference. I normally like to have some type of clean up crew in all my tanks. Probably for this one I'd do hoplo cats a nice group of 6 or 8. But your stock list ex 1 should work I think you could add more fish to that. Ex2 could work as well but make sure the jags are a pair or you could obviously have a compatibility issue
 
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cichlidfish

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I personally would either do the jags by themselves or substitute the jags for something else. Mostly because of potential aggression.
Why not just add a group of geos?
Either way, it sounds like a great set up.
 
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mrrobxc

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Adoinc

Exodon
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Jul 18, 2014
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Thanks all of you for the advice and especially Rocksor for listing biotope ideas.

I guess I did go a little under my stock list for ex 1 considering all of the specs, but I wanted to keep it on the safe side because it's been a few years since I've had a tank going. Also, to clear any misconceptions, I wasn't planning on combining the jags with the other fish, I know about potential aggressive issues.

The reason why I didn't want hoplos even though those are a good idea is because I really like bgk's after seeing them in the store they are one of my favorites as well and I thought a BGK would want a 6' x 2' all to himself on the bottom since they can be a little reluctant about other bottom feeders along w/ them.

And I didn't know what shoaling fish to add since bgks can grow up to 16-18" and if they get to their potential they can eat tetras as a snack. I might look into keyholes as a substitute for tetras then since I see they are extremely peaceful and are small enough to where I could keep a sizable group.
 

fishfanatic80

Piranha
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Feb 7, 2011
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Long island
I understood what you meant by example 2, I believe keeping two Jaguars together regardless of gender you'll most likely run into aggression problems. Even if they're a pair, normally the female would get beat up on and a lot of people need to use egg crate as a divider to protect the other fish and still get fry if they're interested in trying to breed them even not during breeding they have potential to to not be compatible especially if you end up with two males. You have a good sized tank I wouldn't be worried about keeping it safe even with the stock list seeming a lot. Keeping a group of keyholes seems like a good idea and I don't think you'll have a problem keeping larger tetras with a black ghost knife. As you may already know make sure you have a cave or a clear pvc pipe to make the knife fish feel more secure without them they seem to get stressed out
 

Skalper666

Dovii
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Are you going for a driftwood and sand theme to the tank? I believe severums with eartheaters would look very nice with this. Possibly add in a small schooling fish as well that won't get eaten. Maybe Columbian tetras??
 

Adoinc

Exodon
MFK Member
Jul 18, 2014
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Arvada, Colorado
Good to know about the jags, I was looking to breed them but I guess with the aggression issues possible it seems better just to skip on that idea and go with my original one.

And yeah I'm going for a mainly driftwood and sand themed layout with some floating plants to diffuse the light and make it more comfortable for the knife and plecs. I was looking into different tetras but from what I've looked up the sev and bgk might be troublesome for even the larger types of tetra so I think I wont do any tetras.
Also I knew about the PVC pipe but I didn't know it was a must have, hopefully there'll be a way to disguise it because a white pvc pipe wouldn't look very good just thrown in there with the natural theme I'm looking for.
Instead of the PVC could I arrange driftwood in a way that there are caves available that way? I'd rather not introduce something that could throw the whole aquascape out of whack. It kinda reminds me of discus breeders that use traffic cones for them to spawn on.. I never was a fan of that, even though it may be practical.

Everything should be ready within a few weeks and I could post pictures of what it looks like and what I decide to do then, because I'm kinda lost as far as stocking goes now that I know I can add more fish. I guess I'll keep researching and if you have any other ideas feel free to throw them out there.
 
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