Stocking suggestions/advice for a 125 gallon please

[holidayinn]

hi all

I've got a 125 gallon 5 foot long tank. it has been cycled with ammonia 0, nitrite 0 and waterchanges weekly to get rid off nitrates. Currently there are 4 4inch clown loaches and a common pleco. I plan to return the plec to the lfs at some stage as it is a massive waste producer even at the 3 inches it is now. I also plan to add another 2 clown loaches to the tank. I do realise they grow quite big but this process takes a long time. Thats all the fish currently in the tank.

my next move will be to purchase 3-4 silver dollars, these will act as dither fish, and if i add them first should grow to a good size.

Then, this is where i get stuck. I know that i want south/central american cichlids. i know that they all have different levels of aggression and a lot depends on the fishes individual personality.

these are the fish i'm debating over, i plan to stock them all as juvies...and only 1 of each type of fish:

Oscar- really like the personality these fish have and this will be the largest fish in the tank..the only thing that is putting me off is the amount of waste they produce. Very keen to get an oscar, but would like some tankmates, not hybrids tho.

green Terror - Love the shape and look of this fish, although have heard it is aggressive. Can they get along with oscars? Chances of success?

jack Dempsey - Have heard that they can be shy fish and hide quite a lot, is this true? I dont want fish that hide all the time, but surely a JD would be active? Would the electric blue dempsey be less/more aggresive; suitable for an oscar tankmate?

Firemouth - bottom dwelling fish - will they clash with loaches? have heard they can be troublemakers..is this true?

Convict - probably the smallest fish i'm looking at but meant to have an awesome personality and can hold its own if its not too small...

salvini - have heard these are aggressive fish, that hide the majority of time and can be skittish..is this true?

Severum - more peaceful. could a severum cope with more aggressive cichlids e.g. convicts, JDs, GTs?

There are other fish that i'm considering but dont know much about them yet e.g. senegal birchirs, geophagus (is this a name for a collection of fish?), i do recall another couple of fish i was thinking about, but i cant remember now

In summary, i want an oscar (largest fish) with tankmates...what would you suggest?

Are any of these fish skittish? Are any of these fish naturally hiders?

Your opinions/suggestions are greatly appreciated.

 

[CTU2fan]

All of those fish could work together actually (not suggesting you get them all but some combo of them should work). Start with the oscar since it sounds like you definitely want that.

Severums are excellent oscar tankmates as they get big and bulky. They don't tend to be very aggressive but they have the size and strength to handle an oscar.

As for Jacks I've kept a bunch and never found them to be shy, but I hear that alot around here so maybe I've just been lucky. They grow a bit slower than the oscar will which might become an issue (so do sevs for that matter) but I've kept them with oscars without problems.

Firemouths are tricky re: tankmates. I've seen shy ones and others that were pretty aggressive, but even if they are the feisty sort they aren't generally strong enough to do damage to bigger fish.

Convicts can be pretty aggressive though the ones I have currently are not. A single male should do just fine in an oscar tank, it will probably stake out a territory and defend it, which might cause trouble with your school of loaches...maybe someone who's done a convict + clown loaches combo can speak to this.

I haven't kept sal's or GT's so I'll leave them to someone else. As for the geophagus I've only kept jurupari which were always very peaceable but certainly get big enough to keep with oscars...but they like to be in groups.

From what you listed personally I'd get an oscar, a severum and/or JD, and a FM along with your loaches and silver dollars, and maybe a senegal bichir (I like bichirs). Not sure how the loaches are re: waste and bioload as they do get pretty large; you may or may not be overstocked with both the JD and severum. Up to you really...you and your filtration anyway

 

[holidayinn]

Thanks CTU2

I have read about JDs hiding a lot on this forum also, before that i was definitely getting a JD...but i really dont want a fish that will hide the majority of the time..maybe they do better for you as they're in groups?

I have taken your comments on board and think that i'll def go with a sev and oscar combo then lil bit more research and add maybe 1 or 2 more cichlids max..

i'm hoping the loaches will help clean up after the oscars messy eating habits, theyv done well with the snails so far..

heard a lot about bichirs, ill have to do some research on em