Stocking suggestions for 125g

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Mythic Figment

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 27, 2012
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Florida
So with my tax return, I have arranged to buy a used 125 gallon I have already inspected to ensure it holds water and is the correct dimensions. I already know several of the fish I intend to keep in this tank and am looking for some suggestions for the available space.

The current stock list is:

2 turquoise severum (not a pair/ already own)
4 keyhole cichlids (too young to sex, but potential pair/ already own)
8-12 Cory cats (open to suggestion for good species although girlfriend wants emeralds, which I know are not true Cory cats)
8-10 Australian rainbow fish (own 4 currently)

So I am looking for something that will be relatively peaceful. My keyholes are fairly shy and my severum are a little as well (but they are getting bolder every day). I have some of the rainbows, but will build the stock with new ones. My severums can handle themselves, so I just need to make sure whatever I get will be peaceful enough to not destroy my keyholes or keep them in hiding all the time and will leave the Cory cats alone.

Tank parameters will be as follows:

81 degree temperature
Small tan gravel
Heavily planted (have not decided on real or fake plants as I need to see exactly what kind of fluorescent lighting comes with the tank) and decorated with clay pots and driftwood

Any suggestions are welcome, but it will likely boil down to what suggestions are made that my LFS can get in stock.


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Chocolate cichlids. Uarus. Maybe a vegetarian catfish. Anything really, but since you're in this section I'll assume you're looking for ca/sa so I'd start with a chocolate. Very peaceful


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Severum are rough on plants as are Uaru. Keyholes are naturally shy fish but a very nice species to keep. If you want plants with Severum I would stick to palnts that are attached to driftwood/rocks ect. Anubus or Java Fern might work, any of the more popular plants that grow in the substrate will most likly be up rotted and eaten. You tank would be great for some Festavum or Angelfish. Emerald corys are cool but any of the mid to larger corys would work just as well. Rainbows will work too but not SA so IMO throws the theam off, but that's just my taste. A couple of Farrawalla or a bushynosed pleco would be ok too. Chocolates (Hypselecara temporalis) are a good choice but they get large at about 12 inches but are one of my all time favorites. Just becarefull not to over crowd the tank. Take the adult size of the fish into consideration when deciding what and how many to add.
 
Aquanero said:
Severum are rough on plants as are Uaru. Keyholes are naturally shy fish but a very nice species to keep. If you want plants with Severum I would stick to palnts that are attached to driftwood/rocks ect. Anubus or Java Fern might work, any of the more popular plants that grow in the substrate will most likly be up rotted and eaten. You tank would be great for some Festavum or Angelfish. Emerald corys are cool but any of the mid to larger corys would work just as well. Rainbows will work too but not SA so IMO throws the theam off, but that's just my taste. A couple of Farrawalla or a bushynosed pleco would be ok too. Chocolates (Hypselecara temporalis) are a good choice but they get large at about 12 inches but are one of my all time favorites. Just becarefull not to over crowd the tank. Take the adult size of the fish into consideration when deciding what and how many to add.
Click to expand...

My current 55 has 4 juvenile severum with 4 Australian rainbows, 2 bumblebee catfish, a bristlenose pleco and a dwarf neon gourami. I haven't decided if I am keeping the bumlebees or not, but leaning towards no since I want Cory cats and having keyholes, cories and bumblebees all on the bottom seems a bit much. The bumblebees were a free accident. I bought some live plants from Pet Supermarket and they came along for the ride. I told the store I had them, but they are almost an hour away. Told the store I would return them if they gave me my money in gas for coming all the way down and back. The manager just told me to keep them. LOL

The tank has several live java fern rooted into notches of the driftwood in the tank, but everything else is fake. I think my severum were eating the crap out of my wisteria and sword plants before they got their own 55 a month or so ago. It was so bad that all but one of my swords died and all my wisteria was eaten and dead. I think the 125 will have java fern and anubias tied down or rooted in driftwood for some live plants and the rest will all be fake. Seems like the safest thing to do that won't be a huge money sink if someone decides to buffet dine on $50+ of live plants.

I don't honestly like the look of chocolates. Plus my girlfriend gets the final word on what goes in this tank since it will be in our living room. She likes the coloration the severums will have when they are adults and I talked her into the keyholes even though she thinks they are a bit bland for color. She says the chocolates look too much like oscars, which she doesn't like either.

I like the idea of angelfish, but I have plans to create a 90-110 gallon angel tank with 6 angels (2-3 pairs) and 4-6 Bolivian rams. Might try to talk her into festivum, but I know she doesn't like the ordinary light green and black coloration. I did see a picture of a beautiful festivum that looked like it had a few shades of greens and blues on it. Here is the link to the picture:

(http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/68502-festivum-cichlid/)

Its the third post down. It looks gorgeous! Any idea if that is a different species of festivum, a hybrid or a color morph? If I could get 3-4 of these guys, she would definitely agree to have them.

I like my rainbows. My severums were pretty shy until I added the 4 Aussie rainbows I have now. After I put them in the tank, my severums took to the tank pretty easily. I definitely have gotten attached to them for what they have given me in allowing my severum some sense of ease. I know they are not schoolers, but shoalers. However, they have been effective dithers so far.

I like many of the smaller black and white cories like panda, peppered and sterbai. Emeralds get to about 6" compared to most cories who get to around 3". Can these different size groups be kept together peacefully? If so, I may just get 3-4 emeralds and 6-8 of a Cory I want.

And I am definitely taking adult size into account as I stock. I am going to try to get most of my fish around the same size or at sizes that won't create aggression or predation when they are added to the 125. Right now, my severums are around 4", but my keyholes are around 1.5", so it will be a little while before I can add the keyholes in with the severum. I don't want to over stock since this will be a forever home for these fish as I will not be getting a larger tank (or at least that is what I have convinced myself for now LOL).


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Anchovie said:
Chocolate cichlids. Uarus. Maybe a vegetarian catfish. Anything really, but since you're in this section I'll assume you're looking for ca/sa so I'd start with a chocolate. Very peaceful


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Click to expand...

Not a big fan of chocolates personally. I do like the look of uarus. Do they come in any other color variation other than black and white? I had a hard enough time convincing my girlfriend to let me get 4 keyholes, so I doubt she will let me add anything else that is just black and white.

I also like your idea of angelfish, but I am looking to setup an angel tank in the future and breed the Philly blues. Blue is my favorite color and I would have all blue fish if I could. LOL


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Patrick Kostka said:
Not a big fan of chocolates personally. I do like the look of uarus. Do they come in any other color variation other than black and white? I had a hard enough time convincing my girlfriend to let me get 4 keyholes, so I doubt she will let me add anything else that is just black and white.

I also like your idea of angelfish, but I am looking to setup an angel tank in the future and breed the Philly blues. Blue is my favorite color and I would have all blue fish if I could. LOL


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Click to expand...

I believe they do have different colours for the uaru
 
Sounds like you're on the right track. You have to keep what you like. As far as the Fstavum go there is about 5 or 6 I think it's 6 now different species of Mesonauta but they are all generally the same coloration nothing overly colorful. Severum are a great center piece by themselves so take your time and consider all the options carfully no need to rush.

I never heard anyone say they thought a chocolate looked like an oscar that's a first.

PS you can do a mixed school of corys.
 
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