What to stock?

[Buphy]

I'm back! Sadly life has not been going well and I've had to break down all my tanks and rehome all fish. However, I am looking at resetting up one and I'm trying to figure out what I want in it. Here's the list on considerations (I have so many questions about the details of saltwater since I'm coming from freshwater):

- An albino Oscar and a paratilopia pollini (with dither and maybe a med/small pike cichlid?)
- Black nasty (or pair but I don't think they'd fit)
- A flowerhorn
- A freshwater puffer
- Discus tank
- Saltwater tank
- Thorichthys tank (with dither)

I'm open to other suggestions as well. Forgot to mention that it's a standard 125 gallon tank.

 

[Thyroyalgeek]

Can help you with saltwater a bit but I'm just coming in to it too, but I have a few questions first, what species of puffer? Will the flower horn, puffer, black nasty (whatever that is), pike cichlids, and the oscar be going in the same tank? What size will the tank(s) be? And what will be going in the 125 gallon?

 

[Buphy]

No, each bullet point is it's own possible tank occupants. Honestly I don't think I'd ever mix any of those bullet points, especially in anything as small as a 125. It's just 1 tank that I'm trying to decide what to stock. And I don't know much about freshwater puffers but I was thinking a fahaka puffer?

 

[Thyroyalgeek]

I was hoping you weren't gonna mix those, doubted you were but just checking. There's a thread on here about some buffoon trying to put a MOTORO STINGRAY in a 20 gallon tank, lol. Wouldn't listen to anybody. So I was just checking. With the oscar, pike cichlids might not be a safe bet if they are gonna be the smaller species, but the bigger ones MIGHT be okay, but there will still be a little quarrel every little bit. Paratilapias are relatively peaceful, but big enough to stand their ground, although same with the oscars as they might swallow the pike(s). Fahaka puffers need their OWN 125 gallons in the absolute minimum in my opinion, but they would be totally worth it as they act like a golden retriever lol. Fahakas make a HUGE bioload and don't really stay neutral with their tank mates either, specifically their own kind. One day they could be completely nice to each other and next there could be torn up fish bits strewn across the tank. All puffers vary and their personality always varies as it might change with age. You could probably do a flower horn tank, just watch the load if its smaller. Discus would be OK, even with some others, but they need to have warmer water. I still don't know what you mean by black nasty though. More details on the saltwater.

 

[PYRU]

https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/what-to-stock.695634/#post-7841615

I knew I had deja vu

 

[Thyroyalgeek]

Fire mouths MIGHT be okay with the oscars but I doubt it a little.

 

[Thyroyalgeek]

Black nasty looks aggressive, and reading about it, it appears they are. If your gonna get one from the info I've found you would probably wanna get a single one, alone, in a HUGE tank. Warmer water too.

 

[Buphy]

I know a good amount about all the fish on my list minus the puffer and saltwater. Really depends on the species of pike if I went that route but they get surprisingly thick so I wouldn't worry too much about being eaten. There's no such thing as "peaceful" when it comes to cichlids (with very few exceptions). My old bleekeri ran my jack dempseys all over the place. Puffer would be a wet pet and specifically on its own. Bio load is really not a huge concern for me. I can easily do two water changes a week and plan to be running a very large canister filter. If I was to go the thorichthys route it would strictly be a harem set up with no other cichlids but maybe some wild type swords. Black nasties are very personably but require extremely warm water and will not tolerate other cichlids. They will either kill them or die from the stress of not being able to.

 

[Thyroyalgeek]

Like your plan, but watcha doing for saltwater? Depends on the size of the tank, it costs a good bit but its not a "money pit".

 

[Buphy]

Not sure. Again, it's a 6' 125. Still on the fence on coral or not. It looks nice but is it worth having to limit myself on fish? I've found several fish I like and not all of them are good with coral. It's probably either number one or 2 on cost for me, so that's another drawback.