Stocking Plan for 135g

[neut]

Because the Festa are so aggressive and I don't have much other tankspace I could dedicate to separating fish if they start acting up (and I don't want to partition the tank unless as a last resort) and I don't think I have the discipline to dedicate my first monster tank to a single fish (or pair) I'll be going with more of a community tank.

Good decision imo. My immediate thought was similar to dogofwar and verbal-- imo the initial list was sort of a fantasy list that's unlikely to work in real life. It can be deceiving, because festae don't always seem that bad when they're small and/or fresh into a strange tank at a lfs. But eventually the mean streak will be there, hard to avoid as they get some size to them.

Just a thought, but I've had rotkeils and geos together and they make a nice combination, complementary fish imo. For a while I had a group of 7 adult rotkeils, group of red head geos, wild angels, and L001 pleco in a 135, made a nice tank and the size of the tank and number of sevs kept them from bickering like they would (and were) with 3 or 4 of them in a smaller tank. First time I tried sevs and angels together, didn't know if it would work, whether the sevs would bother the angels, but in this case they were no problem together.

 

[AquaStudent]

That's excellent Neut.

I would like to get a pair of each of the Sevs and Chocolates at least. So I'm going to have to go with probably about four of each to start with. Then, as they grow, I can always choose the best ones/pair and rehome the others. There's an excellent LFS here.

I'm actually considering taking my tank up to the LFS to have them drill holes for a sump in the back wall.

Also, good for you for experimenting. I'm all for that. No guarantee it'll work but as long as you use common sense I think that's a fine thing to do. Angels aren't in the current plan but I do have some angels in another tank that could always be transferred over.

 

[AquaStudent]

So I've gotten my hands on some Geophagus Red Head Tapajos.

I'll be splitting my order, it will mostly come from Batfish with a very little bit coming from Wetspot (I'm joining someone else's order there. That will be in a few weeks).

From Batfish I will get some Severums and a couple chocolates. I was also thinking of getting a specialty pleco.

What do you think would be the best option?

L240 - Galaxy/Vampire Pleco - These guys look gorgeous, grow to around a foot, but enjoy a more carnivorous diet. The SA cichlids will be getting a meaty diet compared to my mbuna in the 55g which would match this guy's diet better but I also want some help with algae control.

or

L190 - Royal Pleco - I like the stripes and color. These guys stay a bit smaller than the vamps and are primarily herbivores. I believe these guys would help with algae better but will clash more with the diets of the SA cichlids.

 

[cichlidaddicted]

The l190 primarily dines on wood they are very very messy I have a large one who carpets the bottom with sawdust quite quickly lots of upkeep required. A good gravel vac atleast once a week to keep up with him. I also had to get another more common algae eating pleco because as the royal got bigger he quit eating algae and knaws on wood 24 hrs a day. You can hear him knawing at night when the lights are off kinda creepy. If I didn't like him so much he would have had to go a long time ago due to his messy nature but he is so darn cool. As you can see that mouth is not designed for algae and it can damage silicone or plexi quite easily.

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[dogofwar]

Yes - royal plecos are massive sawdust (poop) producers. For algae eating, it's hard to beat Ancistrus.

Matt

 

[AquaStudent]

Yes - royal plecos are massive sawdust (poop) producers. For algae eating, it's hard to beat Ancistrus.

Matt

Would ancistrus be ok with the SAs?
I was thinking because there's such a size difference that would be a problem but the SAs may have the temperment.