150g Amazon build advice

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ktomminello

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Mar 23, 2012
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1,227
Location
Southern Maine
I have a cycled 150g 7 foot long 1000gph pond filter with circulation added extra 500gph along with 2 fluval aquaclear 110. Lighting is 2 double ballasted fluorescents- one side is vho 10000K and 5000K and the other is 7500K and 3500K.

I already have an oscar that I rescued from parasite and bacterial infection who went from an inch and a half to 5 inches in 3 months and I have 2 SD pacu and a 4 lined pictus that were given to me by a tenant that couldn't keep their tank when they moved and a cherax lobster that has outgrown my 40g that I think would look cool and has not been aggressive to any other aquarium inhabitants other than shrimp.
I want to add 1 more SD pacu and 2 spotted SD pacu for a school of 5 and adding 2 more pictus for a school of 3.
I'm also wondering what, if any, other nw cichlids I could add- I was thinking a pair of pink convicts or a couple severum and of course a few snails and I am thinking about getting a flying fox or SAE.

I have experience in dealing with SE Asian biotopes but this will be my first Amazon attempt and I could really use some guidance on this build. Any Amazon biotope aquarists willing to help me out with best stocklist (overstocked by 10% or so as I am supplementing my hydroponic garden). I have waaaaay too many tanks, lol, so I my stock isn't set in stone- please help me get started on filling in my show tank flora and fauna.

I am well aware that I will be constantly cleaning and am expecting to have 2 or 3 25-30% water changes a week along with the driftwood caverns and rock caves required for their territories and fine grade river 'silt' mixed with medium grade sand with rounded river pebbles mixed in. I appreciate any insight from those who have been successful with this biotope. Thanks in advance!
 
By adding SAE and pictus, you instantly broke a amazon biotope, but between the Oscar and SD's, plus the pictus, you'll be pretty much stocked to be honest
 
By adding SAE and pictus, you instantly broke a amazon biotope, but between the Oscar and SD's, plus the pictus, you'll be pretty much stocked to be honest

I am willing to give up the SD's and use my pictus in my 90g hex. I don't think I have enough space for 5 SD's and I don't like how insecure they are with just the 2 of them. I can probably trade them in to my LFS and get credit towards other more relevant species. The more information I collect the more I want 150g of Amazon biotope, even if it means not putting my oscar in there and using him in my 55g bow front as a single specimen show tank. I'm already making a SE Asian blackwater biotope and need advice on how to do this Amazon biotope right considering I keep on getting contradictory information about what a good full stock with about 10% overstockage for passive aquaculture gardening and to keep up with the fertilizer demands of patio gardening... All tanks are vacuumed clean of solid waste after every feeding and parameters are checked regularly...

Help me with stock and plant/ fake plant suggestions along with decor- I have a lot of driftwood and river rock ready to go along with ultra fine grade sand as a substrate and really want the prettiest most diverse Amazon biotope possible for my 150g.

Suggestions please and thank you..
 
Severums and geos. The best sa tank i can think of.

There's WAY more than just severums to go with geos. I do recommend a group of geos, like altifrons, abalios, tapajo, etc.

Basically, an amazon "biotope" is going to be difficult. An amazon "themed" tank is much easier, as many fish are found in the tributaries of the amazon and are just called amazon basin fish. So I would suggest either picking a particular part of a river and doing a biotope to fit that, or just going with a themed tank and that opens your possibilities WAY up :)
 
Severums and geos. The best sa tank i can think of.

Could I keep them with a single oscar? Also how many? I am probably going to give up the SDs tomorrow along with the pictus so I have more room to spare and although I want to use my oscar I have other suitable tanks available for him to occupy. I had my eye on a few pairs of green severum and an eartheater cichlid at one of my LFS
 
Could I keep them with a single oscar? Also how many? I am probably going to give up the SDs tomorrow along with the pictus so I have more room to spare and although I want to use my oscar I have other suitable tanks available for him to occupy. I had my eye on a few pairs of green severum and an eartheater cichlid at one of my LFS

I would say
1 oscar
4 severums
6-10 geos depending on size and filtration.

Cbourg could help you a lot more than me.
Some correct that stock if im wrong about something please.
 
An Oscar is not ideal for geos, O's can be pushy and produce a large bioload. That would also be way too many large bioload fish IMO
 
Gymnogeophagus sp. or Satanoperca daemon if you're going for a 150 would be my vote.

There's so many cool geos, gymnos, and earth-eater like species! I'd do an Uaru pair with a good group of geos, with a huge school of lemon tetras, and several hoplo cats for the bottom
 
There's so many cool geos, gymnos, and earth-eater like species! I'd do an Uaru pair with a good group of geos, with a huge school of lemon tetras, and several hoplo cats for the bottom

That would look really cool, I'm a fan of the Gymnos because they don't get as much exposure as the Geos. Bleeding heart tetra would be a good choice too.
 
Gymnos can be feisty though, my balzanii are little jerks lol but I love the look of gymnogeophagus meridionalis! Awesome little fish! A couple pairs of wild caught mikrogeophgus ramirezi would be nice too, or actually, better yet, dicrossus maculatus, crenicichla compressiceps or wallacei or regani, or nannacara adoketa
 
Gymnogeophagus sp. or Satanoperca daemon if you're going for a 150 would be my vote.

There's so many cool geos, gymnos, and earth-eater like species! I'd do an Uaru pair with a good group of geos, with a huge school of lemon tetras, and several hoplo cats for the bottom

That would look really cool, I'm a fan of the Gymnos because they don't get as much exposure as the Geos. Bleeding heart tetra would be a good choice too.

Beautiful!!! I'm actually in need of placement of 2 large diamond tetra and a large red/blue Colombian.

I would like a small school of each and a medium sized school of bleeding heart tetra adding to a large mixed school of tetra. I need help with numbers for the school. I am going to look up suggestions made and thank you for the hoplo cat suggestion- am sold on it- another one that I need help with how many I should keep- if you're familiar with SE Asian blackwater pools my biotope is currently being upgraded from a 40g to a 60g and is densely planted and my stocklist is
3 male gourami (1 three spot and 2 paradise)
3 male betta, 1 female betta
3 clown loaches
3 female rosy barbs
6 green tiger barbs
1 black ruby barb
1 red tailed black shark (botia)
(Currently have a cherax lobster housed with them along with the 2 diamond tetra and the Colombian tetra. I will most likely house my cherax and my oscar together in my 55g bow front.)
Plus I have a ton of random ghost shrimp to redistribute among the tanks and I will most likely add my pictus cat along with 1 more female rosy barb along with 2 males and a school of 8 corycats to replace clown loaches once they pass the 6 inch mark and I use 30g of solid fish waste and debris from plants along with waste water for my gardening each day, so my biomass needs to be on the heavy side for me to sustain. I do 25% changes 2X a day on my most heavily stocked because of the size of tanks being upgraded compared to the size of my livestock, I've definitely learned the meaning of jumping the gun, thank goodness it was only by about 2 weeks.

For this Amazon tank should I stick with light planting in containers or go with realistic fake plants along with smooth rock caves, driftwood and sand substrate.
If real plants are going to be used are there any that are must haves- my lighting covers 3000K to 94000K but can also just add color enhancing bulbs and cut costs a little.

Halfway through researching and am narrowing down my stocklist... thanks for all the help, everyone. I'll be adding the first of my stocklist this week so debates are welcome on what my best first intro should be. Sorry I'm such a pain... Thanks again
 
Decoration is MUCH easier to figure out after you set your stock list. I added a bunch of jungle Val and swords to my 75 before I got my Uaru (fish in my avatar) and she made quick work of demolishing ALL of it!

Geos are know to uproot plants as adults, but large amazon swords would work will if you place large stones around their base to keep them weighted and the geos away from the sand around the base.

Sand is a must with geos, and more natural for SA cichlids

Driftwood is definitely ow would do it, a few nice large pieces.

As for hoplo cats, I'd say a group of 6-8 depending on your other stock. They're like big cories basically. Porthole catfish are another cool peaceful type of catfish :)
 
Lol, my oscars, id sharks and giant black upsidedown cats. I'll use some tropica fern, a couple Amazon swords some java moss and hygrophila difformis in pots/ secured to driftwood it is :) along with fakes.... off to liveaquaria and nw cichlid forums to come up with a stocklist....
 
Not an overly colorful fish but still a great one! I like the over all body shape of these as well as the different patterns on the fish.

The greens and blues are just mesmerizing to me, and you don't see these very often, which is a shame
 
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