Stocking advice for a 90 gallon

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Vladka

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Dec 29, 2016
Messages
103
Location
Arizona
I think I’m going to replace my bosemani rainbow fish- mainly because they’re kinda expensive and 2 of my best males just had unfortunate deaths and I think the females are super ugly [emoji23]
Any ideas what would look good and fit in well? I love love love German blue rams but my water is way too hard and basic. I did just see that Bolivian rams are a thing and seem hardier, maybe a good alternative? Was also thinking other cichlids or a Gouramis might look nice.
My tank:
90 gallons
2 cascade 1200 canister filters
Ph:7.8-8.2
Hardness: 15+
Moderately planted
2 angelfish
10 Odessa barbs
1 black red trial shark (if it wasn’t for her I’d get a knife fish)
3 dojo loaches
2 bs plecos
The current rainbows
Some snails

Some of my ideas, open to any suggestions, haven’t done much research on so,e these:
Krinensis cichlid
Bolivian ram
A smaller (not dwarf) gourami
Rummynose tetras

IMG_3111.jpg
My bois:
IMG_2900.jpg

Edit: that first picture wasn’t my tank before, fixed!
 
Your water is fine to keep blue rams just don't expect them to breed. If you are into that.

Bolivians are good too. I'd probably go Bolivian over Blue mainly because of temperature requirements. Blues are usually kept in 80 degree water. Bolivians can be kept in lower temps.

There's several types of dwarf cichlids you could keep. I'm not sure I'd trust a kribensis with some of your fish. They can be aggressive. But I wouldn't say it can't be done.

Let us know what you decide to do.
 
That’s exciting! Dwarf cichlids would be really fun! I don’t know much about them though. Looks like they like little groups? Is 3 good or is a school of 5-12 better?
They seem different from African cichlids, but all look peaceful and beautiful!
Not sure if an opal one Gourami would fit in or look good.

Dwarf cichlids I’m looking at:
Bolivian ram
Gold dwarf ram cichlid (is this different?)
Badis cichlid
agassizi cichlid looks cool but I think my water is too hard.
Borelli cichlid (but looks too expensive and hard to get)
 
Again, I don't see the issue with keeping apistogramma in your water, they just won't breed.

What is your TDS?

Gold dwarf is just a different color variation of a German Blue ram.

Badis may require frozen food if you're ok with that.

Opaline is fine.

Borelli is an apistogramma the same as the Agassizi. Don't see a problem with either one in your tank but I wouldn't keep more than two male apistogrammas in your 60g. Might cause some aggression.

I don't see any problems with keeping the fish you are wanting. With groups of the same species you have to go with more females than males. You have to worry about aggression when spawning or paired up. S.A's are not like Africans where you load them up in a tank to curb aggression. They require their own territory to stay happy. If it were me, I would get one of each and put them together or several of one or two species tops in your size tank.

Just remember that each particular fish has its own personality. It could be calm or it could be a terror when talking about a cichlid. Be prepared to remove any overly aggressive fish and replace with another.
 
Not sure if you missed it but it’s a 90 not a 60 if that changes anything :)
I’ve never gotten my TDS tested, but I know a lfs that will do it if it’ll help. When you say several how many is that? I could go with Bolivian rams and bandis. I feed frozen occasionally and I guess I could add it in more often, would just make it difficult when I’m out of town. From what I read apistogramma are very picky about water conditions and like really acidic water, I could never keep even neon tetras alive for long until I planted my 29 and started using RO water.
Will continue thinking about Gourami as well.
I think I would need to add another large rock or some sort of cave structure to my tank for more territory since the pelvis and shark occupy the current pieces of drift wood (assuming only shark would be an issue) my Odessa barbs are also all of a sudden very shy and hiding instead of super active- thinking they need more coverage since the move. (From 60-> 90 that always had brown cloudy water from dirt-> clear 90)
 
Sorry for the typo I meant 90.

Bolivians I would go 2f to 1m. They're hard to sex when young. I've heard of people keeping 1m to 1f and waiting for them to pair off. I've also heard that all male bolivians can co-exist with one another unlike Germans.

I don't know that much about badis to say how they should be grouped. I can look into it further.

I'd like to see what your TDS is to say whether you could have an issue with apistogrammas or not. I know for a fact they can be kept in alkaline water. Most are that are tank bred and sold.

I'd make more natural cave structures with wood and rocks. A few more plants wouldn't hurt.
 
Thanks! I’ll try to do some research on badis. If I have 3 Bolivians and they pair, will the unpaired female be unhappy?

I’ll get my TDS tested when I have the chance.

Do you have recommendation of a wood or rock to use? Wood is cool but I already have some pieces in, the rocks I had access too we’re lacerock and I didn’t want to raise my ph any further esp with plants.
The amazons are tiny rn they’re regrowing haha, but I’m honestly having trouble finding plants that my dojo’s and pelvis won’t dig up- as they are currently doing with the stem plants. Maybe I should add some silk plants for the meantime until they all take off...
 
The odd one out could be a target. Maybe that's why they group them 1m to 1f. Bolivians are supposedly loyal to one female.

Use an inert rock. A lot of people use quartz. Most river rock is inert. Avoid limestone. If you have access to river rock you could snag some for free.

You could plant Anubias and tie them off to your wood or rocks with fishing line. Some people use cotton thread as it eventually dissolves. Putting small stones around the base of your plants will keep your fish from uprooting them.

Nothing wrong with silk plants but live helps stabilize the water to an extent.
 
I do have some Anubius in there, doesn’t give much coverage though haha. I guess I could just do 1m 1f pair that sounds fine.

Dwarf flag cichlid also looks like maybe a good option for my parameters, but they do get a little big but are said to be peaceful.

Inert rock! Yes! I will be checking out my local shops for some good pieces thank you, deff wanna try to make a natural cave or something to close off some of that space, unfortunately not very close to bodies of water here in suburban AZ.

Now that I look at them badis are pretty tiny aren’t they? Probably not a good fit for this tank then.
 
Or go to your local landscaping business that sells rock and see if you can get some pieces you like.

Badis get about 3 inches. I wouldn't say they won't work with dwarf cichlids.
 
Oh I see, I just looked up badis and the scarlet gem badis is all that showed up, which people said only gets .5-1”, the one that I was looking at was the Buxar badis, which gets about 2” and is peaceful. Still looking for more feeding information.

Home Depot never had very good rock options, but good idea I’ll see if we have a more specialized store around here

Edit: they do seem to prefer live or frozen foods and it said not too many bloodworms. Also says they’re very hard to find. Honestly will probably not end up getting these guys.
 
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Ahh your right. They get 1-2 inches. I still don't think a dwarf cichlid will eat them or attack them. Or at least it's a small chance IMO. Ive kept small schooling fish with dwarfs without an issue so I'd think a badis would be no different.
 
Not much luck with the rock yards around here atm... I found some slate that looks good online and would also like to find some nice lava rock, that maybe be a good one to go to the shops for.

Any opinions on opaline vs pearl Gourami? Do they need groups or are they fine on their own?
 
I love rams, too. They seem so intelligent and thoughtful about what they do, compared to some other fish who mostly swim back and forth. It is like having little people in your tank who claim territory, explore, socialize, form alliances and have spats with others, and live what at least seem to be conscious lives.



Ace Hardware around here actually has some nice rock. The other thing I've done in the past, although it was a little embarrassing, was to pay attention to nice yards with decorative rock in them and ask neighbors if I could buy just one piece. I was then gifted a piece of rock. :) You can always bake them cookies as a thank you.
 
They're fine on thier own. If you do a group with more than one male you could see some aggression. I personally think Pearls look better.
 
Okay! I think I know what I’m gonna do, what do you guys think?

12 or so rummy nose tetras
2 pearl gourami
2 Bolivian rams
2 flag cichlids

If I can’t sex the Gouramis I guess I’ll just get one.

Fearlssfisch- haha that’s a great story! Maybe I’ll do that if I see a really nice piece!

I’ll surely try ace hardware as well. I spend $30 on 20 lbs of slate rocks from eBay so hopefully that goes over well for me [emoji23]

I’ll be adding more plants and probably CO2. Still hoping for a carpet but I’m thinking with the plecos and dojo lap he’s it’s a moot point.
 
I still haven’t tested the TDS.... sorry that fish store is not close! But I am trying to figure out these rocks. I bought that slate online and boiled it and threw it in the tank, vinegar test and dripping API Nitrate bottle 1 on it showed to reaction. I found some rocks camping that I thought were slate but once I got home realized they don’t look the same so I did the tests- no reaction. To be safe I put them in a bucket of tap to see what happened. 3 days in and there’s a change! Let me know if this is okay:
Day 1- cup of tap and bucket of rocks at 8.3
Day 2- bucket at 8.3 cup at 8.4
Day 3- cup at 8.4, bucket at *7.8* and I decided to test the 90 as well which was at 7.8, and in the past has been at 8.1-8.2
Could the slate be lowering ph? Are the rocks all safe? I deff don’t mind having lower ph but I use tap water for water changes still. I’m assuming if the cup had Prime in it the results might be a little different. Advice on how to proceed? I’ll continue checking ph for a full week of testing.
 
Just Some advice...
You can put a lot more fish in your 90 gallon. You’ve got a lot or room to work with.



Hmmm I don’t know, aqadvisor says I’d be at 134% tank capacity. I know it’s not the say all end all but still! Also says that rummynose tetra might not be great for with shark and all the cichlids but ??*♀️ hoping I’ll be okay.
 
I know it’s been a long time, but I finally got my TDS tested!
In my 90 gallon it is 482 ppm.
Tap water is 433 ppm.
My high tech planted RO water tank was 164, and my other 2 smaller tanks were at 607 & 664 (maybe that’s why those shrimp aren’t breeding!)
 
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