90 gallon American cichlid tank

[kyle071353]

Setting up 90 gallon tank with fluval fx4. I was wondering how many fish I could get. Fish I would like to get

1 green terror
1 firemouth
1 salvini
1 black convict
1 blue acara
1 electric blue jack Dempsey

What do you guys think? Would these fish work together in 90 gallon and how many more fish could I get?

 

[V227]

Those fish would easily work in a 90 gal. Be sure to include driftwood and a lot of rocks to break up the cichlids line of sight and provide hiding spots. Don't just limit yourself to those fish options. Research, Red Terror "Festae", Salvini Cichlid "female". Texas and Red Texas
Cichlids. All beautiful fish that I currently keep, or have kept. Pictured is my display tank scaped with Texas Holey rock and driftwood. Two Red Terrors chasing each other and a Green Terror swimming in the background.

 

[kyle071353]

Great looking tank.

 

[dalto]

How experienced of a fishkeeper are you?

Keeping those species together is not going to be a plug and play type setup.

All those fish are variable in temperament from individual to individual.

It is not an impossible combination but be prepared to have to deal with some challenges as they start to mature.

 

[V227]

Dalto is right, things can go South real quick with the noted cichlids. Listed are some guides to success:
- Introduce all your fish into the tank as juveniles.
- Once a small group has been established, all new fish introductions need to include multiple
fish. No solitary intros. A lone fish will be hammered.
- Asap, introduce a school of large fast swimming tetras "Buenos Aires" or maybe " Australian
rainbows to grow with and serve as dither fish to distract the more agressive cichlids.
- when adding new fish to the established community, rearrange the aquascape a little to
break up territories.
I'm sure I'll remember other tips later. Even in the best of circumstances, when you keep large aggressive cichlids, injuries and death will eventually occur. Notice the Festae with half of a dither fish hanging out of her mouth. Be sure to continue your research. Keep the updates coming.

 

[kyle071353]

Cichlids don't mess with tetras or rainbows?

 

[dalto]

As long as they are not big enough to eat them.

Neons are probably not a good idea. Tall tetras or rainbowfish.

 

[Freakgecko91]

Dalto is right, things can go South real quick with the noted cichlids. Listed are some guides to success:

- Introduce all your fish into the tank as juveniles.

- Once a small group has been established, all new fish introductions need to include multiple

fish. No solitary intros. A lone fish will be hammered.

- Asap, introduce a school of large fast swimming tetras "Buenos Aires" or maybe " Australian

rainbows to grow with and serve as dither fish to distract the more agressive cichlids.

- when adding new fish to the established community, rearrange the aquascape a little to

break up territories.

I'm sure I'll remember other tips later. Even in the best of circumstances, when you keep large aggressive cichlids, injuries and death will eventually occur. Notice the Festae with half of a dither fish hanging out of her mouth. Be sure to continue your research. Keep the updates coming.

Those would be target fish, not dither fish. Dither fish draw shy or scared fish or of hiding, target allow aggressive fish to remove aggression rather than taking it out on specific tankmates or its mate.

With that said, I would recommend picking ONE species, getting a group of 6, growing them out, finding a pair, and stocking the tank around that pair. I have never, nor will ever, be a fan of community central/South American tanks. They're typically a recipe for disaster and rarely the "good" ones are replicable.

 

[V227]

Freakgecko, I respect your opinion regarding New World community tanks. It's not for everybody in the hobby, just like African cichlids, Asian biotypes or even shrimp and snail set ups aren't for everybody. I personally don't have trouble maintaining several mixed cichlid tanks, which include, Green and Red Terrors, Firemouths, RedTexas and Green Texas cichlids,
Jack Dempsey. All these pedatory fish are housed with Spotted Silver Dollars, Columbian Tetras, Austaiian rainbows and various African Mbuna and Peacocks, a few Fancy Plecos
and Synodontis catfish.
Most of the listed non New Worlds are fish I consider "dithers" or space taking distractors. I would not stock "target" fish. Ones that are likely to get pummeled and eventually killed. I rarely have aggression fatalities.
I disagree that successful mixed New World cichlid communities are rare. I will admit that they aren't easy and take experience, skill and research. You know as well as I that there is a rival fish forum totally dedicated to predatory fish communities. A bit extreme for me. I respect your talent. Just wanted to provide another point of view.

 

[Brookster123]

Geez...i just re introduced my maculipinis to my 75 and overnight, broke one of my 5" electric blue acara in half. Literally snapped it's spine. Everyone else in the tank was terrified and hiding. In his 40b timeout tank with 3 small cichlids who's name escape me,.he is boss but he doesn't hurt anyone.
What works for you may not work for others. Keeping a mixed sa/.ca tank.has been a nightmare.for me. That eba was grown out from a juivie as was the thory. Not getting rid of either but not sharing a tank. (Most likely I'll have to euthanize Eba) . Boils down to individual temperament and raising them together from little guys. Even still.. no guarantee

 

[V227]

The EBA was also the probable tank boss, or Policeman or the 75 gal. I looked up maculipinis. They look like a more colorful Bolivian ram crossed with a Firemouth. Beautiful fish. Never seen any for sale in my area.

 

[Brookster123]

The EBA was also the probable tank boss, or Policeman or the 75 gal. I looked up maculipinis. They look like a more colorful Bolivian ram crossed with a Firemouth. Beautiful fish. Never seen any for sale in my area.

Was... I removed thory when eba were spawning. Bout a year ago. He's grown a few inches since (In a 40b). Id put him 7" lip to base. His tail is like a shovel and he has a horrible disposition. He's not like a firemouth haha

 

[V227]

Thats a serious fish!

 

[Aski247]

I'm just curious what happens in a 90g when that male festae gets 15"+ and has a spawning female in there..

I mean I have a good idea.. just curious if you ever actually dealt with large aggy CA cichlids when they spawn..

A 4' footprint don't really allow for many tankmates.

 

[V227]

In the wild the avg. Festae reaches 9 inches. Comparable in size to the North American Bluegill. Of course every once in a while your going to encounter an unusual 13 inch, pound and a half Blue Gill. The so called grand master Festae keeper on a rival forum has a monster male that is a true beast at 14 or 15 inches, a rarity. The wild size Festae info I obtained was from a scientist on the noted rival site. My two largest Festae are housed in a 120 gal. Community tank. The female is almost 8" the male is 6". They aren't particularly agressive. A dominant RIvulatus keeps them in line. No breeding behavior as of this time. I would be comfortable with one or two Festae in a standard 90 gallon if it were hardscaped and stocked correctly. Of course keeping a community of large New Worlds means handling adjustments when problems arise. That's part of the attraction to this segment of the hobby.

 

[Aski247]

Slim... go to MFK and see how many 13+ males are on there... all it takes is clean water and a good diet..

Folks say JD's don't get over 10-11 I've had several over 11.. and they just poo poos from pet smart..

I mean at the end of the day it ain't my tank. Was just pointing out the potential is there.

 

[HUKIT]

I have never, nor will ever, be a fan of community central/South American tanks. They're typically a recipe for disaster and rarely the "good" ones are replicable.

I agree whole heartily. I have kept and bred more aggressive centrals than anyone on here and that tank is a recipe for disaster.

Slim... go to MFK and see how many 13+ males are on there... all it takes is clean water and a good diet..

Folks say JD's don't get over 10-11 I've had several over 11.. and they just poo poos from pet smart..

I mean at the end of the day it ain't my tank. Was just pointing out the potential is there.

Hell, I've had two spawning females over well 9" so I don't know where V227 is getting his information from? Neither female would allow tankmates in a 6ft tank so a 48" footprint is just plain dumb...

 

[Brookster123]

I don't know nearly as much as other contributors of this thread. I do know one thing. For sure, no argument. You can grow a fish out with proper water and great food. I've done it. Not a whole bunch because it scares me how fast they can grow.. that being said I trust hukit, and freak as I've seen a few instances of their success, I'm not trying to pick sides but....

 

[dalto]

CA cichlid stocking recommendations are always hard. The layout of the tank, the individual temperament of the specific fish and the experience of the aquarist all play a significant role in the likelihood of success. When I make stocking recommendations, I generally want to make a recommendation that has a high probability of success in most situations. That being said, I will sometimes try things in my own tank that I wouldn't recommend generally because I know what the signs of trouble look like and I have the ability to move fish around if I need to.

Here is the list of the first post:

1 green terror
1 firemouth
1 salvini
1 black convict
1 blue acara
1 electric blue jack Dempsey

The first question is, would I recommend this stocking? The answer is no. This particular combination of fish does not have a high likelihood of success when combined together.

That being said, would I try this combination in one of my own tanks? In this case, the answer is still no. I might try a mixed CA tank where the fish had similar size and aggression levels but these particular fish are too varied in both size and aggression.

Does that mean that combining these fish is guaranteed to fail? No, it is possible if you grow them out together, scape the tank correctly, happen to get the right fish and have an abundance of luck that this will workout fine.

The more likely scenario is that it will work fine right up until the time when it stops working fine.

 

[Brookster123]

Everyone is chilling one day.. Eba goes up to fm and kawhapahchop!! Fm gets pissed and hits the gt by accident.. jd gets prematurely awoken from his nap and throws a algae wafer and hits the convict in the face, convict realizes there are no females around and could care less.. but... that night, when the lights go out.. something happens, something terrible. On the morning lights come on and the fm is sitting there eating a pizza and watching friends.. Everyone else is either dead or near death.. what happened?!?! This is loosely based on a fake story...