Learned a long hard lesson tonight..now i need ideas???

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yankeeslover

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Joined
Jan 4, 2012
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I feel so stupid... I recently upgrade from a 30 gallon to a 75 gallon with the idea of doing African Cichlids... I had 12 tiger barbs that i moved to the 75.. So of course like a little kid in a candy store i went to the local petsmart, purchased the prettiest african cichlids that i can find.... labs, demasoni , bumblebees you name it... brought them home... Little did i know that the big logs and fake plants were not for the Mbuma cichlids and that i would have to redesign my whole setup(which i dont want to do)... I also took all 12 of my tiger barbs to a petsmart about 45 min away from me because i heard they were not compatable with cichlids... so now i have a 75 gallon tank, with no rocks and mix of different kinds of african cichlids... and now that im researching, most of these are not compatable and will give me trouble... So tomorrow i will be bringing all my beautiful cichlids back to petsmart and will have to start over from scratch.
This was an awful lesson to learn. I now lost all 12 of my tiger barbs that i held dearly.. I am gonna assume that this far away fish store wont give them back for free... So i now have to start from scratch again.. I can either buy 20 more baby tiger barbs and restock with them or with the help of this board figure out another pretty schooling fish??? any ideas before i do the barbs again? what is a really nice schooling fish for a 75 gallon tank that all school together? thank you
 
Denison barbs are one of my favorites. I've been trying to get ahold of them but any store near me has three or less in stock and online they want about $15 a piece. Black neon tetras are really cool to watch school as well. Are you trying to do just a species tank or a variety of shoaling fish? Look at some of the tetras like Congo or emperor. I don't know the dimensions of a 75 but I'm sure you could fit a small shoal of rainbows in there, 5+ boesemani rainbows or something. The rainbows don't really school as tightly as other fish but they're a blast to watch and certain species can get 5 or more inches.


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From reading your post, it seems to me you were really happy with the tiger barbs... Wouldn't hurt to ask the store that has them if you could get them back. But if you decide to go another way... I have 8 congo tetras in a 55 gallon tank. I actually think the 55 is a little small for them and think they would love a 75 and would look great in there too. They are about 4 inches, beautiful and don't bother anyone except when they accidentally bump someone while they race around. Now they are pricey, about $15 each. Good luck!


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I can feel your pain! I did the same thing when i setup my 36 bowfront.

What i did was setup a planted tank with 13 neon tetras, 2 blue rams and 6 guppies.

I like it with the driftwood and live plants. Its really a nice setup and was fun to do.

With a 75 i tgink id either build a peacock tank, go marine, or go high tech planted

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Op I would not rule out cichlids just yet. Have you looked at some of the smaller sa/ca cichlids like Thorichthys meeki or convicts They may work with the tiger barbs also. Just a thought. Your setup is more for these.
 
There are some really cool cichlids out there! Yes, the SA cichlids are much more peaceful than the Africans. I had Blue Rams, a Krib, a Dorsigera, and Bolivian Ram. They are so personable! Very intelligent too. They are gone now, as columnaris took out practically my whole tank, but I would not hesitate (once I know the columnaris is definitely gone--it's been 6 months) to get them again. Mine got along too, in a 55 gallon tank. I wouldn't put them in anything smaller, as even though they were SA, they are still cichlids, and can be unpredictable if stressed by cramped surroundings.
 
There are some really cool cichlids out there! Yes, the SA cichlids are much more peaceful than the Africans. I had Blue Rams, a Krib, a Dorsigera, and Bolivian Ram. They are so personable! Very intelligent too. They are gone now, as columnaris took out practically my whole tank, but I would not hesitate (once I know the columnaris is definitely gone--it's been 6 months) to get them again. Mine got along too, in a 55 gallon tank. I wouldn't put them in anything smaller, as even though they were SA, they are still cichlids, and can be unpredictable if stressed by cramped surroundings.

It is false to say that ca/sa cichlids are less aggressive than africans. Sure some are but there are many species that would decimate a tank of africans in 1 hour. To the OP I would go CA/SA as they ardmore personable than africans and have more interesting behaviors. I would say do a geophagus colony tank withe driftwood and a deep sand bed for them to root around in. There are many different sub varieties of them and 75 would make a good tank size more many of them. (y)
 
It is false to say that ca/sa cichlids are less aggressive than africans. Sure some are but there are many species that would decimate a tank of africans in 1 hour. To the OP I would go CA/SA as they ardmore personable than africans and have more interesting behaviors. I would say do a geophagus colony tank withe driftwood and a deep sand bed for them to root around in. There are many different sub varieties of them and 75 would make a good tank size more many of them. (y)

OO yea good advice I did not even think about geophagus.
 
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