New American Cichlid Tank Opinions

[nugget6476]

I am thinking of setting up a new tank with some bigger fish in it,

Tank size - 150cm x 50cm x 66cm..... 400 odd litres

Going for an American cichlid Tank for personality and size

Fish:
1 Red Tiger Oscar - Astronotus ocellatus
1 Jack Dempsey - Rocio octofasciatum
1 Gold Severum - Heros efasciatus
1 Firemouth - Thorichthys meeki
5 or 6 Silver Dollars - Metynnis hypsauchen

I did run it through the program Aq Advisor and i got these results

May eventually require 120% of your aquarium space
May need to deal with teretorial aggresions later on
Reccomended water change schedule - 38%
Aquarium stocking level is 120%

I really like all these fish and it would be a shame to take one out just to drop that percentage down a bit, I know the logical one to not put in there is the Jack Dempsey, but im hoping that it might be ok. Im also assuming that plants would be a no go in this tank?. If you have any advice or thoughts as to whether that would be a good mix, or anything to do with good kinds of food, substrate, tank decor ect, that would be great.

Thanks

 

[Freakgecko91]

I'd take out the meeki, they're all bark and no bite and would try to antagonize the JD, just saw that exact matchup at my LFS today actually lol

Heros will eat plants, oscars will uproot them, so plants would be a no go

 

[nugget6476]

Oh, is there any fish you would include to that list if I took the Firemouth out?

 

[Freakgecko91]

The tank really isn't big enough to replace it, an Oscar is 10-14", a JD 10-12", a Severum 6-8", and SD can get some size to them. If it were me, I'd do a large geophagus tank with geophagus altifrons, a few Uaru amphiacanthoides, and acarychthys heckelli, plus some cleithracara maronii. Then a large school of bleeding heart tetras (like 20) and a large shoal of Cory cats for the bottom. That's just me though

 

[NYgiantsRP]

I think what would end up happening is the jack and Oscar would kill of the Severum and fire mouth, but who knows, it all depends on the fish and the tank setup. I would recommend one of two options. Option one would be to dump the Severum and fire mouth for a large cichlid to stand up to them. Maybe a Texas or green terror. Or to drop the jack and Oscar, and add a couple geophagus, or uaru like freakgecko91 suggested.