135gal Central American setup (PIC)

[cj_desmit]

Hello everyone...

I'm new here. I've been keeping fish/cichlids for quite some time now and am active in a few other forums. I just came across this board and after browsing a bit it seems like a very informative place!

I wanted to share a pic of my recently setup 135gal Central American tank. It was previously used for aquatic turtles but I recently caught the cichlid bug again so I decided to switch things up.



A few tank specs...
135gal (72in x 18in x 24in)
Filtration: Marineland C-530, AC110/500, Marineland HOT Magnum
Lighting: 48" BeamsWork "Freshwater Bright" LED with moonlights
Current stock is: 1x (hopefully male) Vieja/Paratheraps Hartwegi, 1x female Hypsophrys Nicaraguansis, 1x male Rocio Octofasciata, and 6x Buenos Aires Tetras

Along with the above stock, I'd like to add maybe two more, preferably male, small/med. sized growing cichlids. A few that I have been considering are Sajica, Cutteri, Multispinosa and Thor. Ellioti. Which, if any, do you think would be the best choices to go with? Feel free to recommend others not listed...

The current scape was my best attempt at using what little rock/wood I had. I am in the process of collecting more so I can hopefully come up with a more elaborate/natural scape here in the near future. I can already tell I am going to need a lot more "sight breaks" to curve aggression and to create more territories. I am aiming for a scape that resembles the Central American lakes. Although this won't quite be a Biotope setup, I'd like to to be close. Any suggestions would be more than welcome!

Thanks!
Chris

[Michael Kwist]

Hello,

De setup looks good, but the choices of fish?? I think you can beter choose for some cichlids to keep them in pairs. and not seperated fish.. this is not good for the fish and you will not see their real behavior!
You're tank is big enough to put a group of Thorichthys in it togetter with some tetra's (more than 6) but than do you need to remove your current stock of fish.

[cj_desmit]

Thanks for the reply.

Regarding the stock, I am really not wanting any pairs as I do not have a place that I can sell/give fry to. I also have only one other aquarium besides this one and am not looking to setup another one to raise fry. Although I do agree, having pairs and watching them spawn is a lot fun as I have gone down that road before. But for now, for this setup, I think I am going to stick to mostly an all male community.

[cj_desmit]

Also, I checked out the link in your signature and your website looks very interesting. Is there a way to translate it into English?

Thanks.

[cj_desmit]

Updated pic of my 135gal...



I have added a bit to the stocking as well (not shown in the pic)
Current stocking:
1x Rocio octofasciata - Jack Dempey
1x Hypsophrys nicaraguensis - Nicaraguan
3x Thorichthys Meeki - Firemouth (Only will keep 2, waiting for a pair to form)
6x Archocentrus Multispinosa - Rainbow (Only will keep 2, waiting for a pair to form)
9x Hyphessobrycon anisitsi - Bueons Aires Tetra
1x Bristlenose Pleco

The scape and stock will continue to evolve. I have a few more pieces of driftwood I will be adding soon... Thanks for looking!

[cj_desmit]

A few more recent pics...







Stocking is still the same as I previously posted. Final stocking will be...

1x Male Rocio octofasciata - Jack Dempey
2x (Pair) Hypsophrys nicaraguensis - Nicaraguan
2x (Pair) Thorichthys Meeki - Firemouth
2x (Pair) Archocentrus Multispinosa - Rainbow
9x Hyphessobrycon anisitsi - Buenos Aires Tetra
1x Bristlenose Pleco

What do you all think?... Overstocked, just right, or able to add more?

Thanks for looking!

[Nitrivec]

Very natural looking scape. Any updataes or changes ? I would love to see an external shot to see the actual aquarium in its surroundings too

[cj_desmit]

Thanks Nitrivec! Sorry for the delayed response, I have not been on this forum in quite a while...

The tank has gone through quite a bit of changes. I moved to a new house a few months ago so the scape and stock have changed a bit...

As for the stock, I decided to go with mostly pairs after all. The stock is currently:

x4 (2 pairs) Herotilapia multispinosa - I have had multiple spawns from both pairs however the fry eventually get eaten. Both pairs are currently tending to fry...
x2 (1 pair) Thorichthys meeki - I have had a spawn from them as well. I'm expecting eggs again in the near future as they have been flirting non-stop...
1x female Hypsophrys nicaraguensis - I had a male in with her for quite some time but they simply never took to each other. The male ended up becoming quite aggressive so I just recently removed him...
1x Vieja argentea - Once I removed the male Dempsey and Nic, I came across some young argentea at my LFS. I picked one up and it's coming along nicely. Still to young to sex but I'm hoping for a female as I'd like to keep it long term. Hopefully it doesn't become to much of a terror as they tend to come with a nasty reputation.

I also removed the school of Buenos Aires tetras when I moved. I have been considering adding some wild type livebearers but can't seem to find any at the moment. My newest addition are 6 young Cryptoheros sajica. I had been looking for some since I started up this tank and finally just came across some. I am expecting them to arrive Friday. I'll eventually narrow down the 6 to a single pair.

I'll try and get some updated pics up soon. All I have at the moment are crummy cellphone pics!

[cj_desmit]

Got around to taking an updated FTS...



Stocking has yet again changed as I came across two more mature female nics, so I introduced them along with my male again. Within the first day, my male paired up with one of the new females and they are currently guarding wigglers (far right corner in the pic, hence the mounds of sand). I also removed one of the pairs of multispinosa to free up a little space...

Current stock:
1x V. argentea
2x (pair) T. meeki
2x (pair) A. multispinosa
4x (1m - 3f) H. nicaraguensis -- I will be removing at least one of the unpaired females soon.
8x C. sajica -- Just got these guys not to long ago. They are still very young (~1in) but once a pair forms I will remove the extras.
1x Bristlenose Pleco

[THECichlidGeek]

sweet tank. very sleek and clean looking. I love jack dempseys by the way!