# Noob cichlid question.



## 4rdguy (Nov 27, 2010)

a friend recently talked me into a "predatory" cichlid tank. i have 4 tiger oscars about 3-4 inch right now. looking to add 2-4 of each Electric Blue Jack Dempseys, Green Terrors, and possibly 1 Peacock Bass or flowerhorn.

my friend says the tank would be fine (a rock and mild driftwood 125 gallon) but it seems a little over stocked imo if i had

4 tiger oscars,
4 JDs
4 GTs
1 peacock bass or flowerhorn

just looking for opinions. any help would be appreciated.

Brad


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## Riceburner (Mar 14, 2008)

once they grow out ...yep overstocked. You might get away with half that # if they grow up together....or not. There's no way to predict for sure.


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## Will (Jul 24, 2008)

Yeah, those are monsterfish indeed, in a medium tank.
Keep in mind the potential adult sizes of those fish:
Oscar: 12"+
JD: 10"
GT: 10"
Peacock Bass: ~24"
Flowerhorn: 12"+

As Rice says, it's hard to predict these big fish's attitudes, and they tend to get along well enough, until they don't, and when they don't you'll have big angry problems. Yelling at them to get along from outside the tank doesn't do a whole lot.

If you want a successful Monsterfish community tank, you really gotta get a Monstertank, with Monster-sized filtration. That doesn't exclude you from having some predatory cichlids though. You asked for opinions, so I'll give you two; _1)_ Don't let anyone talk you into something (it can be very costly), take an idea and talk to some people with similar tanks, and decide if it fits you, _2)_ Ditch the community part of your plans, and growout a M/F pair of badass monsterfish and make it a nice showtank specifically for them. Maybe even have them breed hundreds of baby monsters.

You can stuff a number of big fish in a empty tank, but a really nice showpeice is when fish look like they are at home in a suited habitat. Build a tank around their star fish. They don't even have to be the only fish in the tank.

Here's some inspiration featureing on of my favourite monsterfish, Jaguar cichlids:




 (Badass environment)


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## 4rdguy (Nov 27, 2010)

well he didnt actually "talk me into it" ive been himming ang hawwing over it for a few months. and he started a community tank and took almost all of my fish. so i said fine and decided on it. my mom and step dad have 6 tanks with 400+ africans including fry and juvies and ive always loved the cichlids.

after talking to a very helpful big als cichlid specialist in barrie i think ive decided to thin out what me and my friend though. have the 4 tiger oscars (possibly cutting down to 2 oscars), 1 green terror, 1 electric blue JD and 1 thialand silk flowerhorn.

what do you guys think about that stocking list?

and thanks for the help so far


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## Will (Jul 24, 2008)

2/1/1/1, sounds much better. About 8 fish better.
Or trade one of the Oscars for a badass mid-sized catfish?


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## 4rdguy (Nov 27, 2010)

i have a L128 pleco in there right now, whats a cool looking catfish. something like a pictus? or are there cooler ones?


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## Will (Jul 24, 2008)

L128 are very pretty, get some size on that thing quick, in six months an oscar can reach adult size and you don't want an oscar choking on a pleco.

Pimelodus are pretty cool and very active, Some of the Synodontis cats have great finnage and personalities (like S. Eupterus), and Limas and tigrinus are absolutely amazing but could sustain injuries from the cichlids possibly. Here is an article discussing a few: http://www.planetcatfish.com/shanesworld/shanesworld.php?article_id=176


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## Explorer guy (Sep 12, 2011)

4rdguy said:


> my friend says the tank would be fine (a rock and mild driftwood 125 gallon) but it seems a little over stocked imo if i had
> 
> 4 tiger oscars,
> 4 JDs
> ...


Ok, so I had 5 oscars in my previous 55 gal. tank and they were a good 8-10" in size, and oddly I never had any issues.... that led me to feeling sorry for the buggers and buying this new 120. As soon as I moved them in I had all kinds of trouble and had to sell them off. Oddly they only suggest having 2 oscars in a tank as big as 120 gal. I wouldn't crowd them out. (and I actually seem to enjoy my collection of africans far more...better colours, and hopefully egg laying soon!)


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## Will (Jul 24, 2008)

Brad, any progress?


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## 4rdguy (Nov 27, 2010)

Yes, My tank has been fully stocked now.

4 Tiger Oscars
1 Thailand silk flowerhorn
1 Green Terror
1 Firemouth
2 Electric Blue Jacks

the jacks are only about 2 inches and are getting picked on by the flowerhorn, which is making the oscars go after them. so ive put a DIY median in there with the jacks, gt and firemouth on one side (the gt and firemouth ar both about 2.5-3 inch) where the smallest oscar is about 3.5 and the biggest is about 4.5, the flower is about 3.5.

ill try to get some pics today 



Will Hayward said:


> Brad, any progress?


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## 4rdguy (Nov 27, 2010)

a few days after i got them - 




feeding time - 




underwater -


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## adrenaline (Jan 17, 2011)

LOL, love the Dye backdrop. paintball in the aquarium world! 

Those are some really nice EBJD's


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## 4rdguy (Nov 27, 2010)

yeah, i kinda like the whole "black" backgrounds. but think its too much black on a 125. so i was like what do i have laying around 

ps. added some more rock and did a rescape.


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