# If you were to stock my 140g



## dsouthworth (Sep 7, 2011)

Let me know what qualtity of these fish you would put into a 140g (5x2x2) tank.

I know I want:
1 male JD

What I need advise on is how many of the following
Salvini
Firemouth
Silver dollar.

Filtration at the moment is 2 xp3 and 1 AC110
But when money allows it will be one fx5 and one xp3


----------



## CjCichlid (Sep 14, 2005)

Your obviously wanting pairs, correct?

I would personally stock it like this...

- 1x JD
- 2x (1 pair) Salvini
- 4x (2 pairs) Meeki
- If you HAVE to have SD's I would do a shoal of 5-6 but I would opt for a smaller dither; something like Giant Danios or Buenos Aires Tetras and then have a larger shoal of 10+.

I have a similar setup in my 135gal (6ft x 18in x 2ft). I have a single male JD, a pair of Nics, and eventually will have a pair of Rainbows and a pair of Meeki (still waiting for them to pair off). I then have a shoal of 9x BA Tetras. Everything is working out really well at the time being, besides the male Nic occasionally being a bit boisterous with the others. In your case, the pair to watch will be the Sals, as they have the tendency to get really nasty. I had a lone female that was an absolute terror...


----------



## dsouthworth (Sep 7, 2011)

At the moment I don't care about pairs. If it happens great but I'm not too worried. If there is fry, I'll let mother nature do it's thing and let them try and survive in the rockwork.


----------



## CjCichlid (Sep 14, 2005)

Well your not really going to want multiple lone males of the same species in the tank so I would either stick with pairs, or 1 male of each species and get a couple other cichlids in addition to the JD, Sal, and Meeki...


----------



## dsouthworth (Sep 7, 2011)

CjCichlid said:


> Well your not really going to want multiple lone males of the same species in the tank so I would either stick with pairs, or 1 male of each species and get a couple other cichlids in addition to the JD, Sal, and Meeki...


I guess I'd just never thought about keeping pairs! 
How many sals and meeki should I get if your proposed pairs are wanted.


----------



## ahud (Aug 22, 2009)

Interested to hear how a pair of salvini work out with the more relaxed fish in your stock like the JD and firemouths.


----------



## dsouthworth (Sep 7, 2011)

ahud said:


> Interested to hear how a pair of salvini work out with the more relaxed fish in your stock like the JD and firemouths.


The tanks large enough I hope to avoid most of it. I'll be sure you post my success.


----------



## dsouthworth (Sep 7, 2011)

CjCichlid said:


> Your obviously wanting pairs, correct?
> 
> I would personally stock it like this...
> 
> ...


Hey so i think i'll take your advice. I've never even heard of BA tetra's so this is great.

So If i want one pair of Sal's, and two pairs of Meeki, how man of each should i start off with?

1 JD
5 sal's
8 meeki
12 BA tetras

How would this work in the long term?


----------



## CjCichlid (Sep 14, 2005)

If your wanting a single pair of Sals, I would start out with at least 1 male and 2 females. I find them to be easily sexed, even at a younger age so you really shouldn't have to buy 6+. For getting 2 pairs of Meeki, I would start out with at least 6-8 as they are really hard to sex visually. I got lucky and randomly bought 3 Meeki, and ended up with 2 males and 1 female.

I do not see your proposed stock of 1 JD, 5 Sals, 8 Meeki, and 12 BA Tetras working out LONG TERM, whatsoever. 5 Sals will simply decimate your tank, then turn their aggression onto each other. You can start with that many of each, but once pairs form you will want to remove the extras. I definitely still recommend the stock I posted earlier...

- 1x JD
- 2x (1 pair) Salvini
- 4x (2 pairs) Meeki 
- 12x BA Tetras

A 140gal may appear large at first, but once these fish mature and begin pairing up and spawning they will require a lot of space to keep aggression down to a reasonable level. Even this stock may not work out long term. You will want to be sure to provide lots of line of sight breaks and individual territories for each pair to claim as their own. I'm currently working on re-scaping my tank to better fit this criteria as well as I can already foresee future problems when my pairs begin spawning.


----------



## dsouthworth (Sep 7, 2011)

Alright. We'll thanks for all of this Chris. 
I'll be following a lot of this. You've been tons of help. I am however inexperienced (i'm sure you can tell) with Sal's so sexing them will be hard. I can only read so much but i'll try my very best.

To start with;
1 JD
8 Meeki
4 Sal's (i'll be asking the forum for some help with the sexing, i hope you can give your expert opinion)
12 BA tetra's.

And once determined, i will get the stock down to the pairs listed above!

I'm glad the forum has you chris!


----------



## CjCichlid (Sep 14, 2005)

Gotcha, I just edited my post as I re-read what you wrote and figured that's what you meant...


----------



## dsouthworth (Sep 7, 2011)

CjCichlid said:


> Gotcha, I just edited my post as I re-read what you wrote and figured that's what you meant...


 :lol: alright bud. Thanks for the help. I edited my post as well


----------



## CjCichlid (Sep 14, 2005)

Hah, no problem. 

When sexing Sals, a black spot/blotch on the dorsal fin is pretty much a dead give away that it's a female. I have however seen females that look VERY male-like when younger, but never the other way around. So... black spot/blotch on dorsal = female, NO black markings on dorsal = male. It should be easier to distinguish between the to sexes once you see them in front of you and can compare them side by side. However, I still think it would be a good idea to get 5 or so as sometimes they can be picky when pairing off.

Good luck and keep us updated... with pics of course! :thumb:


----------



## dsouthworth (Sep 7, 2011)

I will i will. I have 9 reserved at my LFS because they are pretty rare around here. but then they got another 5 or 6. So once my tank is cycled i'll go there and pick them out. When picking, should I try for 2m/3f? 
Also, at what size does it start to become easier to sex?


----------



## CjCichlid (Sep 14, 2005)

My LFS sells them around the 1.5" mark, which should be able to be sexed relatively accurately. If for some reason they are REALLY small, to the point where they haven't developed any coloration, you may just have to blindly pick them out. But yes, 2m and 3f should make for a good ratio.


----------



## dsouthworth (Sep 7, 2011)

CjCichlid said:


> My LFS sells them around the 1.5" mark, which should be able to be sexed relatively accurately. If for some reason they are REALLY small, to the point where they haven't developed any coloration, you may just have to blindly pick them out. But yes, 2m and 3f should make for a good ratio.


the ones we have are larger than that. Maybe even 4". I haven't really paid attention to the size yet. But it's good to know that I shouldn't have too hard of a time.

Thanks for knowing your cichlids bud :thumb:


----------



## CjCichlid (Sep 14, 2005)

Oh, well that's quite large and you should be able to distinguish between the two sexes. You would actually be better off with them smaller as you want them to grow with their future tank-mates. Are your JD and Meeki going to be the same size, if not bigger? I would definitely recommend it, as they will most likely be picked on by the not only the larger, but also more aggressive Sals.


----------



## Polarbear69 (Mar 2, 2012)

Years ago when I utilized a 90 gallon tank managed to have two jack dempseys, 4 convicts and a pair of salvanis without any issue. But had to move to new jersey and gave away my tank to the moving people. Firemouths are a bit timid and did not do well.


----------



## dsouthworth (Sep 7, 2011)

Hey so here are 4 of my 5 salvini. the 5th just hides in his cave and chases anything away.

anyways. bad pics.. i know. but it's the only time i've ever caught them in the open where i wont loose track..

male or female?
#1








#2








#3








#4









I know 1 and 3 are terrible.. but lol. sorry. like i said. not many times i get them out in the open for a photo shoot..

in pic #4 the sal in the back is the same as the sal in pic #3

I think that they are all Male except #2..


----------

