# 75 gallon SA cichlid / mixed tank evolution



## thinkrevolutionx (Jan 29, 2011)

This is my very overstocked growout tank. Most of these guys will end their way into a 180 gallon. I am unsure what my plans are for the future with this tank, but I want to document the journey.

Stocking:
1x firemouth
1x blue acara
1x EBJD
2x angel fish
8x clown loach
8x roseline shark
1x green severum
3x blue phantom pleco
1x golden bristlenose pleco

Filtration: 2x eheim pro 3 2075 filters 
Lighting: catalina 2x54w

I apologize for the quality of the pictures in advance. Some are from a camera phone, some a real camera. All suffer from hosting compression.

3/11 It begins. Seeding the filter with some stuff from an established tank.



3/11 Added background, sand. Can't really tell but i added a school of zebra danios to see if filters are seeded correctly.



3/11 Cleared up, looking good. Cycled, ready for fish. So excited at this point.


Plants! Had no idea what I wanted to do in terms of aqua scaping, so I just planted them and slept on it. 


4/11 First real fish added. Added some more stuff to seed just to make sure with increased bioload. Began to get an idea of what I wanted the tank to look like and swapping stuff around.



5/11 Beginning to take shape. Notice my oscar. That's a story all its own.



7/11 more growth, tank getting defined. Fish getting bigger.



10/11 Last shot before I decided that the tank looked haphazard and wanted to try my hand at some real aqua scaping. Don't mind the large container in middle, I was trying to preserve some moss I didn't know what to do with yet.



11/6/11 Done. I am quite proud with how it came out. The driftwood floats just alittle, so it's held in place. Lined the back and front as semitrically as I could. anubias lines the sides.



Java moss takes quite well to... everything. Very natural and pretty looking.


People love or hate the caves. I could do without them for a natural look.. but when the lights go out, every single one is taken by a fish, or a pair, or three. I'd rather my fish be happy then the tank be perfect.


That about sums it up. I'll throw some pics of some of my fish in the following post. I can't ever get anything decent of them. I hope you enjoyed and thanks for looking, and hopefully with be updating in the future! Any questions feel free to ask.


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## thinkrevolutionx (Jan 29, 2011)

Some of my fish just would not cooperate for this, my oscar in particular.

Note: Not all of these fish are in the same tank.

I take great care in sourcing my fish, and hand pick them - i'm curious as to anyone's opinions on the quality of the fish themselves, see if i'm doing it right or not.

Also, some would find it strange but I have a very, very aggressive angel that I had to rehome with the oscar.. and they are best friends. Been in together about a month and the angel actually bites the oscar every now and again over food, it's hilarious and a totally unlikely pair.

Anyway, without further delay;

The buddies


Gold spotted female bristlenose


My very, very peaceful EBJD. Praying he(she?) survives. Lost one already.


Super aggressive nasty blue acara .. I might actually have to rehome him. All my other SA cichlids are very peaceful including the other blue acara I have. This one is a freak. Beautiful though




These guys certainly live up to their name, couldn't get them to sit still for the shot. I've trained them to come to the top for food, which is a blast to watch.




This severum will literally follow my hand in the tank, poke around anything that I move, brush against me etc. Not afraid in the least, and doesn't get spooked when the rest of the tank does. Really growing on me.





My all bark no bite firemouth. He loves squaring off against the other fish and then taking off , fighting the glass, and goes absolutely ballistic at feeding time. Couldn't get a good pic.. he has fantastic colors.





A very hard to get (and crappy) shot of my l202 tiger pleco. She only comes out in pitch black, and instantly takes off with any motion or light.



My absolute all time favorite fish - bettas. They were biting my hand and camera while I was taking this. Huge jumpers. Cute, but i've lost some that way =(







A general shot of my clowns and desison barbs (roseline sharks)



And last but not least, everyone's favorite. Fred the Oscar, who would absolutely not cooperate for the photoshoot. Best personality of any fish i've ever owned. Last one is him sleeping, swear to god. Every night he sleeps like that and I think he's dead.


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