# Stocking new 90g tank



## BacktoFresh (Aug 21, 2007)

Hello all,

I believe this is my first post.

I'm setting up a new 90g cichlid tank and wanted to get ideas of stock list. Want to keep it in the CA/SA region.

I was thinking of going with JDs, but am finding that tankmates might be limited. Basically looking for bright, colorful fish and would like a cichlid "community."

Thanks for any and all imput

Nate


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## MetalHead06351 (Oct 3, 2007)

what are the dimensions of the tank? From looking at the 90g's i've seen you could fit about 3 mid sized cichlids. A jd, maybe a salvini and a firemouth- something along those lines. If you give us some info on the kinds of fish you like we can better suggest something you might like. I would check out this website:http://www.tangledupincichlids.com and research anything that catches your eye.


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## BacktoFresh (Aug 21, 2007)

90g, 48"long, 18"wide, not sure on height but it appears to be a "tall" tank.

After doing a little research, I don't know what I want. What I do want is a tank that has a lot of activity and looks "full." I have a 100g saltwater tank with only 4 or 5 fish and it looks pretty barren (that's due to stocking selections; fairly aggressive tank).

From what I can tell, the CA/SA fish tend to be bigger than the Africans? Is that correct or no?


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## addicted2cichlid (Apr 8, 2008)

depends on what your looking for.... and for anyone else a 90 is the same as a 75 only a few inches taller....

if ur into jd's, then your only going to have a few fish in there, my 75 is home just a pair of jds now, but i tend to understock.

if u want a community then a colony of apistos or rams would be cool. with all that space u could get away with alot more.

check out the cichlid PROFILES on the home page here... has some good info with total body length and temperments of fish, along with some nice pics.

good luck and have fun


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## pugwash (Sep 11, 2006)

What's your tapwater like? Soft and acidic or hard and alkaline? As this could sway you in one direction or the other if you want breeding...

There are some large African's too.

My African tank looks busier than when it was a CA, but the CA fish were behavourly more interesting :thumb: . If only I had room for another tank.


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## BacktoFresh (Aug 21, 2007)

my water here in NorCal tends to be fairly hard. Not sure of ph.

I have noticed that a lot of the SA species need soft water so I was thinking about sticking with CA or even going with an African tank. CA/African tank waters tend to be harder, right?

Man, I thought it was tough deciding on a stocking list for my saltwater tank!  I think cichlids are tougher!


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## MidNightCowBoy (May 7, 2007)

BacktoFresh.

I'm in Nor Cal also and I just recently acquired a used 75 gallon setup from a friend. I went the ca/sa route and I have a very fully stocked and active tank. I'll get around to doing a picture post when I have the time but I thought I would chime in because it looks like you are going for something along the lines of what I have.

First of all go for fish that don't absolutely demand the soft and acidic water. Most tank raised cichlids are pretty easy going on the water parameters as long as they aren't something very sensitive like discus or german rams, etc.. If you want an active tank with lots of fish you have to get smaller fish that are not very aggressive. My stock list is:

6 Juvenile Rainbow Cichlids (super colorful and very peaceful)
5 Bolivian Rams (Nice coloring and also peaceful)
about 20 Rummy Nose Tetras
5 Mollies (Came with the tank, I'd get rid of them but my GF likes them)
5 Cory Cats.
2 Siamese Algae Eaters.
1 BN Pleco

This is definitely the most fully stocked and active tank I've ever had, all with nor cal tap water! It's just all bout fish selection, meaning no convicts or anything that gets too big or too aggressive.


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## BacktoFresh (Aug 21, 2007)

Thanks for the words of encouragement Cowboy.

I'm in the Bay Area.

I guess my problem is figuring out what those fish are. After doing some research, I might be leaning toward a Malawi tank now. I went to a couple LFS and while the salespeople there were helpful, they didn't have all the answers I needed.

I still haven't finished setting up the tank so I still have time to figure out what I want. Because once water goes in, I'm going to want to get the fish in asap


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## BacktoFresh (Aug 21, 2007)

BTW, I do plan on staying away from those that require "soft" conditions. :thumb:


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## BacktoFresh (Aug 21, 2007)

What are your thoughts on blue acaras? It seems they are similar in appearance to JDs, just not as aggressive?

Can blue acaras be housed with more tankmates than JDs?


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## pugwash (Sep 11, 2006)

A pair of Rainbows and Sajica, with a school of tetra (12+) would work well (and catfish/hatchetfish if you like).

Or larger, an FM pair with a JD as fry control. And a raphael cat...

Mbuna are very busy and active, but do look similar in body shape, except for their colours.

Have you considered a Tang tank? Probably the nearest to a "cichlid community" having all cichlids occupying different niches. Something I've yet to try. Here's a good link: http://www.kim-jakobsen.dk/Artikler/tanganyikaakvarier_e.htm


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## cc_woman (Jan 31, 2008)

Blue acaras are nice, and you have more options with tank mates because they stay medium sized, and are not highly aggressive towards other species. You can house them with anything from angels, to firemouths IME. I would definitely consider CA or SA's. I might end up changing most of my african tanks into SA tanks because of their characters, and keeping just a dwarf tang tank and a mbuna tank. Have you checked out all the profiles on this site as well? You could probably house some severum or chocolate cichlids with a blue acara, but not many since they do grow rather large themselves. I personally like the community tanks where you can stock em full of colorful fish. If going the mbuna route, you definitely have more options when it comes to color.

So will this be your very first tank? If you have little experience, mbuna and other africans are definitely on the easier side, especially when you have harder water. But in most cases, the fish you get from a local store will have "soft water" type species already acclimated to your type of water. I am not saying you should always do this, but in many cases they can live fine in slightly different pH values than what they are used to in the wild. You can even try considering cichlids from lake victoria, but in my experience they are harder to find around here.


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## cc_woman (Jan 31, 2008)

Double post, mods please delete


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## marge618 (Mar 12, 2006)

Contact a local fish club. If you are lucky there will be a cichlid club in your area. Having local contacts should help with stocking questions. Also, it's more FUN.


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## BacktoFresh (Aug 21, 2007)

CC,

This will be my first dedicated cichlid tank -- at least one that I purposely put together 

I've had tanks my whole life and until I started a saltwater tank four years ago, I had a 29g FW with 2 blue acara, a bunch of Angels, silver dollars, tetras and a monster pleco. I know now the tank was WAY to small for all those, but at the end I had 2 acaras, two big angels, a big silver dollar.

This time, Im going to do it right. BUt it seemed much easier when I was oblivious


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