# How to stock 90 Gallon



## Cravil (Mar 19, 2015)

So I'm new here and new to keeping fish. At my church we have a 125 gallon tank that I've been helping take care of and it peaked my interest so I decided to get a tank! I've read to many forums to count, profiles of the fish I'm interested in, and talked to all of the "Fish People" I know. Problem is there are no "definite" answers! 

With that being said I have a couple of thoughts on what to do with my tank.
1) A Jack Dempsey then either a few convicts or firemouths. And then 8-10 dither school fish. Something like Giant Danios, Ruby Barbs.... My concern is that this is going to be a tank of death and destruction.

2) Having multiple Firemouths then 2 or 3 schools of different fish.

3) Skipping the whole aggressive cichlid thing and doing a tank of school fish and focus on landscaping. (I'm sure this will be a popular option on a cichlid forum) 

Thoughts and opinions are more then welcome. To keep in mind the nearest LFS is over an hour away (I'm going there for the first time in 2 weeks). The only one in my town is Petsmart. So if you have some rare/hard to find fish you would suggest for me, I'm probably not going to be able to find it. I also have no interest in having fish shipped to me.

Thanks for you thoughts and opinions! :thumb:


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## Cravil (Mar 19, 2015)

With option 1) it should have read either a JD, Salvinii, or Texas.


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## Jersey_cichlid_guy (Apr 4, 2015)

Shame if you were good with having them shipped Id say try looking at aquabid.com or even ebay.


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## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

What is the volume and dimensions of your tank?


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## Cravil (Mar 19, 2015)

48x18x24 90 gallons


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## CjCichlid (Sep 14, 2005)

90 gallons is a decent sized aquarium. However you should be stocking it as a "75" gallon since it has the same footprint as one, which is what really matters when it comes to cichlids.

What are you wanting out of your setup? Are you interested in pairs/spawning? There is also no reason why you can't have a well aquascaped cichlid tank! I enjoy aquascaping just as much, if not more so than I do the cichlids themselves!

Also, since you are locked into whatever species your LFS has, you may ask and see if they would be willing to special order you something different. Worth a try..


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## Cravil (Mar 19, 2015)

Thats not a bad idea. LFS (petsmart) has been out of firemouths for "months" and "aren't sure when they are getting more in." I'll see what the other store has an hour away and maybe ask them to order something. Main reason I don't want to order fish is I'm already in a little deeper then i'd like to be cost wise and shipping fish gets expensive for my budget quick!

The more I read forums and watch videos the more I realize IDK exactly what I want to be honest. I do really like convicts, firemouths, and Dempseys. However in that 6foot tank that I work on at church we have lost 7 fish (2 giant danios, 3 oscars, 2 convicts) (currently in that tank are a JD, Firemouth, Convict, Catfish, and 4 danios). I didn't stock that tank but i'm also not interested in repeating the results!

Don't really have interest in pairs/spawning. I don't want the tank to look bare (thats why I'm not interested in an oscar even though I love their size and color) but I also don't want a kill tank where I overstock with aggressive fish. Given what I've listed above how many of those could I put in my tank and not have it be a slaughter house? I know there is always some risk with these type of cichlids. Would it be better to go with one of the african lakes?

I'm interested in aquascaping but don't know a ton about it other then most cichlids will tear plants to shreds.


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## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

Was the church tank cycled?

Petsmart sucks. Don't buy fish there.


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## Cravil (Mar 19, 2015)

Pretty sure all of those were due to fighting. I didn't pay much attention to it back then (3 years ago). I just started helping out with the tank about 9 months or so ago.

So if I went with the aggressive fish how many could I get in my tank?


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## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

My suggestion is to pick a fish appropriate to your size tank that you cannot due without, and build around that.


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## Cravil (Mar 19, 2015)

Well for me thats a JD, Firemouth, and Convicts.

Would you suggest I go for a 75 with those 3?
Can I put anything else with those 3?
Should I just completely abandoned the idea of a JD, FM, and Convict?


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## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

Ok. Try a group of 6 Firemouths, 1 JD and 1 convict.

Buy them all as juveniles. Cons are relatively easy to sex at a small size so try to get a female. Let them grow up with one another. Remove any problem fish or those forced into upper corners of the tank by any fish including the pair of FMs that will most likely form. You may end up with only one of each species. Be responsible and remove bullied fish. Decorate the tank with plenty of wood, branches and rockwork. Try to break of lines of sight within the aquarium.


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## illy-d (Nov 6, 2005)

To expand on Iggy's idea a little bit:

A Bushynose Pleco could be a useful algae eater. They stay small, but unlike ottocinclus, they are not likely to end up a snack.
While not geographically correct, Bleeding Heart tetras make excellent 'dither' fish for small/medium aggressive cichlids. Avoid 'standard' shaped tetras like Rummynose or Neon/Cardinal, because more often than not these guys will be eaten by your cichlids - especially a JD.

Obviously personal preference is a huge factor in how your tank should look - but using natural décor, including live plants (Anubias/Java Ferns), can be beneficial. Rocks & branches are great at breaking up site lines in the lower to middle half of the tank, but a java fern or anubias tied to said rock or log can grow up to the water line and help define territories through all levels of the tank... This typically only comes into play during a 'chase', as the cichlids mostly hang at the bottom, but it helps.


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## Cravil (Mar 19, 2015)

Thanks for the suggestions really appreciate them. Still really new to fish in general and I just didn't even know where to start number wise.

Iggy I'm confused by your comment about convicts being easy to sex. Why would I want to sex the convict when I only have 1? I guess a convict/firemouth would look interesting!  If you could just explain what your thinking a little bit more that would be helpful. I honestly am a little confused and just want to understand! 

I don't really have any other room in my house for another tank if they start to get chippy. It might be a better idea for me to just get one of each and then some school fish.

Again thanks for the suggestions anything else you got I'm all ears!


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## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

A female con is more colorful and should be less aggressive overall than a male.

With cichlids, you'll always need to have a plan on what to do when you need to remove a fish. If that's a 10 gallon setup for a few days until you can get it to the LFS or sell it locally then so be it. You can always have an extra small HOB style filter going on your main tank and when the need arises to setup that hospital/rehome aquarium you can move the small filter over and be instantly cycled. Even if you only do singles you may still need to move a fish on if they become so aggressive the other fish are hiding up in the corners/getting beat up.


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