# Stocking compatability help in a 210G



## Unhinged_&amp;_Happy (Aug 3, 2014)

Hi I'm new to cihclids and to this forum so please excuse me if this has already been covered in another thread.
I've been searching here and other forums for hours trying to see if anyone has tried what I have in mind and if they've had any success, unfortunately due to the size tank I'm using it's been very difficult to get an accurate assessment of the foolhardiness of what I'd like to attempt...

The setup so far: 72"x24"x28" glass with two bottom drilled ports for filtration return and pump recirculation, I haven't picked out my pumps/filters yet and would gladly take advice here aswell (never done a tank near this size before)
I have a 4 stage RO for creating my water and a 50 gallon sump tank in the cabinet below the main tank, I'm planning to run both returns into a divided charcoal basin and from there run into the other half of the sump tank which will be heavily planted and well lit with aireation for photosynthesis, my attempt is to generate air and clean the water below so I can stick with fake plants/rocks up in the main tank so as not to worry about A: a plant taking over my tank or B: some critter deciding the plants would look better shredded to pieces in my tank... Any help / advice on this setup is welcomed, also I should note the tank will be absolutely full of rocks/caves/hiding places for many fish and inverts so there will be plenty of seperation in the tank to help

First and foremost the main fish I have in mind for this community tank are as follows

(the ones I KNOW will get along)

6x Discus (varying species for color)
4x Angels (varying species for color)
1x Fire Eel
1x Rhino Pleco
1x L-191 Royal Pleco

(the inverts, I'm not sure how these will work, i've heard success and failure stories)

2x Hammers Cobalt Blue Cray (I'm not sure whether to worry that he'll be a snack or that he'll kill anything that comes too near the bottom)
4x Singapore Flower Shrimp (an expensive snack is the fear)
2x Freshwater Clams
2x Vampire Crab
2x Red Devil Crab
1x Patriot Crab

(the ones I'm worried will murder everything else)

1x Green Texas
1x Fire Mouth Meeki
1x Jack Dempsey (either blue or regular)
1x Blue Acara
1x Lesser Wolf
1x Keyhole
1x Nicaragua
1x Salvini
3x Severum (1 gold, 1 super red streak, 1 red spotted turquoise)
1x True Red Terror (female, cause they're just plain prettier)
1x Heckels Thread Finned

Now before you all call me an idiot, I know full well many on the last list WON'T generally get along and no I'm not trying to overpopulate my tank either, I'm very prepared to cut the list down considerably, it's just a wishlist to be whittled down to what will work...
My hope is that, since I have heard the rare success story about SA/CA Cichlids living harmoniously with more peacful fish I'd like an Idea of whether or not tank size will give me enough space to keep at least some of the bright beautiful Cichlids in my planned community or am I just barking up the wrong tree and should pick either peaceful mix, or an all Cichlid mix tank and just forget the discus and angels

Worry 1
Will the Cichlids kill everything period
Worry 2
Will the Blue Crays kill the Discus and Angels if I end up steering away from the Cichlids
Worry 3
Will the Cichlids be ok with the Fire Eel, Pleco's, and Inverts if I end up ditching the idea of Discus and Angels

Sorry for writing a book... but I'm throwing a lot of money at this and would like to avoid an expensive death match


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## BC in SK (Aug 11, 2012)

Clams, shrimp, crabs and crayfish are not going to mix with cichlids. They will end up eating that. Cichlids are all opportunistic feeders, many with carnivorous tendencies. Crayfish might get a cichlid when they are small, but the crayfish will molt and become food, even for fairly small cichlids. Large cichlids will rip crayfish apart and eat them no problem (and they don't have to molt for that!). Angelfish and discus are cichlids and I am referring to them just as much, when using the term, cichlid.

You have quite a range of temperaments listed. Especially 1st time with discus, probably not recommended to keep them with any other cichlids. They are more delicate and more easily stressed and not likely to thrive in an overly aggressive atmosphere. Angelfish, Heckel's thread fin and keyholes are probably about the only cichlids on your list that might be kept with them.

In your size of tank, angelfish probably would be O.K. with severum, blue acara, and heckel's thread fin. Maybe keyholes, but keyholes really are timid and might not do so well in this company. Sometimes Angelfish do O.K. with even more aggressive company. For what ever reason they often get ignored by there more aggressive tankmates.......but no guarantee of that.

JD, salvini, texas, FM, nics......now your really getting into an aggressive tank. Severum and blue acara might do O.K. in this tank. Red terror, IMO and IME, is a step above any of these in terms of aggression. Generally, when I see people having success in keeping red terrors with other cichlids, it's usually with very rough company and the red terror is not the most dominant fish. Lesser wolf, not sure which species this common name refers to.


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## Unhinged_&amp;_Happy (Aug 3, 2014)

Hi and thank you for the very detailed response.

lesser wolf is just the name used on the site I found it on, it is Cichlasoma Grammodes

and while I am disheartened to hear so few will get along with the discus it's not exactly a shock, I was more hoping against hope here...
If I were to say cut out all angels and discus and inverts, and just go with the Cichlid list alone
do you think the fire eel and plecos would still be ok, and are there any others besides the keyhole which you said were timid that flat out would not survive an aggressive tank like this?


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## BC in SK (Aug 11, 2012)

Unhinged_&_Happy said:


> lesser wolf is just the name used on the site I found it on, it is Cichlasoma Grammodes


Ah, that is what I thought it might refer to. Only cichlid on your list, besides keyholes, that I have no personal experience with. It sure does have a reputation for aggression and toughness. Never seen any tanks on line where people have kept large adult grammodes with large adult salvini.......but a few people that have kept both have speculated that these 2 would be on a collision course if kept in the same tank (?). I have lot's of experience with salvini to know that a large adult probably won't accept being subordinate to anything that is not really big and nasty. Actually have read of occasions where a 5 -star general had to be removed because of a similar sized gramodes or salvini became intolerant of it!


Unhinged_&_Happy said:


> do you think the fire eel and plecos would still be ok,


Never kept any of these. Common pleco would be the safest bet with larger aggressive cichlids. BN plecos often do O.K. Don't know too much about the special requirements of fancy plecos, but based on my experience with commons and BN's, I would expect most cichlids not to pay too much attention to any plecos as long as there are enough cichlids in the tank. Fire eels, I have seen them in cichlid tanks, though really no idea how they fare.

Never any guarantee that cichlids will get along over the long term. Texas, salvini, and I would think grammodes as well, are very aggressive. Can't really count on adult males getting along. Of course there is no telling how things will work out but chances are likely better if you leave these species out. I had brief experience with male red terror (up to 6" size) before a malfunction with an automatic water change system wiped out just about all of the tank. Had female red terror for over 4 years....IME she was not really very tolerant of anything that she was dominant over.


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