Topic: Tank mates

[1BigFin]

Hi Friends,
 
I have a 166gal tank (71"long x 23"wide x 23.5"tall) that I want to raise a pair of Green Terrors and a Red Oscar in.  I also want to place a Pleco or 2 in the tank.  I want to make this a community tank and need to know how many other fish I can place in there?  Also I want it to be colorful.  I was thinking a Quetzal Cichlid, a JD, a Firemouth, a Gold Severum, and a Convict.  Would this be enough color?  Would they be compatable?  Can I add any more fish on top of these?
 
Thanks,

[allvol]

i have owned all of those with the exception of a severum. from what i have heard its possible based on size the gt and con could give the sev a hard time.

[Gerry]

A pair of terrors will need a fair bit of space if they decide to breed, So along with your Oscar you will not be able to add all the rest of your list.
 
Green terrors -  8"
Jack Dempsey -  8"
Sev -   8 - 10"
Cons and firemouth -  6"
Quetzal Cichlid -  12"
Oscar -  12 - 14"
 
I am not the best at compatibility, As I have not kept a lot of cichlids in one tank so some of the others on here will be able to help you more, but I think you will be luck if you can add 1 or 2 more (Cichlids) from your list to your 2 Terrors and Oscar starting point.
Plecos vary in size from about 8"(min with an O in the tank) to 2 feet so beware what 1 you get, I would go with a mix of clean up crew to give you the community type tank you seek.

[tracey]

I agree with Gerry, you'd really only want to add one or two more fish to your Terrors and Oscar, otherwise you'll be running the risk of some pretty serious aggression when your GT's spawn.  They could easily take over half the tank when breeding, and the last thing you want is lots of large fish packed into a small portion of your tank. 

I would suggest either adding the Convict and the Firemouth OR either the Synspillum (Quetzal) or the Severum.  I'd stay away from the JD's, they tend to be very territorial and could cause a major problem by taking over the other half of your tank and not leaving anyone else any space 

If you decide to go with the Severum, make sure you buy the largest you can find.  Either that, or get the Sev before the other fish, as they grow a lot slower than Oscars and can be a little wimpy when they are small.

[Ezekial]

Personally i would ditch the idea of a pair of GT's because of the problem with breeding.  That will jump your aggression level way up and GT's are the most aggressive fish in that bunch anyway.  I'm not sure off hand what the Quetzal cichlid is so i'll have to look him up but i would stick think this might work:
1 GT
1 O
1 Sev or quetzal (depending on temperment etc.)
1 convict
1 firemouth

You could swap the JD for any of the top three but realize they are generally a little more territorial than the sev.  Again i am unsure of what the quetzal is so take that part with a grain of salt.  This list is about the max you would want to put in there.  If you want to add quite a few dithers or clean up crew i'd personally take out one cichlid.  You could add one pleco and maybe a couple cats with this group and some dithers (i'd stick to the smaller ones, giant danio's, my colombians seem to work OK but i don't have aggressive large cichlids)  I would think silver dollars, tinfoil barbs etc would get too big with that mix. 

If i were doing that tank with the fish you listed this is what i would do:
1 JD or 1 GT depending on preference
1 O
1 Sev (again because i don't know what a quetzal is )
1 FM
1 Pleco
3-4 Pictus/Pim cats (never can remember the difference)
4-5 silver dollars
4-5 giant danio's.

[Ezekial]

OK looked up the quetzal and this is what i got

Typically, Quetzal's have the same temperament as the Oscar, however Quetzal's are much more shy. As this fish grows, it will gain more confidence.

Didn't realize this was the old cichlasoma synisspillum (sp?).  He'll do fine as a sub for the severum in my original list if you wanted.  Good luck. 

Joe

[Dan]

I too would only go with the 1 GT.  I would probably suggest a JD in place of the Severum, just because if you don't get a fiesty Severum, you might have some problems as they aren't as aggressive as the other big guys.(Most of the time)

Joe, Pictus Cats are the ones that seem to grow bigger and are those so called"4-line cats" with a blueish color going through.

Spotted pims don't seem to grow as big or even last as long, for some reason. They have white with black spots all over them.

[Eric]

Four line pictus cats are tough customers. i have one that was in my african tank for a while, and he did real good. then he was getting bigger, so we ported him over to Nicole oscar tank. he does an awesome job of cleaning up after them, and can hold his own against the larger oscar when she is having a tempertantrum. heck, he still has all of his 'feelers" ( inkow they have a proper name, just cant remeber it) Nicole has a spotted pim, and now thats in my african tank, its half the size of the four line now.

i would recomend them to anyone! the are wonderful garbage disposals, can hold there own against most, and if your tank is big enough, get 2-3 of them, they are a riot to watch together, kinda like clown loaches