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I need a "show" fish for a 180g community - Ideas?

16K views 78 replies 24 participants last post by  BryceM 
#1 ·
I have a 180g heavily planted tank that has been set up for 2 years now. The current stocklist includes:

12 Congo tetras - Phenacogrammus interruptus
30 Rummynose tetras - Hemigrammus rhodostomus
15 Cardinal tetras - Paracheirodon axelrodi
10 Harlequin rasboras - Trigonostigma heteromorpha
15 Otos - Otocinclus affinis 'niger'
6 Sidthimunki loaches - Yasuhikotakia sidthimunki
8 Corydoras loxozonus
a few dozen Amano shrimp

Since I set it up I've always had a few blue rams, Mikrogeophagus ramirezi, but they're getting old, and the orignal group of five is now down to two. It's time to try something else.

I'm looking for something that will add a bit of color and personality like the rams did. The tank is large enough and densely planted so it should be possible to keep a few of anything small and relativley peaceful. With the exception of the sidthimunki's, everything in the tank is fairly common. Something rare or unusual might be fun.

I like the idea of other S. American or African dwarf chiclids, but I'm open to ideas. Whatever it is must be peaceful, but I can tollerate a little spawning-time aggresion.

There are some new W. African dwarf chiclids coming on the scene. Anyone know where to get these?

The tank is reconstituted RO with GH 5, KH 3.
 
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#4 ·
I personally think that African Butterflies (Pantodon buchholzi) add a great deal of animation and interest to a tank like that. They may not be all that colorful, but they are just cool fish to have in the upper level of your tank. In my experience, they get along well with all of the fish you currently have in the tank too.

Angel's are another favorite show case fish of mine that work well in a tank like yours.

I know, boring, but cool.... :)
 
#7 ·
A pair of Nanochromis transvestitus would be great and in a tank your size they would have enough space not to kill each other!!! The female's colours are awesome.

Other than that some of the other Pelvicachromis species would be great and are very colourful.

They'll only keep the other fish away from their breeding site. Other than that aggression is just between themselves.
 
#45 ·
:pound: I nearly spewed coffee all over my computer when I read that! Can you imagine what a pair of Oscars would do to your beautifully planted aquarium?!

Seriously though, very nice fish you got. How have they been with your plants? Any picking at the leaves or digging?

-Dave
 
#9 ·
In my experience, if you want showy, active, peaceful fish, you can't go wrong with rainbows. There are so many different cool rainbows to choose from. Rarefishatlax on Aquabid is probably one of the better breeders for the rarer types of rainbows.
 
#10 ·
Thanks everyone.

xdoomsongx - I love discus and will probably convert the setup to a discus tank someday.

jmontee - I've had peacocks before and they're pretty unusual fish. They only lived about 4 or 5 months though. Maybe I should try again. I'm worried that I'd never see them though.

Jan - Do the butterflies have a tendency to jump? I do need a little activity in the upper layers, but most fish that live there often try to go flying. The back of the tank has a pretty large opening. I absolutely love angels, but they've always intimidated congos in my tanks. Someday I might try altums in the tank though.

TexGal - Red congos? That might be interesting assuming they could be found.

ed seeley - Nanochromis transvestitus is one I've never seen or heard of. West African chiclids are absolutely on the list. I really admired the recent article in TFH about some of the pelvicachromis species:





Where can you find W. African chiclids? Anyone know?

Aaron - I love rainbows and initially tried to find a school of praecox for the tank. I got 8 and all of them promptly died in quarantine. They're actually almost impossible to find around here. I also worry that they'd not find the soft water to their liking. Anyone know where to get these guys?
 
#17 ·
Jan - Do the butterflies have a tendency to jump? I do need a little activity in the upper layers, but most fish that live there often try to go flying. The back of the tank has a pretty large opening. I absolutely love angels, but they've always intimidated congos in my tanks. Someday I might try altums in the tank though.
Yes, apparently they do to an extent, but not as much as something like a Hatchet would. I've never had a problem with them getting out of the back opening of my tank like I did with the Hatchet's. I think the big key there is to have a few surface plants for them to hang out under, so they feel secure.

I have about a million of the common Kribs (want some? ;) ), and they are beautiful fish, but as stated, they breed like bunnies. I know Tony Orso has some of the more uncommon varieties like you have pictured above, so he might be a source, if you're looking.
 
#15 ·
I had a pair of kribs for awhile. They were just the common ones, but they had beautiful colors and were fun to watch. The only thing I hated about them is that they bred like rabbits. They are also great parents, so those babies don't die often. They filled up a 55g in 2 months with about 60 or so juveniles which I ended up with about 50 of them living. They do stop spawning though when the population gets too big.

I'd go with a rarer species of W. African dwarf, try cichlid-forum.com to see descriptions of different species and pics.
 
#18 ·
How about checkerboard cichlids? They like soft water.
 
#21 ·
Thanks ingg & Jan.

I tried calling the guys at Rehoboths. Their website looks great but they wouldn't really give me the time of day. It seemed like I was annoying them by calling.

I'll try these other guys.

The more I look at the W. African chiclids, the more I want some. The photos of these fish are absoloutely stunning.
 
#22 ·
Thanks ingg & Jan.

I tried calling the guys at Rehoboths. Their website looks great but they wouldn't really give me the time of day. It seemed like I was annoying them by calling.

I'll try these other guys.

The more I look at the W. African chiclids, the more I want some. The photos of these fish are absoloutely stunning.
Twofishguyz is pretty good. I have dealt with them.
 
#25 ·
OK,

Ryan at twofishguyz replied. It looks like I'll have some Pelvicachromis taeniatus "Moliwe" on the way next week. These photos are from Erik Olson at "The Krib."





We're definitely spoiled when it comes to the Internet. Can anyone remember what it was like trying to find rare species 10 or 20 years ago?
 
#26 ·
Congrats Bryce! Let us know how it goes. :)

Oh yeah, I definitely remember how hard it was to find anything but the norm in this area, and even if I did ask my store to order them, they'd get it wrong and argue that the scientific name of the fish I asked for is the same as something completely different.....
 
#28 ·
Yeah, they're very much like regular kribs in behavior, but perhaps a bit harder to breed (which might be a good thing!). Males get about 3" in length, females about 2-1/2". The one thing that's interesting is that the females are almost more colorful than the males - pretty rare among fishes. I ordered 6 of them, 3 males & 3 females. If/when they pair off I might move one pair to a smaller breeding setup.
 
#29 ·
Great choice Bryce. You probably find they manage to breed and raise fry in your big tank, after a few run throughs anyway. The Pelvicachromis species I've bred (incliding taeniatus) have all raised fry in community tanks. NB. most species in the Chromidotilapine tribe have females with more colour than the males, including Pelvicachromis, Nanochromis, Benitochromis and Chromidotilapia. They're all great fish too.
 
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