75 gallon

[shockshockshad]

I don't think I will do the discus in the 75 gallon. I don't think I am ready for the challenge and if I find that it is too hard, well, I wouldn't know what to do and I would have nowhere for the discus to go. So I think I will have 1 oscar, and some other sort of fish, but not bottom feeders. Or maybe some other large, south american cichlid. What fish would you recommend- I was thinking 1 large SA cichlid and maybe 2-3 other smaller species that are about 5-6".

For the discus, I was going to have lots of driftwood and a good bunch of plastic plants. I have these now, but is this what the native habitat of SA cichlids (not counting discus and apistos) looks like?

[jbeining75]

The smaller 5-6 inch fish will probably get abused in the tank. Put him in with a GT, Jack Dempsey, or a Texas Cichlid. You need something like size and like aggression that will be able to defend itself if the Oscar gets "playfully" aggressive. A 5-6 inch fish will be half the size of the Oscar when grown after a year/year and a half... 5-6 inch fish maybe 2 firemouths but I ca't guarentee the Oscars not going to getaggressive with them. The larger Oscars get the more aggressive they are and no two Oscars are the same temperment wise. They are their own fish so to say.

[cocoa_pleco]

i would get a oscar, and max 1-2 other fish. a oscar and a fullgrown GT or JD would be best

[Tigerbarb]

The native havbitat for cichlids includes LOTS of rocks.
[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]
This video of lake tanganika shows the habitat cichlids are from.

[shockshockshad]

That's african cichlids. I have SA cichlids. I like GT's and JD's. Whichever my LFS has I will get. Thanks guys!

[Incredulous_Ed]

Stock it with Frontosa. That would be SWEET

[shockshockshad]

Yah but I already have all of the decor, and the gravel in (they would need hard water with coral sand) and I really want an oscar. But thanks for the suggestion ed!

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

I thought you were going to do Discus with it?

[shockshockshad]

Yeah but I am not up to the challenge and the care. I don't want to care for them wrong. I just think I am not ready and I dont want to do all of the work!

[cabrego]

You could probably get away with a variation of my 90 gallon setup. I use to have oscars in that setup but, the Texan was way to aggressive with the oscars. Interestingly, she plays fairly well with the JD, GT, and FM. This is probably because the Texan was introduced as the new kid on the block at one point.

If you have to have an Oscar, you may consider the GT and possibly the JD as tanks mates..

[Incredulous_Ed]

Why not go with angels? Less agression than the cichlids mentioned (but not much less). Ten you could add some dwarf cichlids and some larger tetras cories. It would be cool.

[shockshockshad]

I don't really want angels either. I want a larger cichlid. I like the idea of one oscar and one GT.

[Incredulous_Ed]

Angels will get pretty big.

[shockshockshad]

But I mean like 10-14" big, not 6-7" big.

[Incredulous_Ed]

You obviously havent seen altum angels lol.

[shockshockshad]

they are tall though, not long.

[shockshockshad]

The tank looks a lot like a planted tank, so what about rainbow fish? What about just 12 boesemans rainbowfish?

[Red]

That would be cool but get different kinds of rainbows

[shockshockshad]

That would be cool but get different kinds of rainbows

They are schooling fish though so a big school of one type is cool to me.