Finally!

[DasLimpet]

Hello,
My name is Jackie
I have finally found a forum with smart people and competitions too!
I am just getting started with a 135 gallon setup. I am fully cycled and all I have are 2 huge plecos at the moment to keep the cycle going.
I took the plecos from a buddy of mine but they are limiting me.
I wanted Malawi's but the water chemistry may not be suitable for plecos?

Anyway, what are some ideas for stocking with colorful fish?
Thanks...
Now to go and vote!

[crackatinny]

Hi and welcome, I will leave your query to other members, I am more the village idiot around here, the clown:thumb: , enjoy the forum

[Abbeys_Mom]

Welcome to the forum :)

[Cichlid_Man]

Hey Jackie, welcome to AC.

I have a 75 gallon set-up with all Malawi's, and I do have a large pleco in there.
They can handle the chemistry just fine.
Make sure you have hiding places just in case the cichlids get nasty.
I would make sure to use Seachem aquarium products for buffering and "salts".
That is the best for the cichlids and the pleco will do fine.
One is called cichlid lake salt and the other is called Malawi/Victoria buffer.
They are available at [Only Registered Users Can See Links.] if you can't get them in you LFS.
Some use aquarium salt and baking soda. I don't, but people do have succes with that.

Love to see pictures when you have it stocked!!!

I am sure someone else will be along with other suggestions if you are not comfortable with cichlids.
Bye!

[Drumachine09]

Hi and welcome, I will leave your query to other members, I am more the village idiot around here, the clown:thumb: , enjoy the forum


Its ok, everyone has their own special place at ac.:thumb:

[jeffs99dime]

welcome to a.c.

[nikipate]

Hi Jackie..... I'm new around here too and have been really enjoying the info and conversation. We just set up a 150 gallon around Christmas and I can tell you what we put in just to give you an idea. I think you kind of have to decide whether you are going with semi-aggressive or non-aggressive fish and that will kind of narrow down your choices to somewhere in the manageable range (lol). We were told by our LFS that because of having such a large tank (as you do too) that we would be able to mix aggressive and non-aggressive a little bit more than we would be able to in a small tank. Here is a list of the fish we have put in:

2 silver-tip sharks
5 black skirts
4 gold skirts
4 red minor tetras
4 bleeding hearts
3 black phantom tetras
5 tiger barbs
2 clown loaches
1 blue powder gourami
1 dwarf gourami
1 flame gourami

They all seem to be getting along ok. The tiger barbs fight with each other but don't bother anyone else as long as they are in a group of about 4 or more. We started with 6 but lost one. We put the non-aggressive fish in first and let them settle in a little bit before we put the semi-aggressive fish in. After the tiger barbs I think the red minor tetras are the coolest. They are very pretty orangish-red. They are the smallest fish in the tank but they get right in there and chase around with the others.

I hope this helped a little bit and enjoy stocking your tank!!

[NorthernBoy]

Welcome to AC. Well I would advise you to not do a african cichlid tank with plecos. Most plecos react negetively to extremely hard water and also high pH. I suggest a S.A. cichlid tank if you like cichlids or a community tank like niki did. Good Luck.

[Lady Hobbs]

Welcome to AC Communtiy. I don't know about the cichlids with the pleco........especially of the large species of pleco. I would do a Google search to see what is compatible with the pleco if you wish to keep them. It's a shame to have such a nice big tank and be limitied in what fish you can have. You could have a really nice cichlid tank. Do you know what type pleco you have? If these are limiting to what you can have in your tank, you might consider selling them to the fish store or replacing them with what you want.

Another problem is cichlids need salt and pleco's don't do well in salt so you might have some decisions to make.

[blue fin]

Welcome to AC!!

[Severus]

Welcome to AC

[jeffs99dime]

welcome to a.c.

[Glasstapper]

jeff, you welcomed this person twice. LOL just wanted to make sure, right? :)


oh, yeah. Welcome to AC! You'll like it here.

[jeffs99dime]

did i?! lol. well then, they get a double welcome from me then! lol

[jman]

welcome to the forum