120 gallon cichlid tank. Tell me what you think of this combo

[stalefish83]

This thread will show what I just picked up,

http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/aqua...d.php?t=110959

Here's what I plan to do with it:

1 Firemouth Cichlid
1 Honduran red point cichlid
1 Distichodus Lusosso (longnosed)
1 Dinosaur Eel
1 common pleco (already in there, about a foot long)

Will be using a fine black substrate, piles of lava rock and a lot of bogwood, hopefully some with some anubius growing out of it. Will not be filling the tank all the way until the dino eel gets bigger so he can make it to the top. I will add fish in order of aggression (least to most) and adding them when their sizes are similar.

My goal is to have a cichlid tank with just a few larger (5'' to 8'' if not a little bigger) hardy cichlids that are not too aggressive. avoiding pairs so there's no spawning happening as I know firemouth, and probably some of the others, get really aggressive when they have little fry to look after. Not that I don't like babys, I just don't have the time to manage them or the means to separate over protective parents.

I already have 3 other tanks (4 if you count my betta on my desk at work) so I want this to be pretty easy to manage when it's all said and done.

[stalefish83]

I assume since nobody has any objections I should be good to go!
Anybody know anything about the hardiness of these fish (cichlids and eel in particular)?

[talldutchie]

It's on the small side for that many aggressive fish, especially with the bichir and the lusosso. Personally I never saw the fun in creating a tank where you never know if something will eat something else. The red point and the fire mouth will stay a lot smaller than the other two so will be most at risk once the fish start growing
Make sure the "pleco" gets a proper diet, veg with some protein.

Run it at neutral, ph 7 to 7.5, temp of 25c.

[Sandz]

Honestly... I think that this is less a cichlid tank and more an oddball tanks with a firemouth and HRP thrown in... The HRP unless you get him big is going to be food for the Eel.. Same could happen to the FM. If I was you in a 120, I would cut the eel and go with a S/A Mix of Jack Dempsy, Red Sevrum, Fire Mouth, HRP and maybe add in a school of congo tetra or something large bodied and flashy. Start all the fish small and together and let them grow up together.

[fishmommie]

Honestly... I think that this is less a cichlid tank and more an oddball tanks with a firemouth and HRP thrown in... The HRP unless you get him big is going to be food for the Eel.. Same could happen to the FM. If I was you in a 120, I would cut the eel and go with a S/A Mix of Jack Dempsy, Red Sevrum, Fire Mouth, HRP and maybe add in a school of congo tetra or something large bodied and flashy. Start all the fish small and together and let them grow up together.

+ to Sandz suggestion. You've got a nice big tank. Why not go with a SA mix for your large fish and add the congos which would really add a gorgeous and active school with a lot of movement.

[stalefish83]

It is certainly an oddball tank! I only really call it an SA because the ratio of cichlid to non is 3/2... wait, never mind. the lussosso isn't an SA cichlid. So yea, it's not a traditional SA tank. at all. sorry for the confusion. We wanted another SA before we found the lussosso so my brain was still stuck on that ratio.

I'm thinking less about the lussosso, tho. He would be the biggest and most aggressive fish in the tank, I guess they also lose a lot of their color as they get bigger and part of his appeal was their appearance.

What would a good replacement for the lussosso be? Something that doesn't get quite as big as the lussoso, could hold his own with the rest, but not be overly aggressive?

From what I understand the cichlids I have chosen should only get really aggressive when they have fry and I'm not doing any pairs so I'm hoping to keep aggression down that way. With that said, I don't want convicts, terrors, wolf or jaguar's, I don't really like the way severums or parrots look, no oscars or JD's.

I plan to introduce the bichir when he's small enough to leave the cichlids alone. I love the way the bichir looks, but not just that, he's the one my wife is sold on. The two my wife really wants are the bichir and the firemouth. She is letting me keep this additional tank in the garage rather than using it for the goldies (the original plan), knowing I'll still need to upgrade the goldie tank. I gotta keep the wife happy! I figure the firemouth can hold his own with the bichir once he got big enough. Maybe i'm wrong?

[Sandz]

I would agree you are wrong on the birchir and FM... FM do not get very big and Birchirs can get 1ft-3ft if you get the wrong strain by accident. They look almost identical.

I love that you are planning, I just would want you to really research max size and compatability.