Fish Selection, Views Welcome

Sounds like the makings of an incredible tank. My only thought to the otherwise would be that it seems a little bottom heavy. Don't the rams and the apistos also tend towards the bottom reaches of the tank?

Dave,
I like the idea of a large tank, and about 75g fits the bill. However, some of these choices concern me, more because of aggressiveness than because of size.

You have three different types of algae eaters:
Ancistrus, Clown Plecs, and Ottos.

While this might be do-able, Plecs are notorious for their aggressiveness, and the ramifications of the two large ones turning their anger upon each other may not be worth chancing. I would suggest reducing the number of large ones and possibly adding some more Ottos to keep algae down. Just remember, though, that until their is established algae in the tank, you will have to feed the Ottos, and they may become too accustomed to the supplementary feed to do their "work". Also, they have a tendency to be fragile, so make sure you keep that water clean!!!

I think that the cichlids listed here might cause the most problems, though. Unfortunately, if they begin to breed, you will have basically a partitioned 50g/25g tank, since those fish will want to protect their young. I read once that Angels are less than angelic when breeding. That having been said, the Apistos, Rams, L. dorsigera and Angels are oft-recommended as community fish, so you may be able to get by with having them in there. Just have a separate tank ready for the quarantine of new fish, or the removal of aggressive ones.

I just read that the Egyptian mouthbrooder is moderately peaceful as well.

Clown loaches like to live in "schools", so you may wish to purchase three or more. I am not sure, though, how they would handle the intrusion of Cories as I have never mixed the two.

Since I am not too familiar with many of the fish in terms of size, I could not tell you if the tank would be overstocked. I can assure you, though, that with a little diligence in watching the behavior of the animals within, this would be a very pleasant diversion to whatever room in which it is stored.

Best of luck,

Matthew

I wouldn't keep dwarf cichlids with medium or large ones - they're going to be stressed out if they can't carve out and defend territories.

From my readings in the 2002 Aquarium USA annual, angels eat neons like crazy, so that school of 12 you mentioned would not survive for long.

Sorry, didn't see that you had that (Angels eat neons) in your post, but another thought...while fish may school better in hostile environments, the constant stress of that may quickly wear down their immune system and cause them to succumb to disease.

As mentioned I'd rather keep 4 clown loaches than just 2. In my 75G I have 4 clowns and 5 cories. You might want to stick with maybe one type of algae eater as mentioned. A pair of bristlenose isporbably best as they tend to stay smaller. I have a breeding pair, which every now and then try to bulldoze a cory but no harm is done. As for angels I think most assumptions are made on wild behaviour. However, twice I have raised small juvenile angels with schools of neons. In both cases when my angels reach adult size they have never even attempted to eat a neon, despite the fact one could easily fit into their mouths! Might be something to do with being raised with them, and the fact they may be too well fed to bother eating a neon? If you are still worried you may choose cardinals instead of neons (but they will cost more). You may have slight problems with the number of cichlids, but this can be avoided with plenty of driftwood, cave structures and plants. Introducing them all at once will help, so they cannot claim large territories before the others are introduced. Best of luck.