900 Gallon Stocking

[Seraki]

Hey everyone, I’m new to the site here so sorry if this is posted in the wrong section.

I’m looking for a bit of advice with stocking and compatibility. My new tank will be 144” x 30” x 48” (LxHxD) I would like to fill it with
- 12 geophagus winemilleri or red head tapajos (possibly both mixed together)
- 4 severums
- 4 blue acara
- 2 threadfin acara
- 1 green terror
- 30 denison barbs
Plus my 1 red tail black shark and 2 striped raphael catfish.

I was wondering if I could also add a firemouth, a convict and a jack dempsey. Just a single of each not a pair.
And advice or recommendations would be great. Thanks ?

 

[Lalo J.]

Dang it man! That tank will be huge, I think you will not have problems with the cattle you want but I do not know much about large cyclids, maybe it's better to wait for the opinion of more experienced people like FishAddict or WYite. It will be a great build, keep us informed.

 

[Seraki]

Thanks mate! I’ll make sure I keep everyone updated with pictures as soon as they’re allowed on site to start the build! It’s been my dream to have a tank this big for years I’m just amazed my wife actually agreed to it ?

 

[FishAddict74]

Hey everyone, I’m new to the site here so sorry if this is posted in the wrong section.

I’m looking for a bit of advice with stocking and compatibility. My new tank will be 144” x 30” x 48” (LxHxD) I would like to fill it with
- 12 geophagus winemilleri or red head tapajos (possibly both mixed together)
- 4 severums
- 4 blue acara
- 2 threadfin acara
- 1 green terror
- 30 denison barbs
Plus my 1 red tail black shark and 2 striped raphael catfish.

I was wondering if I could also add a firemouth, a convict and a jack dempsey. Just a single of each not a pair.
And advice or recommendations would be great. Thanks ?

I think you’re stocking is good, but i don’t know about adding the con, Jack or fire mouth. Cons and jacks can be pretty aggressive and territorial, more than the green terror from my experience and fire mouth do better in groups. You tank sounds awesome, you should post a vid or pics whenever you get it stocked

 

[Lalo J.]

Thanks mate! I’ll make sure I keep everyone updated with pictures as soon as they’re allowed on site to start the build! It’s been my dream to have a tank this big for years I’m just amazed my wife actually agreed to it ?

So you have a fairly understandable wife . Post photos as soon as she can.

 

[FishAddict74]

Thanks mate! I’ll make sure I keep everyone updated with pictures as soon as they’re allowed on site to start the build! It’s been my dream to have a tank this big for years I’m just amazed my wife actually agreed to it ?

It’s my dream too, hopefully my wife will agree some day lol

 

[Wyomingite]

Hey everyone, I’m new to the site here so sorry if this is posted in the wrong section.

I’m looking for a bit of advice with stocking and compatibility. My new tank will be 144” x 30” x 48” (LxHxD) I would like to fill it with
- 12 geophagus winemilleri or red head tapajos (possibly both mixed together)
- 4 severums
- 4 blue acara
- 2 threadfin acara
- 1 green terror
- 30 denison barbs
Plus my 1 red tail black shark and 2 striped raphael catfish.

I was wondering if I could also add a firemouth, a convict and a jack dempsey. Just a single of each not a pair.
And advice or recommendations would be great. Thanks ?

Hello, welcome to the site, Seraki. Awesome sized tank you're planning.

There's a few things I would do different, but there is only one that I would definitely change. That one thing is the number of threadfin acaras, Acarichthys heckelii. The common name of threadfin "acara" is misleading. They actually aren't acaras at all. These are geophagine cichlids that are more closely related to Geophagus, Gymnogeophagus, Satanoperca and others than they are to true acaras such as the green terror and blue acara, which are cichlasomatine cichlids. Threadfin acaras are even more closely related to rams and dwarf cichlids of the genus Apistogramma than they are to the acaras.

With that explanation, the one change I would definitely make is to increase the number of threadfin acaras to 6 or 8 or so. Threadfins acaras actually form loose shoals in the wild, like many other geophagines, and they will display more natural behavior in a group.

Other than that, you should be good to go, even with adding the dempsey, firemouth and convict. You have a huge footprint on that tank and I don't see any real issues with that stocking. The other small changes I would make would be to go with only the winemilleri or red head tapajos, not both, and would probably have only one blue acara, but I don't see either of those as being any hassle as is and you'll be okay the way you have it. This is all contingent on adequate filtration, of course.

WYite

 

[FishAddict74]

Hey everyone, I’m new to the site here so sorry if this is posted in the wrong section.

I’m looking for a bit of advice with stocking and compatibility. My new tank will be 144” x 30” x 48” (LxHxD) I would like to fill it with
- 12 geophagus winemilleri or red head tapajos (possibly both mixed together)
- 4 severums
- 4 blue acara
- 2 threadfin acara
- 1 green terror
- 30 denison barbs
Plus my 1 red tail black shark and 2 striped raphael catfish.

I was wondering if I could also add a firemouth, a convict and a jack dempsey. Just a single of each not a pair.
And advice or recommendations would be great. Thanks ?

I forgot to mention a possible alternative to the convict would be a sajica/Tbar cichlid. They’re similar but not quite as aggressive and look a little better in my opinion. The males average around 6-8” and females about 1/2 that.

 

[Seraki]

Hello, welcome to the site, Seraki. Awesome sized tank you're planning.

There's a few things I would do different, but there is only one that I would definitely change. That one thing is the number of threadfin acaras, Acarichthys heckelii. The common name of threadfin "acara" is misleading. They actually aren't acaras at all. These are geophagine cichlids that are more closely related to Geophagus, Gymnogeophagus, Satanoperca and others than they are to true acaras such as the green terror and blue acara, which are cichlasomatine cichlids. Threadfin acaras are even more closely related to rams and dwarf cichlids of the genus Apistogramma than they are to the acaras.

With that explanation, the one change I would definitely make is to increase the number of threadfin acaras to 6 or 8 or so. Threadfins acaras actually form loose shoals in the wild, like many other geophagines, and they will display more natural behavior in a group.

Other than that, you should be good to go, even with adding the dempsey, firemouth and convict. You have a huge footprint on that tank and I don't see any real issues with that stocking. The other small changes I would make would be to go with only the winemilleri or red head tapajos, not both, and would probably have only one blue acara, but I don't see either of those as being any hassle as is and you'll be okay the way you have it. This is all contingent on adequate filtration, of course.

WYite

Hey WYite, thanks for the advice! Especially about the threadfins, had no idea they were kind of a shoaling fish. I think they look awesome so I’d be more than happy to add a group of 6-8. As for filtration I’m planning on having a 96” x 24” x 24” sump plus I’ve got 3 fx6’s I can use too. Do you think that would be enough?

 

[Seraki]

I think you’re stocking is good, but i don’t know about adding the con, Jack or fire mouth. Cons and jacks can be pretty aggressive and territorial, more than the green terror from my experience and fire mouth do better in groups. You tank sounds awesome, you should post a vid or pics whenever you get it stocked

I wouldn’t mind a group of firemouths but I was trying to avoid the aggression of ending up with a breeding pair