Centerpiece species for South American themed tank

[Snagrio]

I'm deep in the process of getting a 125 gallon ready for a South American themed community with driftwood and live plants (not going to be particular about the plants fitting the theme though, at the minimum I'll have an Amazon sword lol).

I've gotten most of an idea of how I'll stock it. Two bristlenose plecos that I already have and currently waiting in another tank, cories for the bottom (not sure which species yet), a mixed shoal of neon and black tetras for the middle and marble or platinum hatchets for the top, perhaps some apple/mystery snails as well.

But what I'm unsure on is what I'll go with for the centerpiece. My thoughts naturally went towards angels but I've heard far too much controversy over them snapping up small tetras. Some kind of dwarf cichlids like agassizii, cockatoos or rams maybe?

And keep in mind this is all preliminary, the tank itself isn't fully ready so I have more than enough time to plan things out and hear other opinions first.

 

[NoodleCats]

Id skip the angels. Mostly because they'd eat your smaller fish potentially. And many cories like cooler temps than angels, so you might also find yourself trying to juggle around too many different temperature ranges.

But what about keyhole cichlids? Theyd be compatible with your stock choices and great for a large tank! Beautiful fish too

 

[Wyomingite]

Id skip the angels. Mostly because they'd eat your smaller fish potentially. And many cories like cooler temps than angels, so you might also find yourself trying to juggle around too many different temperature ranges.

But what about keyhole cichlids? Theyd be compatible with your stock choices and great for a large tank! Beautiful fish too

I'm a little confused. Are you saying neon tetras and black neon tetras, or just black neon tetras?

Festivums are another fish that would be alright with decent sized tetras. I wouldn't hesitate to keep black neons with keyholes, and I've kept glowlights (which are about the same size as black neons) with angels, festivums, and keyholes. That extra centimeter or so that black neons and glowlights have on neons makes a big difference, and keyholes are one of the more mellow, least predatory cichlids I've ever kept. I'd let the black neons grow out a little before I added any cichlids, one way or another. As for neons, I'd still worry a little about a larger keyhole male that was 4-1/2"-5" taking an occasional neon as a snack. The first time I kept angels was in a 10 gallon (this was 37 years ago) with neon tetras, and it took a few day to figure out where my neons were going. Since then I refuse to put neons with anything even remotely large enough to eat them. Maybe I'm just paranoid. ?

If you went with a group of keyholes or festivums (or a combo of the two since both top out at 4"-5") instead of angels, that would open up a lot of options as far as tetras go. Neither fish has the long flowing fins of angels so you wouldn't have to worry about avoiding tetras known to be fin nippers.

WYite

 

[Lalo J.]

Keyhole cyclids are attractive, but for a South American tank I wouldn't hesitate to add angels as the centerpiece. You can try to get a group of jumbo cardinal tetra, put them in a QT/environment tank to make them grow and strengthen them, and add juvenile angels that in no way will have a chance to eat them, and both species may get used to living with each other and this way when the angels begin to grow they will not look for you as food.

 

[FishAddict74]

I'm deep in the process of getting a 125 gallon ready for a South American themed community with driftwood and live plants (not going to be particular about the plants fitting the theme though, at the minimum I'll have an Amazon sword lol).

I've gotten most of an idea of how I'll stock it. Two bristlenose plecos that I already have and currently waiting in another tank, cories for the bottom (not sure which species yet), a mixed shoal of neon and black tetras for the middle and marble or platinum hatchets for the top, perhaps some apple/mystery snails as well.

But what I'm unsure on is what I'll go with for the centerpiece. My thoughts naturally went towards angels but I've heard far too much controversy over them snapping up small tetras. Some kind of dwarf cichlids like agassizii, cockatoos or rams maybe?

And keep in mind this is all preliminary, the tank itself isn't fully ready so I have more than enough time to plan things out and hear other opinions first.

I think a pair of rainbow cichlids would be a fairl

I'm deep in the process of getting a 125 gallon ready for a South American themed community with driftwood and live plants (not going to be particular about the plants fitting the theme though, at the minimum I'll have an Amazon sword lol).

I've gotten most of an idea of how I'll stock it. Two bristlenose plecos that I already have and currently waiting in another tank, cories for the bottom (not sure which species yet), a mixed shoal of neon and black tetras for the middle and marble or platinum hatchets for the top, perhaps some apple/mystery snails as well.

But what I'm unsure on is what I'll go with for the centerpiece. My thoughts naturally went towards angels but I've heard far too much controversy over them snapping up small tetras. Some kind of dwarf cichlids like agassizii, cockatoos or rams maybe?

And keep in mind this is all preliminary, the tank itself isn't fully ready so I have more than enough time to plan things out and hear other opinions first.

if you want to keep angels, I would do rasbora instead of neons, brilliant rasbora have a similar look but get big enough to not get eaten, most likely. I also think keyholes and festivum are good to keep with neons. You may have to occasionally replenish the neons but they won’t get eaten all at once,’if at all

 

[Snagrio]

I'm a little confused. Are you saying neon tetras and black neon tetras, or just black neon tetras?

Both. A big mixed shoal of neons and black neons is something I've been wanting to do for a long time. In fact I did somewhat achieve it some years ago, then the clown loaches I have (they're getting rehomed) figured out they're edible. Every single one was gone within a week.

 

[discuspaul]

You could consider a half dozen adult Discus along with a few Rams, a group of Cories, and perhaps a school of one or more types of Tetras, some of which have been mentioned here. You'd need to be attentive to maintaining the water quality that discus need, but they'd make a great 'gentle' centerpiece.

 

[Snagrio]

Discus are WAY too expensive for my budget. And I'm essentially relearning a lot of things so I'm certainly not an advanced keeper by any stretch so that'd be a double risk getting something I don't have confidence in keeping alive.

 

[FishAddict74]

Discus are WAY too expensive for my budget. And I'm essentially relearning a lot of things so I'm certainly not an advanced keeper by any stretch so that'd be a double risk getting something I don't have confidence in keeping alive.

What about a severum? Yes they will probably get some of your neons, but a shoal as big as you’re getting, I imagine if you kept the severum fed, it would see going after the tiny neons as not worth the effort most of the time since picking off one out a large shoal is much harder than if you had 10 or 12 neons, and you could just replenish the neons periodically if it did grab a few

 

[Wyomingite]

How about cupid cichlids, Biotodoma cupido? In my opinion, these are one of the most underrated SA cichlids around. They are gorgeous; pictures don't do them justice. They're sand sifters, and I think I'd actually consider keeping neons with these guys. I had five some years ago, two males and three females, and they didn't get overly aggressive even when the males were fighting over a female or territory. It was mostly just display and didn't even involve much jaw-locking. They didn't bother the glowlights or diamond tetras at all, and only bugged the cories when the cories got in their faces while they were sifting. That was just running the cories off and out off the way so the cupids could go back to their sifting. They didn't uproot the cabomba or the dwarf chain swords, they just sifted around them. They max out around 4" to 4-1/2". I've wanted to keep them again recently, and they're for sale a lot more often these days than they used to be. They're on my list to order once the weather warms up.

WYite