New 90 Gal Severum & Firemouth what else?

[Regan1959]

Hi all,

First time poster. I’m getting back into the hobby after many years away from it.

I currently have a 3.5” Green Severum, a 2” Firemouth & a 4” Pleco in a 60 Gallon tank. The Sev and Firemouth get along very well. Matter of fact the Firemouth has been watching me hand feed the Sev and has started inching up toward the top as well!

I’m setting up a new 90 gallon for these guys this weekend. Any suggestions for a possible new world tank mate?

I‘ve been looking into maybe one of the following:

Blue Acara, Festivum, Rainbow Cichlid, Geophagus brasiliensis, Geophagus surinamensis or Blue Eyed Cichlid.

Any other suggestions for a good fit? Any thoughts on which are the best match to both the Sev and the Firemouth?

I’d also like to add a school of 5 Tiger Barbs.

Any thoughts or suggestions are welcome

Thanks in advance.

Ray

 

[Amazontankz]

Hi, congrats on your new 90g!

Thats great that the Sev and Firemouth get along. I've had no experiance with firemouths and was actually thinking of adding one to my list of inhabitants for a future SAish tank. I do have an 8" Severum and just love her to death.

Anyway,
I think the Blue Acuras are a good idea, I hear they go well with Sevs. Silver dollars get along great with severums and they look very appealing together. I guess it would depend on the other fish you add, but you might have enough room for a small school of a smaller type of silverdollar. Of course that would be without the Barbs.

 

[ChileRelleno]

I'll second the Blue Acara as a good possibility.
But since you already have two nice cichlids that'll be roaming all levels of the tank, I'd suggest a Earth Eater. The Sparkling Earth Eater is very pretty and will fit in nicely.
If your after a school of dither/target fish to liven up your Severum and Firemouth, I would not recommend the Tiger Barbs becuase you have a South American tank going already and their from Sumatra/Borneo.
I'd go with some Tetras, Bleeding Heart or Red Eyed would be nice and are 2.5-3" in size with nice coloring, they would complement your fish and tank.

What type of Plec do you have?

 

[Regan1959]

Thanks for the great responses. I too think the Blue Acara is the number one choice, but, surprisingly with living on Long Island, with so many LFS’s to choose from, I can’t locate one. Green terrors yes. Everyone has them. I even had a store owner tell me today he doesn’t stock the acara’s because no one wants one. I may end up buying one on the net.

Someone else mentioned how about another Severum? This time a gold. Hmmm .... something else to ponder. But I’m not sure if I want to start breeding or breaking up fisticuffs either.

I was looking at a very nice 3” Geo. surinamensis this past week. And I am totally enamored by the looks of the Geo. Brasiliensis. I’m just a little leery because of the eventual size of these guys. I think the same goes for the sparkling earth eater. Beautiful fish but, the 90 is going to have to be my largest tank, well for awhile at least .


Do you think I may be pushing it a bit by adding a potential 10” eartheater to the mix? I’m going to be running a magnum 350 along with a hot magnum 250 on this tank. I am religious on weekly water changes currently on a 55 community and the 60 (which is going to be a rainbowfish tank)

Silver dollars are an idea too but, I do believe they may eventually get to large for the mix. I think I like the red eyed tetra idea better then the tiger barbs. Thank you for the recommendation!

The pleco is a common one. Yes I know he’ll eventually get enormous, but he’s a transplant from another tank. He’s been keeping the 60 gallon spotless. Staying in his cave most of the day and then a flurry of activity at night.

Ray

 

[Amazontankz]

I have a hard time finding Acuras too, when I do finally get one I will have to order them. You might want to check around for a LFS owner that will order a certain fish for you. Some are cool that way, they will just order a small shipment of them and sell what you don't buy just like anything else, even if you only get one. One of my LFS is like that, they don't even charge. Infact the guy likes it when I order stuff because it gives him an excuse to order something new.

I can't give any advice on the eath eater as I have never kept one and don't know how much waste they produce ect.

I agree with changeing the barbs out for a SA tetra, there is just a real nice cohesion (sp?) to a tank with all the inhabitants from the same corner of the world. I have never kept more then one Severum in a tank but I think as long as they are not a breeding pair you have a good chance of them being fine when it comes to aggression. They really are not that aggressive of a fish.

 

[Regan1959]

With my very limited experience with fire mouths, I can tell you that any aggression this one shows is all bull. He’ll flare his gills at the pleco, but mostly because the pleco just flew out of his cave and scared the daylights out of him. He has totally conceded the rule of the tank to the Severum.

I’ve had Oscars and Dempsey’s back in the old days. This time around I’m looking to keep a more happy and harmonious tank. These two have worked out very well together. That is why I am being so choosy about who gets to share the tank. I’d like to keep the Severum as the top fish.

I have 3 Prisctilla tetras in my 55 gallon community tank and they are real nice tight swimming fish. I’m looking forward to seeing a group of 5 larger SA tetras doing their thing in the 90.

Ray

 

[YoFishboy]

I live on the west coast and I also have a hard time finding Blue Acaras. 20 years ago you could find them everywhere! They are a great fish! I had a green and a gold severum in a 75g years ago, and they started breeding! Eartheaters are great too and i think would be fine in a 90g. I have a breeder pair of blue eyed cichlids, and they are peaceful to other tank mates even when they are breeding. A couple of silver dollars in a 90g would be nice - add a lot of activity that is different than cichlid activity. It sounds like you are doing great with filtration and water changes. Whatever you decide to get, it sounds like its going to be a great set up!

 

[Cat]

Well I keep a Sev and 2 firemouths together, I agree with the Blue Acara idea, I have kept them in my cichlid tank before and my female firemouth used to follow him around like a puppy. Alternativly how about other types of Acara, there are loads. I have a pair of Aequidens Metae (Yellow Acaras) and they all get on fine. I would suggest however you are cautious about introducing new fish to your Sev, Firemouths are fine as they tend to be all bark no bite, just flaring up at each other, My Sev however can be VERY terratorial. Introducing another Sev poss not a good idea as they can be very intolorent of their own kind. Also In my personal experience stay away from Angels or Oscars, I have tried twice with Oscars and every time my sev has tried to kill them. He did succeed in killing the Angel

 

[Regan1959]

Thanks to everyone’s advice and ideas. Here is a link to the finished project (actually is a tank ever finished?)

Click for link

I had two different stores tell me they could order a blue acara, but they would be small. This afternoon I walked into a different LFS and found a beautiful Rainbow Cichlid. At 2” + he’s large enough for the mix. He was on my list, so how could I resist?

The little guy is already bonding with the Sev. He’s already gone from dark, almost black to light yellow then to light brown and back to yellow. I’ve read that they’re not usually that colorful until they mature or mate. He’s putting on a decent display already.

The Firemouth is most times in his own little world, flaring his gills at the pleco and then running away when the pleco moves. It was like that in the 60 and the move to the 90 hasn’t changed a thing.

The Sev had a little bit of a tough time in the getting used to the new tank. He was the king of the 60 gallon and I believe the new setup had him a little perplexed. After and hour or so, he hooked up with the Rainbow and seamed to be more at ease with the new surroundings.

The 5 bleeding hearts are an experiment. So far they are doing OK. The Sev has tried chasing them down a few times. The Firemouth has too. If they get too stressed I can move them to a 55 community setup and go for 3 Silver dollars.

For anyone who is curious. I swapped out my filtration system (magnum 350 container ¼ carbon, ¾ fiberfill) from the original established 60 gallon system. I also pulled one of the bio wheels from the 60. Over a two week period, successive 30% water changes from the 60 where added directly to the 90 gallon setup. 10 days later the tank is completely stable. The water quality is a prefect match to their original tank.

I am currently running 3 tanks, 55, 60 & the 90. I’ve found that using the same filtration system on all three is a great time saver. The magnum 350’s w/ bio wheels are my first experience with canisters. I really like the flexibility of being able to move the bio wheels to help establish a new tank.

Once again thank you to the folks on this board who gave their ideas and opinions. I hope you enjoy the pictures. Any comments or suggestions are defiantly appreciated!

Best,