Peaceful cichlids for small cichlid community?

momar

momar

Born too late
Jan 6, 2006
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UK
I returned my festivum today after it had been bulling my 2 angelfish. next week I am going to go to the lfs to get a replacement fish. ideally i would like to get a second species of cichlid, but I am afraid as to what problems there could be. Tank specs are:

Rekord 96l (30x12x15"/25 US gal)
Juwel filter does I think 400lph
0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 12.5 nitrate (mg/l)
heavily planted, with wood and rocks

Fish in the tank:
2 angels (2.5")
15 harlequins (adult, 1.5")
3 zebra danios
5 otocinclus
1 marbled syno (4.5" adult, entirely nocturnal)
1 'starcrown peckolita' (2", adult)
3 ADFs

Sounds well stocked, I know, but ammonia etc have been entirely stable since cycling over a year ago. There are plenty of hiding places and the fish aren't crowded (the only active open-water daytime fish are the angels and harlequins). any ideas would be appreciated - I was thinking some species of dwarf cichlid, maybe rams?

Thanks,
momar
 
really man, don't tempt fate by adding anything else. I knew someone who had the same tank size and stocking as you do, and one day they woke up and they're ammonia was 1.0 and they're nitrates were 2.0 and over half they're fish were dead. you can maintain an aquarium that overstocked, but you'll be on thin ice all the time.
 
yeah..your pretty much stocked there..
 
With the known adult size of some of those fish, and no knowledge of your capabilities to upgrade, you should lose some of the stock you have, not add more.
 
I think you're all right. No more fish. When the angels get big I will be able to upgrade.
 
When you do upgrade, you might revisit adding a festivum. In my 125, both festivums are rather shy. I suspect the behavior you noticed was due to lack of space.
 
That is a lot for a 25-gallon... especially with angelfish. Most of the time, a pair should be in at least 30-gallons and mostly to themselves with maybe some bottom feeders or a few other small fishes (nothing mouth-sized of course :P).

You sound like you have a full and, for the moment, contented community tank. I'd leave it as it is. Your angels are going to need more growing room as it is and it's better not to pick something up, get attatched, and end up having to part with it or have it die because of overcrowding, right?

If you're wanting more cichlids, just invest in another aquarium when you have the chance. That's what I'm having to do, despite the fact that there are soooo many fishes I want riiiiiight now. ^__^;;
 
keep in mind that the stock will have some impact on how the fish grow.
case in point..last year I purchased a 20 gallon tank from a young lady (well younger than me) she was dismantling her breeding tanks. 20 gall with heaters lights filters etc for $20

she was maintaining a tank in her house..5-2 year old scalare in a 20!!!

they biggest was half the size of my scalare(my wife thought they were young angels as they were about 2").
 
originally posted by star_rider:
she was maintaining a tank in her house..5-2 year old scalare in a 20!!!

they biggest was half the size of my scalare(my wife thought they were young angels as they were about 2").
Click to expand...

Based on that, how long will my angels need before upgrading (presumably when they get to about 4.5" or so?).

A note about the way i stocked this tank: I based it on a theory in Axelrod's Mini-Atlas, which says a 2" fish uses about as much food, O2 etc and produces about as much waste as 8 1" fish of the same build. as far as I could see, that makes perfect sense. Obviously you have to make allowances for behaviour, shape etc. So bioload wise, my 15 harlequins are roughly equivalent to both angels at their present size of 2" each. It's interesting to see also that here in the UK people tend to overstock by US standards.

Thanks for all the help, guys, it been very useful. :)
 
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