New 55 Gal. South/Central American Cichlid Tank

Cole

Small Fish
Mar 9, 2011
21
0
0
Iowa
#1
Hello all. This is my new 55 gallon freshwater cichlid tank. My goal was to create as natural of an environment as possible for my fish. I used some large viny plants to give the appearance of prosperous plant growth and used small plants to fill in spots and to fill the foreground. I used driftwood and some large porous rocks along with some smaller unique rocks that I have collected.

I have had the tank running for five weeks. Filtration includes a Cascade 1500 cannister filter packed full of bio media and a Penguin 350 Bio-Wheel Filter with activated carbon. I am circulating the tank from right to left using the outlet from my cannister filter and a powerhead on the right side of the tank.

Occupants: 2 Tiger Oscars
2 Nicaraguense
1 Albino Cat
1 Pictus Cat
1 Gold Nugget Pleco

These fish will move to a larger aquarium when they outgrow this one.
Any feedback is appreciated! Pic Below:
 

nanu156

Large Fish
Mar 8, 2010
745
0
0
Detroit, Mi
#6
Hey hun sent a pm but want to add this to the thread.

Oscars and SOUTH AMERICAN/CENTRAL AMERICAN cichlids really should have open spaces sparce decorations and plants only as planned snacks (as in your other planted tank is overcrowded so you tossed some plants in instead of throwing them out)

Those oscars grow super fast, and really need a 125+ to be happy. :( the Nicaraguans are awesome and an endangered species but really need a different tank as well.

The cats are pretty much unacceptable for anything under 125G as well :(

can get get a pic of your nugget?? would love to see.

Would suggest discus or angels (particularly angels) for this tank. In lieu of the other species.

Keep the ammonia down, don't let it spike with your nugget in there it would be upsetting to lose a 50-100 dollar fish! YIKES

also no meds what so ever with the nugget in the tank.
 

Cole

Small Fish
Mar 9, 2011
21
0
0
Iowa
#7
Thanks for all comments and advice, very helpful!

I am going to make some changes in fish composition for this tank. I purchased a 125 gallon aquarium yesterday. I'll build my own stand/canopy....and move the oscars and catfish into that tank. The Nicaraguans...I'm not sure what to do with quite yet. I may change this tank over to angels. I do miss keeping angelfish.

Doing a water change tonight. Tommorrow I'm going to finish up a homemade wet/dry sump project I've been working on for a while...it'll come in handy at some point.

Once again thank you for all posts!
 

nanu156

Large Fish
Mar 8, 2010
745
0
0
Detroit, Mi
#8
3 x Blue Ram (Mikrogeophagus ramirezi)
3 x Golden Ram (Mikrogeophagus ramirezi)
3 x Angelfish (Pterophyllum scalare)
2 x Keyhole Cichlid (Cleithracara maronii)
3 x Kribensis (Pelvicachromis pulcher)

is what i would do, you could reduce those numbers, and the kribs would need watching, honestly I would try to go all female or all male with the kribs if you could.

You could also skip kribs and do all rams or skip rams and do all kribs.

This is the perfect tank for that type of setup.

BTW aquadvisor freaks out over the gold nuggets eventual size but they are slow growers, takes nearly a year to get a 2" fish and a 14" fish is likely well over a decade old. BTW if you can grow out to max size they sell for a hefty price as they don't breed below 12"