Keeping the peace... stock ideas

[DMD123]

Been very happy with my reduced number of fish in my 210g. Very peaceful tank, but also a bit boring. I could use some stock ideas....

Pork Chop the Pearsi is a keeper and always out and about. The other fish in the tank are a bit of a dilemma to me. While it is cool to watch the school of seven red hook silver dollars I have been thinking to reduce their number or replace them with a something else. I want to maybe have five and then add a few other fish. I dont know for sure. They are skittish at times and really make you feel nervous watching them. I also have a rhino pleco who is cool but a hider but comes out for feeding and a hopplo cat who is very active but gets picked on by the pleco so no peace for the bottom. Thinking of replacing the pleco and hopplo cat with two bichir I already have (del & weeksii)

Some ideas for fish include:
Super Red Sevrum
Chocolate Cichlid
Firemouth or Thorichthys pasiones
Fire eel
Roseline sharks
Australian Rainbows
large live-bearers (Mollies?)

So what peaceful tank inhabitants would you guys recommend? (Color would be nice too)

 

[Killybeys]

I have 7 Australian rainbows and they are great fish! super fun to watch and very friendly when you walk past the glass! and when they get big they have beautiful colors. Roseline sharks are also fun when you have a big tank.

 

[DMD123]

I have some regular rainbows in my bowfront that are really cool active fish. They were Petsmart ones for under $2 each. The ones that I am considering for my 210 would be the fancy like Boesemani or Red Irian.

 

[Killybeys]

I have both and they are beautiful. Another cool colored one are the blue rainbows. I have just about every color of rainbow fish and its amazing watching them all swim in a school of different colors!

 

[DMD123]

I actually got the idea of the rainbows from Hank's old display tank at Aquarium Co-Op. I loved the large puffer mixed in with all the little schoolers.

 

[DMD123]

Hey Killybeys, How is the Jurupari in your tank? I might consider something like that to go in my tank also.

 

[Killybeys]

Ya hanks old tank was awesome! And hes awesome! hes really friendly and is good at cleaning the bottom! He eats a lot though haha

 

[Cory]

Flagtail Prochilodus
Giant Danios are fun also
Goodeid Live bearers would be neat also.

 

[DMD123]

I had a flagtail before. Cool fish but chased the silver dollars around, so I got rid of him due to aggression. It did get along with the cichlids...

 

[lloyd378]

Regani! I love mine and very peaceful for the vieja types

 

[lloyd378]

And they have great color

 

[DMD123]

Regani are cool. Ive never tried keeping one of those but they are beautiful. I have had interesting cichlids over the years but some are aggressive in strange ways. In my last couple of mixes I had fish that became scale eaters. They would nip at the silver dollars to scape scales to eat. One of them went as far as nipping at the pearsei who was like three times its size. I dont know why they have exhibited this behavior but more than one fish has displayed it. Afraid the Regani would do something similar...

 

[lloyd378]

I feel like the regani and pearsi are similar in personality.... With the pearsi being a little but stronger from my brief experience with one pearsi ..... I could see them fighting a lil bit to establish pecking order if you got one the same size, but I think if you picked up a 4" one, it would be really mellow.,.. But rainbow fish are cool too

 

[DMD123]

Ive heard the regani are milder but never had any experience with them. I appreciate the idea, I will keep my eyes open for one and then watch it for a bit and see its behavior.

 

[DMD123]

I was 'watching' my tank over the weekend and realized what really bothers me are the silver dollars. I think I just have too many in my tank. With seven large red hooks it is just a bit overwhelming. They school together and just have too much of a presence. I think I will take two out this week and see how it looks. Five big red hooks in the 210g should still have a nice effect.

went to Sumner this weekend and saw some nice little chocolate cichlids.... still might consider one of these in the tank. Any one raise these? Whats the personality like?

 

[lloyd378]

Mine regani is near 12" and he runs the tank ( because all the other fish are half his size). Or maybe I should say he runs the tank when my female red isletas is on the other side of my tank..... She is right at the 9" mark with my best guesstimate.... And he definitely runs from her when she is in his area. I'll try to shoot some videos tonight and upload them here so you can see the regani behavior.

 

[lloyd378]

[flash=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/v/CG1Zm1UJM0s" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true[/flash]


Here is my short phone video of my regani,  don't mind the over crowding, I'll be thinning the family again soon, but here you can see the mellowness of mine

 

[DMD123]

Looks to be a mellow fish. I have to say that is a lot of activity in that tank. I like the interaction but at the same time all the bickering among the cichlids would drive me nuts. I think I might like just one BIG wet pet or just ditch the skittish silver dollars and get an assortment of other 'large' community fish instead....

 

[DMD123]

I took a look at some other fish that I had not considered in a while and the snook came back up. This has been on my radar for a long time. Maybe its time to get 'snooki'

I also have considered heterospilus... they too have a rep for being pretty easy going.

 

[lloyd378]

I don't mind the bickering as long as it doesn't turn into an actual lip lock or biting each other on the sides.....


Back to your fish, I saw a large red snook at the lfs last time I was in there..... Wasn't in the best shape, but still a cool fish.

I'm now thinking that a red tailed cat and a pork chop would look nice. Lol