American Cichlid display ideas

[JameyRM]

Hey guys,

just starting a little project (unsure whether to put this in the general discussion or the DIY, so moderator please move accordingly!) on making an american cichlid display tank. I'm not strictly keeping one region of cichlids, for example i have a jack dempsey split, braziliensis and an oscar (not to mention a few L numbers and 2 plecos) I am going to pick up 3 red texas on wednesday, but will probably only keep one or two for the display. It's a 6 x 2 x 2 tank. I will be adding a few more fish yet, we will see how agression goes, I may have to dump a few in to share it out, or remove some so i'll be keeping a close eye on them. I have kept americans before, although I am still a beginner to them in some ways, only having kept a few different ones and am still finding more and more american cichlid species. so the long winded question is, what should a display look like for them? I realise due to the keeping of different regions i'm mashing several environments into one, but I was thinking of going a more driftwood amazon look? And how would I pull it off? Ideas on where I can get the stuff and what to use would be much appreciated. If you think I should change my idea of the display to suit another environent let us know and give us some guidence, i'm all ears.

Cheers

[Syndicate]

To much bio load for a 6x2x2 unless you keen on daily waterchanges

[JameyRM]

they were all in a 4 x 18 x 18 for months and lived quite happily...the filtration at the moment is a 2000l/hr and a 1000l/hr canister filter on the 6 ft... I need to upgrade fairly fast to keep a larger amount of cichlids

[Fish Junkie]

Sump is the way to go if your intent on more fish in a 6 foot

FJ

[JameyRM]

thanks mate, now I need to find out how to make a sump..

[Azedenkae]

Most aquarium strains of americans don't give that much of a crap about water parameters and environment and all that anyways, so it's actually not hard to mix americans of different locations.

If you want a tank with more than just americans, I would recommend against red texans, these hybrids can be very aggressive due to the Amph. side of their genetics and may not be fun to have later on when they kill everything (because I assume you'd want variety).

As it's a 6 x 2 x 2, I would actually recommend a different path from what you're planning/americans that you mentioned. Oscars are filthy eaters and imo look ugly, Briziliensis will be nice, JD... well they're okay too I guess. But I, personally, would recommend a mix of the more placid americans, which will provide you with the opportunity to keep L-numbers and other peaceful fish without any worry. These would include Thorichthys ellioti (Elliotis), Petenia splendida (Red Bay Snooks), Hypsophrys nicaraguensis (Parrot Cichlid), Archocentrus multispinosus (Rainbow Cichlid) and Cryptoheros spilurus (Blue Eyed Cichlid). They are all relatively peaceful and will provide plentiful coloration for you to gawk at. Yes this would mean getting rid of a lot of the current fish you have, but imo it'd be a much better tank stock.

IMO.

However, keeping your current stock, I would suggest adding in a pair of Super Green Texas (Herichthys carpintis var. Escondido or Vontehillo) instead of the Red Texas, and a pair of Paratheraps of some sort, specifically the less aggressive ones (Paratheraps synspilus or regani). They're aggressive enough to stand up for themselves, but shouldn't be aggressive enough to kill everything.