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135 gallon stock

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Pekostka

Members
I am restoring a 135 gallon 6 foot tank and I am looking for some advice on what I can use to stock it with. I currently have a 2" green severum, a 2.5" blue acara and six 2-2.5" angelicus loaches. I want to add 4 clown loaches, 4-5 red head geo tapajos, and 7-8 Denison barbs. However, I am concerned the tank is a little bottom heavy. So I am thinking of rehoming the angelicus loaches to open up some bottom space. I am also thinking of adding a flagtail prochilodus for more top activity, in which case I would scrap the barbs since they would likely end up snacks when the flagtail is full grown. I also thought of adding rams or kribs instead of the angelicus loaches (they are bottom dwellers too, but also take up some middle space), in which case obviously the flagtail will not work. Or I might keep the angelicus loaches since clown grow to be 16"!!! LOL I am torn because I love the way clown loaches look (especially when they are young), but I will not be getting a tank upgrade and I am not sure 4 full grown clown loaches will be happy in the 135 gallon tank. Rehoming large clown loaches has always been a problem for a friend of mine and I don't want to have to do all that. So here are my 2 ideas:

1:
1 green severum
1 blue acara
1 flagtail prochilodus
4-5 geophagus tapajos
4 clown loaches or 6 angelicus loaches

2:
1 green severum
1 blue acara
4-5 geo tapajos
5-6 rams or kribs
7-8 Denison barbs
4 clown loaches or 6 angelicus loaches

Thoughts? Clown or angelicus loaches? Rams/kribs and barbs or flagtail? Keep in mind all the fish will start out juvenile size (or at least as small as I can get them as long as they get along and are not a threat to their fellow tankmates).


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D-money

D-money

Members
i would worry to much about the clowns outgrowing your tank if you start with 2-4"guys. They are extremely slow growers...I read an article recently that said it takes about 10yrs to reach full size. Biggest I've ever seen where about 8" at the catfish convention awhile back when it was in Laurel. Love the Denison Barbs, I have 6 5"ers in my 120...always moving. The severum will be the wild card....some are docile while others can be bullys.
 
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Pekostka

Members
D-money said:
i would worry to much about the clowns outgrowing your tank if you start with 2-4"guys. They are extremely slow growers...I read an article recently that said it takes about 10yrs to reach full size. Biggest I've ever seen where about 8" at the catfish convention awhile back when it was in Laurel. Love the Denison Barbs, I have 6 5"ers in my 120...always moving. The severum will be the wild card....some are docile while others can be bullys.
Click to expand...

Yeah. I love the look of the clown loach, but I worry they will get cramped in the tank when full grown and a friend of mine got 4 of them at about 4-5" each for his 110 gallon. Had them for about 2-3 years and when they started having space issues, he tried to rehome them and no one would take four 8-9" clowns. I will definitely be starting out small in the 2-4" in range, but I would be nervous I could not move them once they got to be 8-10" and take up 1/4 of the bottom space with geos who are mostly bottom dwellers. Plus my girlfriend apparently has taken a liking to the angelicus loaches we currently have and wants to keep them for the 135. That just means I would have to get rid of the clowns even earlier. I would prefer to keep them their entire lives, but I don't plan on upgrading at all in the future unless I stumble upon some amazing deal that I just can't pass up.

I think I will pass on the clowns. Love though I do, I don't think they would be practical or happy if I can't move them to bigger homes.

I have read up a lot of severums because I love them. I am actually planning on getting 2 turquoise or 2 super red juvie severums from Jeff Rapps if he still has them when I have the 135 up and running. If they pair up, I will move the pair to a 75 gallon tank and keep the rest in the 135. I am hoping to get a breeding pair from the lot. My LFS has told me they would offer $3-4 per 2-3" turquoise or super red fry if I can successfully breed them. They also told me they would pay $2-3 per geo red head as well once they are over 2". But I think one set of breeders is enough since I only have a 135 and would have to get a breeding tank for something else.

The turquoise severums that Jeff had are all from the same spawning. How bad is it to inbreed? Will I end up with poor quality fish or mutants? LOL

I will probably rehome the green severum I have since he was sold to me as a turquoise and he definitely is not (took me three weeks of him coloring up to find that out). The blue acara is likely headed to a friend's house because he wants a male and thinks mine is one. That is okay with me. So I will probably be left with 2 severums, 6 angelicus loaches, 5-6 denison barbs and 4-5 geo red head tapajos. Will that be too much, just right or do I still have room for more?


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