# Hi Guys!!



## JGlenn213 (Jun 4, 2012)

Hey fellow fish lovers,

I'm not sure if I'm posting in the proper section so excuse me. I have just recently bought a larger aquarium. Bought a 75 gallon rectangle recently at a pretty good deal. $150 off for the 4th of July at my local Petsmart. Nothing too fancy so far. Just some fine white substrate witha Fluval 406 canister filter and appropriate 75 gallon heater with LED light with timer. Its been set up for about a week now. Put my 2 fancy goldies in from my 29 gallon to get a jump start on my cycle. Bought a piece of fake driftwood today from a Petsmart in the next town. In the area that I live, it is very hard to find good local fish stores and the chains like Petco and Petsmart do not have very much to offer in the decor area. Pretty bummed about that. I have recently started to take an interest in cichlids. My parents have had Oscars and Pacus growing up so I have been around them so I have somewhat of an idea of what to expect. But my question is of Severums, German/Bolivian Rams, Convicts, Angels, firemouths and Peacocks. I know they all don't fall into the same category of African or South American. But I'm wondering about compatability of any of these together. I've heard that Severums and Rams are somewhat peaceful compared to the more aggressive Oscars, flowerhorns, etc. Any insight folks? Would it be possible to keep any of the listed above with my fancies if I wanted to keep them in the 75. I was thinking about a red spotted gold severum with a couple of rams and maybe a peacock. I have no idea if that would work together as a community though. Also I have seen "Cichlid Substrate" in sealed bags that have mixed substrate with bacteria and all ready to go. Is that necessary or could I use my substrate? I need some Gurus. And I apologize for my topics being all over the place.


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## The Gremlin (Jul 11, 2015)

Hi JGlenn213*w2


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## The Gremlin (Jul 11, 2015)

Well thats a fantastic start *pc


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## kalyke (Nov 19, 2014)

Congrats on the new tank. 

Keep goldfish with cichlids? Is that what you are asking? Goldfish are totally different, and are cooler water fish. If they are fancies then they are very slow swimming and will be out competed for food. Please do not put nice goldfish in a tank to start a cycle. Modern fishkeeping is trying to get people to non-fish cycling. All you are doing is shortening their lives. To correctly and quickly cycle your tank take everythign out of your old tank and put it into your new tank. Cycling is about growing bacteria. 

Let me put this in a better way. Your fish do not have any of this bacteria on them. They just provide the bacteria with its only food, and that is their pee. Meanwhile, you have a 29 gallon tank full of the bacteria that you want to grow in your 75. Any surface inside the 29 has this bacteria on it, even the inside of the glass. The best way to cycle the tank is to take out all the "furnishing" like rocks, even the little ceramic castle, any plants, the filter, (just put it on the 75 and get it running). Take all that stuff and put it in your new tank for a month or so. But also if there are no fish in the 29 you are not feeding the bacteria. I do not know who said it, but someone big in fish keeping said that you have another big fish in your house and that is the tank. In a sense, the tank is a habitat of thousands or even millions of these beneficial bacteria. So if you put all the stuff from the tank in, then you have nearly immediate cycling. 

How long does a cycle take? Nitrosomonas are relatively slow growing. They double by cellular doubling. It takes 7 days for a cell to double. They are tiny like 4 microns in size. So you want them to live in the surface area of a 75 gallon tank. If you have one inch worth of nitrosomonas, you will have 2 inches by the end of the week. So just throwing a gold fish in new tank will take forever. Better to take those nitrosomonas you already have and re-use them. 

Another good tip is that if you know you are setting up a tank, buy things in advance, and put those in the tank for a week or two also. As long as you do not 'wash" anything with tap water (untreated water has chlorine/chloramines in it and will kill beneficial bacteria on contact) or let it dry out, then you can still use it to inoculate your tank. 

If you have goldfish then stick with goldfish unless you want two tanks. Gold fish are one of the only fish you should not mix with much of anything. In all the compatibility charts on fish I have ever seen, goldies have no compatible fish friends.So while they would appreciate a 75 gallon as they can get to be 6 inches round or so, you should not mix them with other "tropical" fish. 

I find when buying fish you should not just randomly get anything that suits your fancy. A better way is working within a biome or habitat like "Amazon River" or "Lake Malowi" 

Finding a biotope you like and getting fish and animals from only that zone is an issue of compatibility water temperature, water current, softness, hardness and whether the fish get along.


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## JGlenn213 (Jun 4, 2012)

Thanks for the advice. I can see how my post can be a little confusing. I set my tank up for about a week to condition the water and added a buffer of stability to start. Put my fancies in for about a week and a half to start showing some ammonia. Then I put them back in their home and started added some flakes to decompose to keep a supply of ammonia until the cycle started rolling good. My biggest question was and is with stocking. Wanting to have a red spotted severum as the main attraction. Can't decide what I want to accompany one that won't cause issues. Thought about different thinga such as blue acara, firemouth, electric blue jack dempsey. The ebjd are beautiful if you can find a good species. I've read on a few forums that the ebjd is a good bit more timid than the true jack dempsey from selective breeding for color. But I can't decide. Wordering if anyone haseen had luck with any of these or possibly any other south Americans with severum.


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## JGlenn213 (Jun 4, 2012)

Severum finally came! Now just to decide the company for it. Blue acara? Electric Blue Jack Dempsey? Severum is beautiful. I will give it a few weeks to get acclimated then give it a buddy. Anyone had any luck with ebjd with severum? I want some offset colors. But don't want WW3 going on in my tank.


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## Summer (Oct 3, 2011)

Pretty fish. what did you decide on?


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