# 125 stocking



## PSmithAZ (Aug 12, 2007)

What do you all think of this for a 125 gal? 

1 tiger oscar, 1 Banded Leporinus, 1 Gold severum, 4 Silver Dollars, 2 Clown Loaches, 1 Featherfin Catfish

Maybe a Jack Dempsy instead of the Banded Leporinus.

Will a Rainbow Shark survive this tank?


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## redpaulhus (Jan 18, 2005)

I'd add more clown loaches - they're very social. 4-6 would be good.
A jack could work depending on the jack - I've got a big one and 2 little ones in my 125g along with an adult Oscar, and other than the need for large frequent water changes, they are fine.
(I've also got loaches and severums in there).

I think the rainbow would be ok, but again its going to depend on your other fishes - I've got a flying fox and 3 SAE's in with my big guys, and they aren't bothered - but my big guys are pretty mellow (they eat pellets and frozen, not live).


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## Gourami Swami (Jul 4, 2006)

Sounds good to me


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## PSmithAZ (Aug 12, 2007)

What else do you have in your 125 redpaulhus? No better way to know what works than to hear it from someone who has done it


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## PSmithAZ (Aug 12, 2007)

Been playing with a few ideas, how about 1 Tiger Oscar, 1 Albino Oscar, 1 Jack Dempsey, 1 Green Terror, 6 Clown loaches, 6 Giant Danios, and 1 Featherfin Catfish. Is that pushing it on a 125 gal with 2 cascade 1200's and a whisper 60 for filtration?


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## redpaulhus (Jan 18, 2005)

PSmithAZ said:


> What else do you have in your 125 redpaulhus? No better way to know what works than to hear it from someone who has done it


I've got an adult Oscar, an adult JD, a pair of small (stunted) 4" JD's, 5 5" green severums, 3 5" blue acaras, a 5" eartheater that I haven't ID'd yet (got it at auction, and it wasn't labeled), a few clown loaches, a few SAE's, a single large flying fox, a few adult _Ancistris_, a few odessa barbs, a few giant danios, an adult spotted pictus, and two "sun" cats (asian catfishes, about 6", hide all day).

The overcrowding keeps aggression muted, but the tank needs water changes weekly. 
This is a classic "unplanned" tank - (I bought it to setup a Lake Malawi utaka tank) - The Oscar and JD were adopted from undersized tanks (the oscar has major HLLE scars, and was a mess when I got him - huge open sores on his head) and the tank soon became "theirs" and the utaka plan shelved.

Years later, the severums and acaras were "unwanted" 1" fry at club auctions that had to go _somewhere_ at the end of the night... most of the other fish were adopted thru the club or work (LFS). Right now I don't think I've bought any of the current occupants other than the eartheater.
(and the pleco's were born in my fishroom).
As the Severums and Acara's have grown (and colored up) I've seriously considered trying to adopt out the "Big Two" and turning the tank over to the mid-sized cichlids - but I've become too attached to the big guys and don't have room for a second large tank right now (I've got another dozen smaller FW tanks and 2 marine tanks at the moment, with plans to add a few racks of smaller tanks)

So this really isn't what I'd say "works" in a fishload sense - its really really tight and if I miss a water change I see ragged fins and a sulking Oscar - but in terms of behavior, all of these fish are really pretty mellow and work well together. The danios and barbs are large enough and quick enough to avoid predation (mostly) and work well as dither fish.


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