# 125 gallon tank stocking?



## kamanut (Jul 26, 2007)

Hey all. Question--I just got a 125 gallon Oceanic aquarium that I will stock in a month, when my fiance' and I move into our new house that we are buying. The tank is 4 feet long, 2 feet wide and 29 inches high. 

My tap water pH is 8.0 and it's fairly hard, if that helps at all.

So, I'd like to stock it with clown loaches, rainbowfish, and a rainbow cichlid as a centerpiece fish. Would I be able to do 6 loaches? How many and what types of rainbowfish would be good? Thanks!


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## blindkiller85 (Jan 8, 2011)

Congrats on the house, first and foremost. 

Most fish usually adapt to water. Some die in the process but most will live. The key is keeping it stable, so unless you're running an RO system to remove everything and level out your PH, keep the water the same. Sure most fish will do well in X-X ph and hardness, but most adapt and survive very well out of that range. De-chlorinating your water will be a pain for how many gallons you have to change. But I think you already know that.

Stock sounds pretty good to me. Rainbow's you'll just have to find which ones you like, most rainbows are all the same minus color.

As far as how many fish, use http://aqadvisor.com/ to plugin all your information. Filter, tank size, stocking and it will give you a good guestimate on how many fish you can reasonably do. It's not perfect, but it's good enough to go by (IMO). Just play around with the numbers of fish.


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## cossie (Dec 19, 2010)

As far as rainbows go, i think the bosemani rainbowfish is your best option but ONLY IF U LIKE IT.

It is one of the more common rainbow fish but this also means one of the cheaper, however rainbows arn't cheap when u start buying them in double figure numbers.


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## kamanut (Jul 26, 2007)

Thanks--we are really excited for the house. And I can finally set up all my tanks! 

Petco can order in fish...they have Bosemani, New Guinea Red, Turquoise and Neon Dwarfs that I like. I'll probably skip the dwarfs since they're pretty small, and go with a mix of the Bosemani, New Guinea Reds, and Turquoise. So...how many of each should I get? I was thinking I could do 5 or 6 of each, as I do tend to be an overstocker and the loaches are slow-growers. 

Also, I've worked with AqAdvisor...it doesn't like my clown loach situation. lol.


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## blindkiller85 (Jan 8, 2011)

That's because they get HUGE. As far as their growth rate, I've seen one go from 2" to 5" in a year. After 5-6 inches though that's when they really slow down.


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## funlad3 (Oct 9, 2010)

Sorry, I just can't help myself.... 125 gallon? 8ish pH? New house? That is the most perfect scenario to set up a reef tank! I couldn't think of a better one myself. Try it. You won't be disappointed.


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## chronoboy (Jan 17, 2011)

LOL funlad your like the car salesmen of SW tanks, im looking into a 125g SW for my office, found a 125g reef on craigslist for 1500$ says he has put over 12,000$ in it and has recipes for it and alot of the stuff is still under warranty, it was a show tank for his shop, but i fear buy the time my wife lets me have my office back it will be sold 

and for your tank have you thought of discus and rams with alot of plants and maybe a group of of small schooling fish?


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## kamanut (Jul 26, 2007)

Yeah...with the new house and having to buy new furniture and getting married in July, we don't have the finances currently for a SW tank or discus, and I'm also going to be spending my time breeding cichlids in my other tanks. My planted tank is going to be my 58 gallon oceanic tank with small schoolers....this one I wanted bigger fish, which is why I'm planning on the rainbows and loaches or else a mbuna tank.  For filtration, I'm thinking the Eheim 2028 the tank came with, and Rena xp3 or xp4. Thoughts?


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## toddnbecka (Jun 30, 2006)

Clown loaches will eventually grow to about 18" if properly cared for, but average growth rate is around 1"/year IME. Odd numbers are better for social fish.
I have a better option than the rainbow cichlid for your water; Australoheros oblongum. They're the smallest species of the genus (males 6" max, females around 4.5"), and very mellow fish that play well with others too big to eat. I have loads of them growing out, and they will be pairing of soon. 
Adult male:









Female looks almost as good, shorter fins:


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## kamanut (Jul 26, 2007)

Very cute little cichlids!!

So, after visiting the butterfly house in my town and seeing their rift lake tanks, my fiance' and I think we want a mbuna tank. 

What about this for stocking:

6 x Maingano (1M-5F)
5 x Pseudotropheus Acei (1M-4F)
5 x Red Zebra (1M-4F)
5 x Cynotilapia Afra (1M-4F)
5 x Yellow Lab (1M-4F)
5 x Rusty Cichlid (1M-4F)
3 x Synodontis Multipunctatus

What are my other options for fish??


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## chronoboy (Jan 17, 2011)

Ya im liking the smaller cichlids, had oscars and a electric blue dempsy, but I hate getting rid of them when they outgrow my 55g, so I went with rams and angels lots of plants and then discus maybe.

I'm in the same boat as you, I have me a little one on the way and am trying too run two house's till i fig out what im going too do, my wife is in the army stationed here in texas and I own a small roofing business back in oregon, but I dont want to miss out on the childs birth and first year so after she deploys not sure if ill stay here or head back to oregon so dont want to drop the money on the discus yet till i know better.


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## e048 (Dec 23, 2010)

well the only other fish you can put in there are more cichlids or you can try a pictus cat or 2 or 3, Ive had pictus' with cichlids and they do fine and ive had some get torn to pieces in 10seconds, it's your call really


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## toddnbecka (Jun 30, 2006)

I'd drop the red zebras from that stocklist, they're more aggressive than the others.


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## e048 (Dec 23, 2010)

you could do a ram tank, those are nice fish


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## kamanut (Jul 26, 2007)

Lol thanks....any other mbuna that would work? I've done rams, and don't want to deal with pictus's, even though they're beautiful. Also, the tank is actually 145 gallons.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

I actually agree with drop the zebras. Red zebras and yellow labs have been know to interbreed. Maybe the syndos would take care of the fry.


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## kamanut (Jul 26, 2007)

I don't mind the hybrids actually...my favorite fish why just passed away was a Red Zebra/Yellow Lab hybrid. We'll see I guess.


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## platies pwn (Nov 29, 2010)

toddnbecka said:


> I'd drop the red zebras from that stocklist, they're more aggressive than the others.


if he is going to drop them then he should drop the yellow labs also from what i heard,they boh are the same in aggressiveness


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## kamanut (Jul 26, 2007)

Yeah I'm keeping the yellow labs for sure. I would be ok with switching the red zebras out for something else...what do you suggest?


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