David R

Leopard danio? Leopard ctenopoma? Plectropomus maculatus? Leopard shark? Around 25C is a good temp for an 'average' community tank, just remember watmer water has less oxygen, so make sure there is enough airation.

The senegals shouldn't be much more than that.

'think' begins with 'th' not 'f'... :lol: I'd say a 150L should be fine for a couple.

Stop teasing! Don't even mention endi's etc.......

It would make a good breeding tank for a pair of festae, plenty of space to seperate them if needed. Another cool fish that doesn't seem to be available here, even tho its on the allowed list under the old name of cichlasoma.

Thats probably what they should be based on US prices, but theyre still uncommon here, so shops can nearly charge what they like

Yes it would work. However if the fish dig and expose the UGF plate it won't work anywhere near as well. Also, it seems kind of pointless to clutter up the tank with more stuff when the sump can/will provide enough bio media, and will be more efficient. One of the reasons I love the sump set-up is that there's almost nothing in the tank, no heaters, pipes, wires etc. Just make sure the cabinet has plenty of room for a big sump with a big tower.

Not really, didn't mention tank size, and didn't say they have to co-exist with the existing fish. Smax: How big is the tank? How have you set it up (planted? rocks?)? How much filtration do you have on it? What is the water like? Are you working towards any sort of theme, or just a general mixed community of smaller fish?

How about a whole lot of emoticons? DavidB, AFAIK festae and tetracanthus aren't available in NZ. G. balzani is also from south america and is much too peaceful to be mixed with the other fish you posted. The tank isn't very wide considering its length, so not really ideal for a CA community. Maybe a big male jag and a big male red devil would work, put some big rocks/wood in the middle so they can each have their own space. Would make a good tank for frontosa tho. Or maybe a group of around 6-8 uaru, some other SA cichlids (geo's, festivums, etc) some catfish, lots of driftwood etc.

I'm not hoping for anything, simply making a suggestion based on the [lack of] information in the OP.

thats pretty good!!! I'd watch the ornate with the smaller senegal. Mine has taken a dislike to the palmas so I've had to seperate them. They also have much larger mouths than it looks, a friend had his big one pick off a few of his decent sized clown loaches! Any pics???

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forum ... hp?t=65770 Pretty much everything you need to know (and heaps that you dont, but its interesting to learn anyway). Really cool fish, I've got an ornate and palmas, and I'm looking for more! Palmas, delhezi, and senegal are three of the smaller species (still around 30cm) that we can get here.

x2, although I'm not sure why you'd bother with a UGF if you've got a sump.

Arowana?

I wish!! The carpinte is a friends (Duncan7 on here), the other one is just a random googled image.

Hericthys carpinte or the proper texas cichlid, Herichthys cyanoguttatum? carpinte cyanoguttatum

I'll have to try it with mine! Hungry bloody thing....

Correct, although I'm not sure what it has to do with what I said. Someone said they ONLY eat live food, so I was merely pointing out they do eat other stuff quite readily. I didn't suggest replacing the live food with veges etc.

Not true. Ours eat beans, dandilions, capsicum, apple, prepared food soaked in water, as wella s mealworms and crickets. If you want beardies then definatly check out this guy. Really knowlegeable, beautiful well looked after lizards. Not sure if he'd be keen to ship, but I'm sure you could work something out. I'd fully recomend beardies over water-dragons or blue tongues, so much more interesting and interactive. They are a bit of work when they're younger, but so worth it!

Unless you get a dat much bigger than your oscar you could be in for trouble. I've had my dat for around 2 years, and its about 6-7", where an oscar would be that size in a matter of months. Best tankmate would be another oscar, or any medium sized semi-aggressive cichlid. Syno's would also work. How big is the tank?

Talk nicely to Richard.

Nice! Africans aren't really my hting, but I do hace a soft spot for fronts and compressorceps!

I'd also be interested to know too. Auckland zoo have some nice ones, and a heap of babies too. I remember seeing one for sale at jansens years ago, cant remember how much.

Good idea, I didn't measure my sump when I built the cabined for my 4' tank, had to get a new tank made up that was about 80mm shorter!! :oops:

MSPaint skillz pwns joo!!! :lol: Thats how mine is set up, although there's no peat in there now as its not needed, could use crushed shell, peat, anything you want. Bioballs stay out of the water, heaps of room for pumps, heaters, skimmers etc. Wouldnt use any other filtration on a big tank, ever.