75 gallon aquarium - suggestions needed!?

Question

I was thinking of buying a 20 or 30 gallon tank but when I mentioned this to a friend she told me she had a 75g (stand, hood & all) that she could give to me. I was thrilled, but a little taken back. The stocking I had planed for the 30g could be doubled for this new tank. Anyways, I need some fish suggestions for the tank. I was looking at:

- keyhole cichlids (maybe a pair?)

- a big school of tetras or rasboras

- bottom feeders (corys, bristlenose pleco?)

Thanks for any input, I really need some help.

Answer 1

You have to decide what kind of fish you want to keep, peace full or semi-aggressive  to aggressive. There are many varieties of peace full types of fish that can be mixed together. If you want color, I would suggest Cichlid's.  But the Cichlid's family has many different varieties within that group. You would need to do some research on what Cichlids are semi and which are just down right mean! Back to the peace full types, my favorite are Gourami's. They are in the labyrinth family of fish. I have  a pair of Red Flame Gourami's, a pair of Neon Blue Gourami's, a Honey Gourami, a Paradise fish (also in the Labyrinth family), a German Blue Ram (one of the peace full Cichlids for the community tank, probably the only one as a matter of fact...lol), two plecos, a Panda Cory, several Ghost Shrimp and two Boesemani Rainbow fish. My Paradise fish will literally eat of my hand and the Gourami's are not far behind him. A 75 gallon gives you a lot of "playing around" room, you can have 3 females to each Gourami male you have, my single pair Red Flame Gourami male has made bubble nest after bubble nest trying to get the female to mate but I think she's in love with the Neon Blue male Gourami....just joking, but she has not shown any interest in him what so ever. Fun to watch too.

Another option is Discus. They require larger aquariums like you are getting but require just one pair per tank plus maybe Pleco's ect., but they are beautiful pricy fish, several colors to choose from. Another option is brackish fish, like Puffers. There are a few different kinds of Puffers to choose from and other types of brackish fish.  

Good luck on what ever type of fish you choose.

Answer 2

the cichlids will kill everything else. sorry but when working with cichlids the only community fish you can put with them are plecos

Answer 3

I think tanks that contain many small fish are just as impressive as tanks that house a few large fish.  If I were in your position, I would put driftwood in the tank and create an amazon biotype with the plants and all.  Then I'd add a huge school of neons and colombian tetras.  Then I'd probably consider a large school of cories (about 10).  From there, I'm not sure.