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My tank is 75 us gallons (48" x 18" x 20"). And I'm looking to get a brown bullhead (as a GROWOUT). Other fish in the tank now include 6 giant danios (dither), 1 striped raphael catfish, 1 sailfin pleco (4" now and again a GROWOUT). I'm upgrading to a 180+ in fall 2015. Now I know people on here aren't generally fans of cichlids but I'm looking for a single 8-10" cichlid that won't outgrow my tank and is compatible with all the other fish. Also that won't push me over my bioload. As of now I'm changing 60% weekly but am willing to change up to 80% weekly. Filter is a fluval 406 and I'm building a DIY moving bed sponge in a week or so. What cichlid should I get that won't overcrowd the tank. And again the pleco and bullhead are grow outs and I'm committed to getting a bigger tank in about a year and a half because I already have the pleco. Thanks for help in advance my fellow catfish addicts

Mesonauta insignis - festive cichlid

Any way a green terror or a Severum could work?

A severum might work ok but a greeen terror is a too aggressive. The giant danios are at risk from the bullhead & striped Raph & potentially many cichlids.

If the cichlid can stay smaller then Biotodoma are superb (Cupido or wavrini)

I have a suggestion to stay native, there are some very nice Lepomis species, such as
They still have the similar shape as a cichlid good color and also interesting...also same temperature range.
As the bullhead grows anything in there will be in danger.

Birger

How are the sunfish aggression wise? I've only fished for them, but they are pretty darn aggressive if anything looks at their nest.

Bullheads will eat anything that fits in their mouth, that does include Giant Danios. I had one small one take a hook almost half its size. I was trying to catch some bigger Channels (24 inches was a big one in that lake). Bullheads 10-12 inches weren't uncommon, and a 4 inch bullhead barely fit the hook into its mouth.

Something big and fairly docile. Red Bay Snook? Big fish though. Some of the Theraps aren't too aggressive.

Well what I ended up doing was a breeding pair of cutteri cichlids, 6 giant danios, my striped raph, and my L165.

Although I'm currently rethinking my tank since I'm not happy with how it looks and maybe getting rid of the cutteris to replace with a different cichlid or two and maybe a Black Lancer. But I'll save that for another thread .