what cichlids have you had success with

[Dark Phoenix]

hi i am looking to buy a 100g aquarium and want to stock it with cichlids like jack dempeys ,firemouths, jewels ,blood parrot but maybe if you have had succes with a particular kind plese end me pics of them and tell me what was so great about them. its ok to read about them in the books but its better to get advice from people who have actually had them i have experience with tetras and llivebearers and all the smaller fish but ive never had any cichlids so please enlighten me with yall's experience

[kribman]

Im a fan of kribensis. they are a rather small sa cichlid. They are wonder ful parents, and they can hold their own against anything you put with them!

[kevinfishboy]

I had good luck with JD's and Jewels and firemouths and blue Acara and convicts are really cool to they r fun to watch and they are very interesting

[daveedka]

Oscars are obviously fun, the personality is amazing. But I have found that JD's and FM's also have great personalities. A healthy JD is IMO (everybody has one) one of the prettiest fish living in freshwater. I like the firemouths for the colors and flaring, all three fish mentioned can be pretty docile or downright mean, my current tank has three of the meanest fish I've ever owned, I'm not sure if I will be able to keep things the way they are. But even with the battles and flaring, I am really enjoying all three Cichlids, and nobody is getting hurt thus far just some real dancing going on in the tank. The thng I am enjoying the most thisround, is the hunting. both the firemouth and the Jd are wicked snail hunters, And I'm breeding snails as fast as I can for them. If I drop one snail in, they will spend hours looking for more.

[hermxl1]

From the responses, it sounds like I want to get back to raising cichlids. I had 5 Oscars ( 3 tigers, 2 reds) with 2 Pacus and things were fine while everyone was small but I they grew in a 55 gallon tank thngs just got too cramped. After 3 oscars died over the course of 18 months things got better but even with frequent water changes I just couldn't keep up with water levels.

Oscars are pretty succeptible to "Hole in Head" disease and once it started in my tank, I just couldn't stop if from reoccurring. ( Probably more cuz of my novice skills)

Make sure that you over filtrate your new tank and plan for the growth of the fish to avoid having you tank over stocked a year or 2 from now.

Sorry no old pics, but I miss the tigers....

[Tightdog1]

Blue acaras and convicts. only cichlids i keep currently. the blue acaras are my favorite, they are very beautiful, esp with black lights or moonlights, they have blue flourescent spots all over their body and it looks very nice when the light hits it jsut right.
i will try to get some pictures if i still have them

if you do a search on blue acaras on Ac forums, you will find lots of information and pics of my fish if the pics are still there.

[LongTime]

I like cichlids because all of them have a personality.

If you don't have a huge tank, or even if you do, kribs are great fish. They don't require the room of the big ones and sport great colors.

Oscars are cool, but messy and when they get big they tend to look like grumpy old men to me. Still, I like them and find the only true drawback is the size it takes for them to thrive.

My avatar shows a gold sevrum and he is fun to watch. He's learned that the corys know where food is on the bottm and if he sees them gathered he nudges them out of the way just to investigate. What he finds may be too small for him to bother but sometimes its a tablet that he claims for himself.

I have to agree with daveedka about a health JD. Just watching their colors change according to their feelings is fun.

Convicts spawn at the drop of a hat and will even attack my python if I get too close to their babies.

Despite the colors, I like the American cichlids more than the Africans. I don't have anything against the African cichlids but I just have my own likes.

I've also had firemouths, keyholes, festivae (and I know I spelled that wrong) and others. Still I always come back to my JD, Texas, Convicts and sevrums.

[NickH]

I had 5 Oscars ( 3 tigers, 2 reds) with 2 Pacus and things were fine while everyone was small but I they grew in a 55 gallon tank things just got too cramped.

OK, what did you think was going to happen? To say that was a "gross" overstocking of a tank is an understatement.

HITH is a problem when you have dirty tank water. Again, you had enough fish for a 300 gallon tank in a 55....

BTW, Red Pacu's can grow to over 24 inches long. They have no business being in that size tank. If you plan on moving them to the 220, great. Otherwise, they are better off going back to the fish store.

[hermxl1]

Originally posted by NickH


OK, what did you think was going to happen? To say that was a "gross" overstocking of a tank is an understatement.

HITH is a problem when you have dirty tank water. Again, you had enough fish for a 300 gallon tank in a 55....

BTW, Red Pacu's can grow to over 24 inches long. They have no business being in that size tank. If you plan on moving them to the 220, great. Otherwise, they are better off going back to the fish store.


No doubt the problem was overstocking. 2 years ago when I didn't know any better that didn't seem like a lot of fish. Especially since I was buying for the small size they were when i got them. Even with the eventual overstocking , the point is that Ciclids (though hardy fish) can be sensitive to the tank params and that Dark Phoenix should take that into account.

[hermxl1]

BTW, the Pacus are Silver Pacu's not red, and they have been sitting at around 12" for some time now.

[2oscars_n_my_5G]

I agree with some of the above fish listed like Oscars, Dempseys, Severums.....

less agressive....Angels, Discus, Apistos....but these will require a little more effort to care for properly (heated tank, and superb water quality!)

[NickH]

BTW, the Pacus are Silver Pacu's not red, and they have been sitting at around 12" for some time now.

Red, Silver, Black, whatever type of Pacu it is, it's still in a tank that is far too small. All Pacus regularly exceed 18 inches in length in the aquarium. Yours are stunted.

[fishlips]

It depends on what your really after. Do you want a bunch of 3-6" fish or a couple of big ones or one mean as h#ll fish to take the whole tank. If you want a bunch africans can't be beat.
Are you getting a 125g ? Better than a 100g for a few big or one big fish.

Fronts are cool. Red devil or red terror would be nice. But only a pair for a 125g.

You could have one heck of an african tank. All mbuna or a nice mix of haps and peacocks. You could get some in the 8-10+" range, a bunch in the 4-6" with colors of primarily yellow and blue. My fish list, (dream list) 1m-3f venetus, 1m-3f blue dolphin, 1m-3f bummble bee, 1m- 3f yellow labs, or skip the dolphins for some electric blues and a nice group of peacoks.

[Skippy]

I have a spawning pair of Green Severum in my 55 gallon tank in my gameroom. They work great for me, with a few ottos and a bristlenose pleco for algae control.

[PumaWard]

I've had success keeping the following cichlids:

Discus (just recently, so my 'success' is limited), Angelfish, Apistogramma staecki, Neolampologus leleupi, N. brevis, Altolamprologus calvus, Julidochromis transcriptus, jaguars, oscars, rams, kribs, and convicts. All, I believe, are fairly easy as long as their needs are met; jaguars and oscars need big tanks, discus need warm water that gets at least weekly changes, and the Tangs need hard alkaline water with weekly water changes. Research is the key to success with any fish.


IME, HITH isn't caused by poor water quality and several sources I have read on it say that it may be a factor but studies are starting to show that the leading cause of HITH is mainly caused by poor diet. My experience on this is that diet it the leading cause... I used to have (before I knew better) 2 6'' oscars and a 7'' pleco in a 20g L and 3 4'' oscars in a 10g with 4 dwarf gourami and two 3'' plecos. I hardly ever did a water change and the oscars never got HITH; however, they did get quite a varied diet, feeder fish, flies, beetles, grasshoppers, crickets, worms, grubs, and hikari cichlid pellets. Of course, I know that this isn't conclusive evidence or scientific fact, just an observation and some research on my part.

[nboylie]

i have had sucsess with oscars, JD's and green terrors. Better to raise jeck dempseys though, as I bought a pair about 5 inches long each and all they did was dig a hole in one of the sides of the tank and sit there and barely eat for over a week. I took them back.

and I reccomend clown loaches as bottomfeeders. Good little fish, but they do get big over a LONG time. I have a pictus cat too and I like him :cool:

[Dr_Woo]

Ok, i'm sorry but i have to recommend some type of sunfish. I have 4 sunfish right now and i can tell you they are amazing. Not because of their coloration, but because of their huge personality and great behavior. Although they have gotten a bit agressive with each other. I love the way they have these little show off fights. I also have a breeding male now, which has made all my fish pray for their life in one little corner of the tank. He does't bother them too much tho. You could also try other sunfish, but i only have had greens so far.