need some advice

[phiberXoptic]

I just recently recieved a brand new 75g aquarium (long). And I want to turn it into to a cichlid tank. I was first looking at Firemouths, but they seem not to be too compatible with other cichlids (according to the species profiles on this site). And then I saw a post where someone kept then with severums, Jack Dempseys, convicts, and a few others. I plan on having a sandy substrate with rocks, driftwood, and some clay pots, and plastic plants (so no to worry about digging or CO2, because im probably going to go with a sump filtration unless you guys have a better suggestion). So my question is, With these guys get along if I use good methods of helping the aggression with target fish and territory, etc.? or do you guys know of a few different fish that would go good? It doesn't have to be the fish I've listed. I'm open to suggestions. Thanks

Edit: Also how many of each species can I add..

[Mako]

Firemouths are neat. Most of the one's I've had were pretty docile. I've never had one that was outright mean (except when breeding). You can keep them with oscars, dempseys, pretty much anything IMO. THEY will be the picked-on ones if you have dempseys and convicts. Avoid convicts, green terrors, and other really nasty fish.

How many? Loaded question...... I'd only keep one or two of each. Firemouths grow much slower than most other cichlids i've noticed, so buy bigger ones. I'd also keep a few flashy "dither" fish like hardwater larger rainbows or big sailfin mollies if your cichlids are small.

[phiberXoptic]

thank you so much, you dont know how hard it is to get someone to answer these types of questions.. Is it asked a lot or something? thank you so much though, yea i think ill have a 2 jacks, 2 firemouths, a few "target" fish, and another peaceful cichlid i can find. Thank you so much though.

[Dr_Woo]

sounds like a cool tank, that's what my next tank was probably gonna be, but i decided i will keep some malawi cichlids.

[Lazersniper]

As far as the information I've found about firemouths, aggression seems to be dependant on the individual fish. I've read some horrer stories, and I've read about people keeping them with guppies and platies.

As for the compatability of those fish, I have a jd and a gt. However I've only recently got them. When I did my research it seemed that jd's are a lot more aggressive then gt's. This is also the conclusion I get from observing the behavior of my fish. So personally I wouldn't recomend 2 jds with 2 firemouths. I'd say at most one jd, and maybe a different kind of fish with the firemouths. You should also keep in mind that jds will get to around 10 inches plus or minus a few.

[phiberXoptic]

yea, that's a big fish. What other fish would you recommend? Thanks for the help btw.

edit: what about severums or blue acaras?

[Lazersniper]

As far as I've heard and read sevs and blue acaras should be fine with firemouths. Be careful when buying fish labled as blue acaras, as green terrors will often be mistaken for blue acaras. Blue acaras and severums are known to be less aggressive. Another plus is they average out at about 8-9 inches which would be about as large as you'd want to go with in a 75.

You could probably keep 1 of each the Blue acara and the severum in there, and 2-3 of the firemouths. I personally probably wouldn't try to push it much more then that. You could try to throw in some target fish but keep in mind with 8-9 inch fish, your target fish better be pretty big, and pretty fast or you can consider them expensive feeders. In my tank I would like to throw in target fish, but with oscars being able to push 15 inches I have ruled them out.

When you get the firemouths try to get either all males or all females. If you get a mix, they could end up breeding and then all your other fish will be left with about 10 gallons to play in. Also keep in mind that with the bulkier cichlids filtration is key.

[Haggisman]

My FM is fine with my other cichlids(parrots, cons, sajica)but hates my super red severum and it always fights with it(even though the sev is much bigger than it).

[Lazersniper]

Good point Haggisman. I have read that they don't like very colorful fish, and that fm's react to the color red, so that may be why it was aggressive towards your sev.

[phiberXoptic]

awesome, thanks for the help guys.. Yeah I usually watch the fish for quite some time to make sure that they are the right ones. I've noticed, while looking at the convicts that some of them are definitly hybrids, unless convicts are supposed to have a slight orangish stripe, which I don't think they are. I'm pretty careful with it comes to buying my fish. Thanks for the help guys, really appreciated.

[Haggisman]

Good point Haggisman. I have read that they don't like very colorful fish, and that fm's react to the color red, so that may be why it was aggressive towards your sev.

Dunno he's only a bit redder than a normal gold sev but the parrots are bright orange and he doesnt bother them, its maybe becuase all the parrots are female and the sev is male(like him).I had a small green texas cichlid in there for a while and they faught almost constantly.

[Shierkahn]

Have you thought about maybe getting some Salvinis, there pretty colorful and can hold there own against the larger cichlids. The convicts might not be hybrids at all, the female has orange in the lower part of the body. Target fish/Dither fish, I use tin foil barbs in my tank. They get good sized and are pretty quick. Mine look great and do a good job of distracting aggresion.

[Mako]

<<<<<Have you thought about maybe getting some Salvinis>>>>>

Great idea. Salvinis are awesome fish! Keep an eye out for sparring since they have a splash of red in them that either they or the firemouth may recognize the other fish as competition.

[Shierkahn]

I would keep an eye on them also. Just to make sure they don't fight too much. I have 3 of each in the same tank and they tend to bicker a little. But, they get along rather well. I would highly recomend only getting female Salvinis though( beautiful coloring). Just to make sure you don't get a pairing cause then they will dominate your tank against most fish. A breeding pair of them will not back down from fish over 3x's there size, regardless of the fish.