New tanks, and a couple questions..

[alem1978]

I have set-up a 55 gallon tank
2 Jewels, 2 convicts, both breeding pairs,
2 Jack Dempseys, the smallest of them all,
1 green terror and a
4-5 inch angelfish

I bought the cons as a breeding pair from the LFS, and my two Jewels just happened to be male and female and paired up, and laying eggs about a month ago. The cons have been trying to dig pits all over the tank, but the Jewels will not give them any space! I figured they'd eventually focus on their own spawning and leave em alone, but as soon as they start to dig, they're all in their biz. I have a couple questions. Here are my two tanks,
http://img375.imageshack.us/img375/5135/julyaugsept038gy2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
You see the jewels, and the green terror on the right of the castle. One of the Jacks is between the Jewels. The cons are in the upper corners.

http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/5226/julyaugsept043gg2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

This is my african tank. I adopted some of these guys with the angelfish, but I put him in w/ my new world cichlids. I've had this tank for about two weeks, and they constantly hide if I'm nearby, and seem to never swim to the top.

1. Should I put the angelfish with the africans? Maybe it would bring them higher in the tank to interact with him?
2. Should I lose the plants?
3. Too many in my 55?
4. Would a divider help, along with moving the angelfish? The two pairs are the only ones beefing, everyone else just chills, but I don't know what I should do. ANY suggestions will be appreciated.

[fish_freak]

Well your tank looks nice but I really cant recomemd that you keep two breeding pairs together in a 55 gallon. The convicts and jewels get quite nasty when they are breeding and will likely bully every one else in the tank. The GT is also a nasty charecter on his own if he is a true GT and not a blue acara. He will in time command most of the territory in your tank and most likely be brutal to your other inhabitants till they reach death. The angel fish should really not be kept in there at all with your other inhabitants they will bully him first. The angel is by far the most docile of the bunch. The Jack's if they pair up will also wipe out the tank includeing the GT to defend there breeding ground. Basicly you unfourtunatley have quite a mess on your hands and I dont see any of the situations going well with out getting rid of a lot of your tank mates. I think the best option would be to break up your two pairs and give the females back to an LFS. Keep one Jack Dempsy, Give the angelfish back to the LFS and gve the GT back to the LFS. I know this sounds kind of harsh but realy a Jack could have the whole 55 gallon to himself. I think he would be ok with a Convict and a Jewel tank mate though even though a Jewel Chiclid is african just not rift lake so dont mix him with your other africans if you can help it you should try to keep rift lake african and New world cichlids seperate. Good luck I hope I dont come off as to harsh I just dont know what other advise to give. I guess this is a good reason why lots reasearch always pays off in the end.

[alem1978]

My GT from what I can tell is a gold saum, I don't know if that makes a diff. I know everyhing you told me, I did research, but I'd hoped that at this small size, aggression wouldn't become such an issue already. I do have another 55 gallon that I need to decide what to do with. The Jacks I bought recently because I fell in love with Electric Blues at the LFS and I'm planning on setting up a Jack only tank w/ Jacks and Blue Jacks down the road. They're still tiny. What about the Angelfish though? I can't put him in w/ the Africans? And what are Jewels compatible with if not African or New World(SA/CA)?

[fish_freak]

Jewels "can" survive with Rift lake and New world cichlids its just not Ideal for them. They should be housed with other african river and lake species of chiclid just not ones from the rift lakes. There is a lot of african species that do not come from the rift lakes. Again Im not sure what type of rift lake species you have but they can be quite aggresive so I don't think your angelfish would fair to well in that tank. Its hard to say. If you really are at odds over what to do then just keep a close eye on your tank and when things start to go wrong then move the one's who are causeing the problem or the ones getting picked on.

[coupedefleur]

In general, I agree with fish_freak

The problem is that the 55g would work fine for any one species of fish, and allow them to raise a bunch of fry.

Putting the angels in a 55 with some blue acaras might work, the blue acaras have a similar body shape etc, to the green terror, so you might like them, if you can move out the other fish.

Jewel fish are famous for clearing out a tank when they start to breed. So they're not all that compatible with anything, unless it's in the dither/target category. They can be really beautiful, though, and are usually good parents.

I hate to break up breeding pairs. I'd either sell, trade, or take them to a club auction, or put each pair in a different tank. Convicts are pretty common- it seems that nobody ever wants convict fry at clubs, so unless you really love them, I'd move them along. I'd also move out the dempseys and green terror, unless I wanted to dedicate a tank to each. Some of the pairs might squeak by in a 20L or 29. Even a 15 or 20H might get by for a while.

Unless you want a "Mexican Standoff" tank with single fish all fighting it out, I'd come up with a plan to move out what I was less interested in. I know some people like that type of display, but I don't like dealing with missing eyes, scales, fins, etc.