Small African Cichlids

[Captain Jim]

Your fish are more tolerant than mine..my angels and kribs took turns harrassing each other to the point my angels were tatterred too often and the kribs were angry all the time. Rehomed the kribs (p. Pulcher) for peace, then made mistake of bringing red jewel cichlids home. Have four tankfuls of them (jewels) now..Bright red, and wild as all gettout!.. You are welcome to the r. jewels..I think about an inch long is good shipping size, but I have smaller. Interested?

 

[ppetropulo]

Thanks! In the 20 gallon the only things living in it right now is a pearl gourami. The kribs. and angels never really bother eachother, and thus far there has been no confirmed breeding behavior from either. I think I've decided on a trio of Neo. Brevis for the 20 gallon, oh, and its a 20 gallon high. As for the jewels, yes, I am interested! Are they big enough to sex yet? Thanks again!

 

[Captain Jim]

I personally cannot sex these guys till they are much older..more than a year, where the male's have a heavier forehead and grow larger. I have one breeder female and two stud males, fifty between 3/4 and an inch and a half, and fifty about3/8(not quite half inch). You are welcome to choose what you want in size or number, if you pay shipping and nominal for bags and the like. By the way, can I interest you in some black, gold, or marbled angelfish young or breeding pairs?

 

[jpappy789]

Is the pearl gourami a long term inhabitant? I'd caution against combining one with brevis...they stick to different zones, usually, but even shelldwellers will get feisty when it comes to breeding time. I had N. multifasciatus repeatedly attack a BN pleco of all things and I'd probably consider brevis to be a bit more territorial than multis. If you'd like to keep something in the top it would probably be best to go with quicker moving fish...livebearers and rainbows are common "non African" species kept with shelldwellers, mostly due to water chemistry overlap. But I'd say you could do fine with smaller barbs, rasboras, etc. so long as they aren't too delicate.

 

[ppetropulo]

Hi! Yeah, the pearl gourmai is a permanent inhabitant. I will be sure to add dither fish though. He's pretty tough anyway. Thanks!

 

[Captain Jim]

Red jewels wouldn't tolerate a gourami. Mine don't like anything.

 

[ppetropulo]

Well, then they definitely won't fit in either of my tanks! The 75 gallon has 3 gouramis living in it, and the 20 gallon has the pearl gourami.

 

[Captain Jim]

Right ppet..although many would tell you how wrong I am and I only add to jewels reputation, I honestly won't lie to you when I say I would not mix these fish with anyone I cared about. Simply because the stud males I have killed their mates after spawning. While I was at work. I was told I didn't have enough hiding, but I think the bonds were not right. I have one adult female left who lives alone until I let her be with one of the males for a week, ten days. At that point, fry beginning to try to swim, and I get her out before I go to work. I'm looking at Pelvachromis Molowe, because I like kribs..and they have cool coloring and tailspots. I often consider a ten gallon with six or eight crystal gouramies.

 

[jpappy789]

I'd honestly consider going with the more "community tank" oriented cichlids if you're looking to stock with gouramis. Outside of rams, apistos or other "dwarf" SA cichlid, there are west African species beyond the different Pelvicachromis spp. to look out for...

Adding rift lake species just seems like a big risk. Even with smaller Tangs I'd be worried since gouramis, although sometimes feisty in their own right, aren't exactly the best at getting out of the way quickly like fish others would consider to be "target" fish (or dither fish too I suppose, depending on your intention).

Not saying if you did go that route that you'd be destined to fail. I could see shelldwellers MAYBE being ok since they really don't venture that far up vertically, but it's still a bigger risk I'd say than fish that are better suited to a community setup.

 

[Fishfiles1]

Firemouth meeki..Larger than kribs, but I think you have room. Aren't you planning a 55?

this is not an african, and get get bigger than 5", if you try to match the tanks prams to wild (PH,KH,GH) you will see better color from my experience