Bolivian Butterfly and Blue Acara as tankmates?

[Fische Schlampe]

Hi there,

I'm new to this forum and I have been keeping tropical fish for a few years and I'm interested in hearing your opinion on keeping a community tank with a pair Blue Acara's and a pair Bolivian Butterfly Cichlids together.

The tank is 3 foot and I have had dwarf cichlids before. I plan also on
having corydoras, bristlenose's and some other fishies. ( oh the fun chooseing )

At the moment my Blue Acaras are 3 inches and I want
to introduce the Bolivians before the acaras get any larger.
I know the acaras can be agressive but I've learnt that psychology
can work on some fish.
Worked wonders with my psychotic fish Beazalbub:devil:

So like I said I would love to hear what you have to say or if you have kept them together yourself.

Cheers

 

[wesleydnunder]

I've never kept the two species together but my gut feeling is that the rams would get bullied by the acaras.

Mark

 

[tanker]

I too would say no. If they are both small, then maybe for a while. With a bigger tank, maybe even for a while longer.

 

[Fische Schlampe]

This is going to be a toughie for me. I really want to have bolivians again and I figure the acaras are going to harrass
whoever is in the tank with them. I figured dwarf cichlids to around 8cm would be ok as anything bigger than the acaras
would be too big for the tank.

I like my fish to have personality.
Any sugestions on other tankmates suitable for my blue acaras?

I do plan to heavely plant the tank and create possible territories,
hiding places and visual barriers.

Cheers

 

[tanker]

Blue Acaras get fairly big, about 6-7 inches (150-175mm). That would be pushing it for a tank that is only 3' wide.

They are not that aggressive (for a cichlid) and CAN/MAY get along with Firemouths, and Convicts. Remember Cichlids are cichlids, once you think you have them figured out---they surprise you!!

 

[Fische Schlampe]

Blue Acaras get fairly big, about 6-7 inches (150-175mm). That would be pushing it for a tank that is only 3' wide.

They are not that aggressive (for a cichlid) and CAN/MAY get along with Firemouths, and Convicts. Remember Cichlids are cichlids, once you think you have them figured out---they surprise you!!

Whoops, the LFS told me they wouldnt get any bigger than 6 inches ( 15cm in my head was alot smaller than in reality. lol ) My acaras were a complete impulse buy and when I realized they would out grow my tanks I went to my favourite LFS and laybuyed the new 3 foot tank. When I have the actual dimensions Ill post them.

One of the acaras was a complete psycho and terrorized the tankmates, including the other acara. She activley would hunt down the other fish and she managed to kill/eat over $70 worth of my lovely fishie friends in around 4 weeks. I tried adding more plants, rearranging the decor and waving my finger at her scolding her. lol
In the end I did what I didnt want to do and incarcerated the fish in a breeder net for 10 days. Well she threw temper tantrums, pushing the net wall trying to get at the other acara and attacking a fish sinker hanging in there. Oh well I thought, at least she is getting exercise. I honestly thought I had a demonic fish from hell and would always have to keep it seperate from the other fish.
After the 10 days I did a water change and reintroduced demon fish to the tank and I tell you, it's likeI have a new fish. She is well behaived, gets along super with the other acara (who turns out to be male) and only sometimes trys to push her luck with the bristlenoses. The paar have even started to spawn although it might take them a while to get it right. The last time they spawned the eggs made it to hatching. It was awesome to see these teeeeeni little wrigglers coming out of the egg. The acaras had looked after their eggs so well and I was proud of them. This was their 3rd spawn in 4 weeks. Unfortunatly when mummy fish was ment to collect the bubs and transfer them to the brood pit I noticed the fry going IN the mouth but not coming back OUT.

Oh well, better luck next time.