I've been planning a new 55g tank for a couple months now. It was going to be a cardinal tank primarily, but in my search for a nice bottom-type fish, I came upon the keyhole cichlid. The tank had housed 80 plus neons and some cories, which I sold, and I was looking to start over and find something more interesting than cories -- they've never done anything for me. I'd tried Flag cichlids, which were the fish of choice of the guy who first gave me the idea of fishkeeping, but they seem to be largely unavailable around here. So, I've spent two months thinking about this tank, replanting it, finding someplace that actually sells cardinals. A pair of keyholes had been calling the tank home for a month when I added the first dozen cardinals. In less than 30 seconds, the keyholes had killed and were eating two cardinals. Now, keep in mind that this is what I'd discovered about keyhole: "This charming cichlid is best kept in pairs and in the company of other small fish in a community aquarium", or words to that effect. And here they were killing my cardinals! I was stunned. It was the worst experience in my fishkeeping career.
So, I removed the two keyholes into a 10g tank and I'll try to make the best of it with a small species tank, and I'll give plantkeeping a try again. Sort of the if-life-gives-you-lemons-make-lemonade approach (but it took me three sleepless hours and a pack of cigarettes to reach that decision).
My question is, is there a way I could have done this differently? By adding the cardinals after the keyholes had had the run of the tank for a month, did I doom them? Should they have come first? For you cichlid keepers out there, is the fact that normally peaceable cichlids eating cardinals a sign that I didn't feed them enough?
All I can say, is AAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH.
What an experience.
Val
So, I removed the two keyholes into a 10g tank and I'll try to make the best of it with a small species tank, and I'll give plantkeeping a try again. Sort of the if-life-gives-you-lemons-make-lemonade approach (but it took me three sleepless hours and a pack of cigarettes to reach that decision).
My question is, is there a way I could have done this differently? By adding the cardinals after the keyholes had had the run of the tank for a month, did I doom them? Should they have come first? For you cichlid keepers out there, is the fact that normally peaceable cichlids eating cardinals a sign that I didn't feed them enough?
All I can say, is AAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH.
What an experience.
Val
