firemouth cichlid compatible with blood parrot, gourami?

[angelfish123]

Concerting Community to Cichlids

Hey,
I am currently in the process of switching my 55 gal tropical community tank to a cichlid tank. Was hoping to do Africans, but well settle for any small/medium member of the cichlid family. I have aready took out/sold all the fish I know arent compatible, which leaves me with a emerald green cory, 3 inch pleco, 3 inch algae eater, three-spot blue gourami, and a blood parrot. I'm pretty sure the gourami has to go (correct me if I'm wrong), but was convinced the 3 bottom-dwelling cleaners wouldn't present a problem, as long as I stay away from the monsters (oscars and such). Was hoping to hold onto the blood parrot, but am prepared to completely clean out the tank if completely necessary Please let me kno your thoughts on either keeping or selling the 3-spot and switching to preferably african cichlids. Again my tanks a 55 gallon, medium-well planted, with plenty of hiding places.

Thanks for your help, Jacob

 

[jm1212]

def. get rid of the gourami... it will most likely attack anything new you add to the tank.

do you know what type of pleco and algea eater you have?

 

[liv2padl]

if you're going "African", you'll want to get rid of the gourami; it'll get shredded. if it were me, i'd get rid of the blood parrot, the corydoras and the algae eater.

Lake Malawi africans should be maintained in groups of 4-5 ... one male and the rest, females. a 55 gallon tank will hold three groups of 4 and for best results, make sure they're not the same color or pattern.

 

[angelfish123]

Would a single firemouth cichlid be compatible in my 55 gallon tank with a blood parrot, blue 3-spot gourami, 1 emerald cory cat, 3 inch pleco, 3 inch chinese algae eater?

 

[jm1212]

first of all, a three spot will kill anything that is smaller than it is, so be careful and i advise you get rid of him.

CAEs are also aggressive and dont eat algea- they eat your fish.

other than that, yes

 

[YoFishboy]

Actually, I think that a firemouth would be OK with the gourami and the parrot cichlid, as long as they are close in size. Firemouths are actually a little shy when kept single, and I think Blue/3 spot gouramis have a bad wrap - I personally have never had any major problems with them, and I have had several over the past nearly 40 years. And I would add 3 or 4 more emerald cories.