May be geting into S.A. cichlids, some Q's

dorkfish

dorkfish

AC Members
Jul 25, 2005
3,032
1
0
Windsor,Ontario,Canada
With aproximately 6 inch (when full grown) S.A. cichlids such as firemouth's, festivum's, t-bar and port acara's, would I need to worry about fin nipping from buenos aires tetras (already have them, they will be used as dithers and can be nippy at times)? If so, wich ones should I be woried about?


I'm planning on 6 buenos aires tetras and 1-3 (only one species of cichlids mentioned above, haven't decided wich one I like best yet) cichlids, in atleast a 29g tank with wet dry filtration, will that work as far as stocking goes? How many should I get of any of the cichlid species(considering the tank and beunos aires tetras)? Will I need a bigger tank to go through with this? How "plant freindly" arer the cichlid species mentioned above? Anything else I should know?
 
I did some more extensive research on the species, and decided to exclude port acara's becuase they get bigger than my originall research suggested, and the t-bar's becuase it was recomended in my research that they need a 55+ gallon tank.

So, 3 firemouths or festivums + 6 buenos aires tetras in a 29g tank, yae or nae?
 
Last edited:
would they survive? probably. Would I recomend it? No For three of any of those species I would recomend a 55 gal. A 29 would work for one two at best of the species listed IMO. If you really want three of something you could probably get away with three convicts but again it might be a bit much three rams though would be great. You could probably even do four in there. Also I cant say for sure but I doubt the buenos aries would bother a chiclid.
 
Any of those cichlids mentioned needs atleast a absolute minimum 35gal to itself, perhaps a few dithers but no other cichlids.
A 55gal would be very preferrable even for just one, but would enable you to keep two, especially if they were a mated pair. Two single specimens of those species could also be kept in a minimum 55gal, three would be needing a minimum 75gal or better.
However, If you opt for the FM's then you are taking a chance on the FM's personality/temperament, thy can be either fairly peaceful or very pugnacious.

These are minimums, much better chance of success with larger tank sizes.
 
fishfreak21 said:
would they survive? probably. Would I recomend it? No For three of any of those species I would recomend a 55 gal. A 29 would work for one two at best of the species listed IMO.
Click to expand...

Ok. I'll scratch the "large cichlid" idea than.

fishfreak21 said:
If you really want three of something you could probably get away with three convicts but again it might be a bit much
Click to expand...

Personally, I don't see how convicts would be any better than the species I listed above. They both grow to about the same size.

fishfreak21 said:
three rams though would be great. You could probably even do four in there.
Click to expand...

Maybe, just maybe, but I'm planning on them and possibly cocakatoo aisto's in a 55 planted, and prefer to have "one or more of everything" when it comes to fishkeeping, so I think having the same species in seperate tanks would be sort of a waste of space.

fishfreak21 said:
Also I cant say for sure but I doubt the buenos aries would bother a chiclid.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't be surprised if they bothered them. They seem to bother everything.

As of now I think the plan is to use the 29g for for a buenos aries tetra species tank (maybe with a few cories and/or a bristlenos plec), unless I get a better idea.
 
Convicts dont get as big as any of the fish you listed. Firemouths are 6-7", Festivums 6". Ive never seen a convict over 4 inches. They tend to be smaller in girth to which makes a big diffrence. And belive a convict and most firemouths will let the tetras know whos boss. I wouldnt be surprised if a full grown firemouth tried to eat them. They get quite a large mouth. Also I kept a firemouth pair in a 29 for about 4 years and they did just fine too good acctualy I kept haveing to try to get rid of fry and finaly decided to sell them back to my LFS.
 
fishfreak21 said:
Convicts dont get as big as any of the fish you listed. Firemouths are 6-7", Festivums 6". Ive never seen a convict over 4 inches.
Click to expand...

I see. Age of aquariums had convicts listed at 15cm, the same for firemouths, festivimus were listed as 14cm. I guess I'll go wth the convicts then.
 
sirasoni said:
Males will hit 6"...eventually. If you put a breeding pair in there I'd worry about the tetras. And with convict breeding all it takes is a puddle and they'll go at it.
Click to expand...

So go with a lone convict then?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom