I am buying a tank that currently has x2 Bolivan Rams and x2 Keyhole's in, all x4 fish are about 1.5"

They are lovely looking fish, but they not ideally suited to any of my set-ups (all my tanks are 48x20x20" 300 litres by the way, thats 66 UK gallons and 81 US of A Gallons)

Malawi / Tang - a definite no-no

Parrots / Female Convicts / Kribensis / Bristlenose - possibly, but this tank is heavily stocked as it is

Community Planted (massively planted) - Tetras (including lots of neons), small gouramis, corydoras, guppies, danios, platies, swordtails


I am tempted to put them in my Community Planted, but my main concern with that actually, is that one of the ideas of this tank is that i grow on lots of livebearer fry. I have lots of plant cover especially at top to help facilitate this

Will either or both the Bolivian Rams / Keyholes, mean a great reduction in the amount of fry i see?

I "might" create a new fry tank anyway and take fry out when i see them, if fry is not an issue, do you think either or both of the Cichlids could be well-behaved enough for this tank?

The owner reports no breeding or even "pairing" behaviour in the last year or so with either of the Rams or Keyholes

Thanks

This post has been edited by fry_lover: Sep 7 2007, 09:50 PM

Do not put the keyhole / ram in with the parrots & convicts. Keyholes are not aggressive in the slightest and would most likely be easily bullied by such aggressive fish. 1.5 inches is pretty small for a 1 yr+ old Keyhole btw.

I wouldn't worry about the Keyhole/Ram bothering the adult fish in your community tank. If some pairing/spawning occurred then it might be a possibility, but IME both are very chill and spend most of their time in the lower levels of the tank. Fry might get munched on however.

thanks for your detailed post, yeh perhaps 1.5" is small if he had them a year, but i seen other Keyholes and still not seen one bigger than 2-2.5"

I was figuring if anything the Keyholes would be better suited for my Community Planted,

My parrots are cool cucumbers by the way, i have quite a few parrots and never had a nasty bullying one, just the occasional ruck amongst themselves, never bother other fish

This post has been edited by fry_lover: Sep 7 2007, 10:10 PM

I'd really appreciate some more feedback here, i know a lot of it will depend on the individual fish's personalities (especially the Rams i guess)

I might (probably) will set up a "fry growing tank" anyway, i have a spare 48x12x15 in my flat

If i can reduce my anxieties about losing fry, do you think its a reasonable risk introducing x2 Bolivian Rams and x2 Keyholes (all about 1.5" now) to my set up,

To summarise the tank they would go in

- 48x24x18 approx 300-litres
- Very densely planted
- Current inhabitants; Corydoras, Baby Bristlenose, Small Gouramis, Zebra Danios, Various Small Tetra's including lots of Neons, Guppies, Platies and a few Swordtails

Thanks

This post has been edited by fry_lover: Sep 8 2007, 10:55 AM

totally agree with the keyholes not being with the convicts and parrots; the rams are likely to be harrased too