A Little Help With The Cichlids Please

[snue]

So after removing my old substrate for being suspicious that it killed 3 of my silver dollars, i finally got the tank cycled with the remaining 2 silver dollars + 2 added like what the shop suggested. The tank is 350 litre with eheim 2217 and recently added aquis 1200 canisters.

After the tank was cycled I wanted to add a oscar + convict and that would have been the tank complete, but the shop suggested that I get a severum aswell to spread the aggression. So I added oscar 3cm, convict 3cm, severum 6cm, the severum was aggresive towards the oscar and silver dollars so I rung the shop and wanted to return it, they told me that if I took the severum out, then the convict would probably take the aggressive roll and it would become worse because there would be no fish to spread the aggresion.

So the shop suggested that I get a blood parrot and a adult pearl eartheater because the severum would not attact the adult eartheater because its the largest fish in my tank, and that the blood parrot can stick up for itself, and it is slightly bigger than the severum.

So I took the advice and brought the fish, the blood parrot was suprisingly expensive compared to all the other fish in my tank I wonder why.

Anyway it looks like the severum is well behaved now but the blood parrot has made a little home in this little house i brought for it, and it cleans it out every day and it only comes out to eat or if the severum or convict or oscar swim past, then it chases them and bashes them then goes back home.

Why ??
any suggestions please.

So I would like to know if this aggresion is normal, what I can try to fix it, and is the black background on my tank ok, it seems that the fish can see their reflection in it, and the blood parrot in paticular doesnt like it at all AND I havent seen the eartheater eat I think it cant see the small 1mm sinking cichlid food I put in or the floating mini cichlid food which only the silver dollars eat, I dont think that theres much food in the sand so I hope its not starving, It did however eat a couple of bloodworms when I fed those.

Any help would be most appreciated by me and my fish.



Thankyou Courtney.

Here are some pictures and video ive included of the fish, my phone camera is very budget so sorry, and the parrot wouldnt come out,

scaroay - Albino tiger oscar

onviccay - Convict with a bit of orange on it

everumsay - Green severum

arrotpay - Blood parrot

Eartheater - dont know what kind, I lost the receipt. started with a S i think.

And video

 

[Faythee]

What is the dimensions of the tank ? Sounds a bit small to me for those fish after they are all full size, however I'm in the USA so I could be mistaken on the conversion.

Combining Cichlids is always tricky. They all have their own personalities and often times you may end up with a bully and have to return and then keep trying until you find a good balance of fish.

You need to have ALOT of caves/rockwork, etc and some tall ornaments to obstruct their view of each other and feel more comfortable.

Some Oscars can't be kept with any other fish, while others are more tolerant.

The Silver Dollars should be okay.

I have one very gentle Severum and another one that is nasty (in a separate tank), and can't keep other Cichlids with her.

The Eartheater I think is more gentle.

The Severum, Eartheater, and Dollars are most likely to get along....I would be concerned with the Convict and Oscar (aggression enhances with age)

I've never had a Parrot. It's behavior is normal for Cichlids with the fact that it picked its cave and doesn't want anyone else near it.

Just my opinion....others here have more experience than I....see what they have to say as well

***I can kind of understand what the shops advice was however it doesn't sound like they took into consideration what the fish would be like all full grown in the same tank together

 

[star4]

A couple of problems I can see. The black background the fish will see their reflection, not a major problem but you may find later your oscar will spend a lot of time attacking his/her reflection. Convict, that is a female and it will cross breed with your severum if its a male, I also believe the severum can cross with the parrot (but not 100% on that one), which would give you breeding aggression. Personally I would add some tall plastic/silk plants to the tank to break up the background and give you some hiding places mid and upper levels to the tank, this will also obscure the fishes view of each other, especially for the dollars (I found dollars very skittish). Once you have some plants in, I would remove the Parrots "house" if he/she doesnt have anything to guard there is nothing to get aggressive over, unless you add enough caves for everyone but then still they will all seem to want the same one. I have found less or no caves to work wonders with cichlid aggression, but keep it about just in case you do have to put it back again.

Hope this helps.

The eartheater is a Geophagus, not 100% sure on which sort though.

 

[snue]

Thank you very much for your reply faythee, Yes most probably a bit too small although the extra fish (eartheater, severum and blood parrot) were not supposed to be in the tank originally, only after talking to the fish specialists (largest in new zealand) I decided to take their advice and add the extra fish for the aggression problems, I aslo asked if the tank size is alright and they brushed the question of immediately and said the tanks fine. the dimensions are 121 x 51 x 66cm with the internal filter removed for space, also if necessary I am more than willing to do more than frequent water changes.

Thanks you very much for your reply star4 all your advice is really interesting and helpful, thank you!

 

[star4]

You are most welcome, trust me my experience is all trial and error

 

[Faythee]

Thank you very much for your reply faythee, Yes most probably a bit too small although the extra fish (eartheater, severum and blood parrot) were not supposed to be in the tank originally, only after talking to the fish specialists (largest in new zealand) I decided to take their advice and add the extra fish for the aggression problems, I aslo asked if the tank size is alright and they brushed the question of immediately and said the tanks fine. the dimensions are 121 x 51 x 66cm with the internal filter removed for space, also if necessary I am more than willing to do more than frequent water changes.

Thanks you very much for your reply star4 all your advice is really interesting and helpful, thank you!

You are welcome.

I think at this point, choose which fish in there you have enjoyed/bonded with most and work from there....the others that don't fit in can be re-homed.

star4 made a really good point.....where I always re-scape the tank to mix up aggression, this past time it only made things worse. I added more caves and the result was more aggression. It's a toss up, but I think the advice of some tall plants, etc to break up and block view will help.

 

[hamfist]

The eartheater looks to be from the surinamensis complex ..... which includes G.surinamensis, G.abalios and others. Not quite suite sure exactly which one you have. The care for them is all much the same though.

The others have made good points so far. Getting a cichlid community is always a bit of trial and error, and in my experience will always involve some juggling around and rehoming before you can get them living relatively peacefully with each other.

Firstly, just give them all a bit of time to settle in and sort out their pecking order, and then keep an eye out for any particular troublemakers, which might need to be rehomed. They will all be individuals so it's difficult to say exactly which fish will cause the problems.
Adding a few plastic plants, as already suggested, may well break up eyesight lines and help, and is also worth a try.

If all your fish grow to adulthood in that tank, it will be greatly overstocked, so you will be needing to move some fish on anyway. It doesn't matter how many water changes you are willing to do, if you cram potentially aggressive fish in too close together then trouble will ensue at some point. Oscars, severums, convicts, eartheaters and parrots all become large, territorial fish. You will have done well if you can get the oscar and one or two of the others to co-exist happily into adulthood in a 350 litre tank. Thankfully, you have quite a while to sort everything out. Oscars grow very quickly, but the others will take a while to reach anywhere near adult size.
It will be worth the effort in the end. They are all lovely characterful fish that you have chosen !

 

[snue]

Thank you hamfist for your reply, I have pretty much decided that I love all the fish so our only option I guess is to get another tank. Our small appartment is getting really cramped with the fish tanks, plus we've been wanting to get a dog and cat so we will be moving in the next couple of months. Moving will be horrible with the fish but it will be in the same area so shouldnt be too bad, I hope the fish will all be OK for a couple of months until we are able to move and as you suggested I will be getting some stuff to break eyesight, hopefully this works for now.

Thank you everyone for your replies, yous have all been very helpful.