Firemouths in with Mollys.

[Pleco-Heaven]

Which is true, because I've heard two ends of the extreems.
1. that they should not be put in because they would be Harassed to death (or something like that)
2. That they are highly reccomended because in the wild firemouths feed off livebearer fry which is good for them because it is high in protein.

Whats the truth, because I need some top dwellers in my tank, and the Tiger barbs stay at the bottom to middle.

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

nope dont keep them together..the two require different water types, Mollies are brackish water, firemouths aren't...if you want live food for them, breed the mollies in a seperate tank and put the fry into the tank with firemouths when you get them.

 

[BlueIce]

From someone I know on another site who HAS tested out this idea.....

They do much better when kept with livebearers. This includes the firemouth and related species. In the wild, these cichlids share waters with livebearers (mollies, swords and platys). The presence of the livebearers lets these cichlids know that there are no large predators around and will make them more active and colorful. The fishes of the Thorichthys genus can be very skittish and hide alot if they don't feel comfortable in the tank. Also, the livebearers will mature and begin breeding, and the cichlids will gobble up the livebearer fry. From what I've been told, livebearer fry constitutes a rather large percentage of the diet in the wild of Thorichthys fishes. So, this will also in the long run help you save a bit of money on feeding the cichlids.

I tested this theory recently. I have a pair of T. sp. 'Mixteco blue' a new, undescribed Thorichthys species in one of my 20 gallon tanks. I have a lot of clay pots scattered throughout the tank and both male and female hid most of the time. Recently I bought 7 twin bar platys (and swordtails for my other tanks) and added them to this 20 gallon tank. Within 2 days, both male and female were coming out of hiding, commonly swimming around the middle region of the tank and the male is showing more color than he ever has.

Another note is that cichlids in the Thorichthys genus also do much better in larger groups as juveniles. If this is done, more pairs than normal can be kept together. I have 14 juvenile T. helleri growing up in my 75 gallon with 8 juvenile Honduran Red Points.

 

[Pleco-Heaven]

Thanks Blueice for the info, and devils advocate, I think mollys can be fresh and brack, and I think they can be Salt aswell (I think it takes ages to acclimatize). Blueice do you think I should get some? And if how many? Obviously not sail fins the tiger barbs would like that! The tigers get the tails of the firemouths aswell! Brave little pests.