Need Advice

[black angel]

I know someone who likes cichlids and recently he traded in his collection of small cichlids for some big ones. The trouble is i think he went a bit mad and he is going to have problems keeping them together.
Ive had to bite my lip as i dont know that much about mixing them. Can anyone tell me what he has done wrong and if the set up will work.

He now has them in a 75 us gallon tank.
He says he has a yellow convict about 10 inches long, Ive asked him for a pic of his fish so i can make sure they are the fish he says he has.
A blue frontosa around 14 inches long
A green severum, no idea of size but i guess big
A pink convict, again no idea of size.
A jack Dempsey who is *only* 8 inches long.
2 6" clown loaches.

Personally i think its a recipe for disaster as he has only had them a short while, so i need to know what to say to him as hes a pleased as punch with his *family*

 

[modernhamlet]

It's a complete recipe for disaster. Your friend has made a huge mistake and his fish will soon pay for it.

 

[Fish_Mike]

He's only set up if he keeps the Frontosa and the Jack Dempsey. Frontosas like to live in families, and Jack Dempseys are fairly aggreseive whereas the others are mellow. Tell him to make sure he either has two male or two female convicts to avoid a mated pair that would cause damage

HTH

 

[modernhamlet]

He's only set up if he keeps the Frontosa and the Jack Dempsey. Frontosas like to live in families, and Jack Dempseys are fairly aggreseive whereas the others are mellow. Tell him to make sure he either has two male or two female convicts to avoid a mated pair that would cause damage

HTH

Agreed, those are the two biggest problems. Removing those two would be essential, no matter what.

I've never heard of a convict reaching 10 inches either, so that ID sounds dubious to me.

 

[IMCL85]

Wow that tank = warzone . The severum, clown loach and frontosa will probably be ok together but the convit and the jack dampsy (assuming that the 10ich one is convit but I never seem a convit grow to 10" max is like a 5" I saw). He probably want a way bigger tank if he wants to have peace at his tank.

 

[Fish_Mike]

Frontosas have different water quality requirements that S.A. and C.A. cichlids. He should be the first thing to go.

 

[black angel]

I got a pic of the giant convict and its a gold severum. He just isnt listening to me and i dont know what else to say, but thanks for the help guys its been a help trying to explain.
He said some of them had grown together, the frontosa and convict i know for sure and then he bought the others on a whim, and because they arent fighting now he reckons they wont.
Guess i will just have to wait until he comes back to me when the fighting begins. Anyone say when this might happen considering he has 2 severums now?

 

[modernhamlet]

I got a pic of the giant convict and its a gold severum. He just isnt listening to me and i dont know what else to say, but thanks for the help guys its been a help trying to explain.
He said some of them had grown together, the frontosa and convict i know for sure and then he bought the others on a whim, and because they arent fighting now he reckons they wont.
Guess i will just have to wait until he comes back to me when the fighting begins. Anyone say when this might happen considering he has 2 severums now?

He reckons wrong. A JD, convict and 2 severums are just not going to get along in a 75g. They're going to make life miserable for each other, for the clowns, and especially for the front.

If he's not interested in listening to reason, there's not much you can do. Stop talking fish with him. It's just going to frustrate you.

 

[Fish_Mike]

There won't be much havoc caused by the Sevs, mostly between them. The main bully will be the JD.

 

[black angel]

Thanks for the help guys.