New Member Just Saying Hello! And Asking A Question?

PDB-89 · Jul 8, 2009

Hello I'm picking up my new fish tank on Saturday its a fluval roma 200 i was getting the 125 but i see the bigger one sat next to it and i wanted it!! plus the shop has 10% off :shout:

I'm planing on keeping cichlids and my question is can i keep cichlids with a tiger oscar / oscar's as i really want them to??

any other help and advice on fish keeping / tank set up will be greatly appreciated as I'm new to it all!

Paul.

glolite · Jul 8, 2009

Welcome to the forums Paul :good:

Firstly, I don't want to disappoint you but if your new tank is 200 litres then it is too small for any oscar. They grow very quickly and need a minimum of 300 litres for a single fish, 75 gallons for 1 oscar and 1 tankmate and 100 gallons plus for a breeding pair.

Secondly, if an oscar is to have a tankmate then they have to be grown up together because oscars are very territorial and will kill another fish introduced once they have got to juvenile stage ie: about 3 months old.

Read up on fishless cycling first and take your time deciding which fish to keep. I know it's exciting to get your first tank but things can go wrong very quickly if you are impatient. Sorry to be a killjoy but most of the members here have made mistakes and wish we had researched before impulse buying fish.

There is a very good oscar fish club in the New World Cichlid section. Read it for some interesting stories.

:hyper:

But on the bright side, Wow you can still get some amazing fish to go in that brand new tank. With a tank that size howabout some smaller American cichlids like sajicas and rainbow cichlids. Relatively hardy and easy to breed. New World cichlid section has loads of info on it.

Good luck with your new hobby.

PDB-89 · Jul 8, 2009

thanks for the info mate look's like tiger's are out then!! maybe a bigger tank next then! the cichlid i really like are fire mouth's's but as I'm new to all this i don't really no what to put with them? :blush:

glolite · Jul 8, 2009

Firemouths are georgous :drool:

I couldn't keep them because they need fairly soft water and mine's very hard, around 8 to 8.5 so I have more success with African cichlids. If you can keep firemouths they mix ok with other relatively peaceful American cichlids like sajicas and rainbow cichlids.

Here's my female sajica looking a bit nipped by her recent babies

and two of her babies

Not great photos but look at mummy's eyes! Blue as blue.

And one of daddy so he doesn't feel left out

PDB-89 · Jul 8, 2009

nice fish how easy are they to breeds? i have a small tank probably about 10 liters with light and filter (i use to keep goldfish in it) if i got a little heater could i use that to keep the baby's in? would i net them out and put them in of put the mother in there?

sorry total newbie and want to find out as much as i can before i start it all off ^_^

glolite · Jul 8, 2009

PDB-89 said:
nice fish how easy are they to breeds? i have a small tank probably about 10 liters with light and filter (i use to keep goldfish in it) if i got a little heater could i use that to keep the baby's in? would i net them out and put them in of put the mother in there? sorry total newbie and want to find out as much as i can before i start it all off

No need to separate the babies, mum and dad look after them very carefully. My first male died after being with the female for around a year and no babies and so I bought a tiny new male who the female used to bully until he got a bit bigger. Reckon he did the business after about 3 months! My sajica pair are in a 75 gallon with gold severums and rainbow cichlids plus various hungry catfish and have successfully reared about 30 babies. They are now 3 months old and I've just started removing them to a 30g tank to grow on and sell.