New Tank Setup

[thrankall]

I am getting a 55gallon tank in 2 weeks and here are the fish im going to put in it. 2 angels 2 blue rams 2 plecos and either a jewel turquoise or a firemouth cichlid. Would this work?

 

[JCA]

what type of pleco?

 

[thrankall]

what type of pleco?

Bristlenose or common

 

[vancouver]

A jewel cichlid would massacre all the other fish, except maybe the plecos.

 

[thrankall]

A jewel cichlid would massacre all the other fish, except maybe the plecos.

So a firemouth could get along with everything else?

 

[scrappy]

I have Firemouths and they 'can' be quite aggressive, your bottom dwellers like the Plecs would be fine. My guess is the Angels may be ok with Firemouths but I think the Rams would get picked on for sure.

Rams can definitly look fantastic as ive kept them before but they are not very robust, I believe your better of getting a more robust cichlid to house with any Firemouths.

 

[thrankall]

I have Firemouths and they 'can' be quite aggressive, your bottom dwellers like the Plecs would be fine. My guess is the Angels may be ok with Firemouths but I think the Rams would get picked on for sure.

Rams can definitly look fantastic as ive kept them before but they are not very robust, I believe your better of getting a more robust cichlid to house with any Firemouths.

hmm ok how many rams could i get?

 

[Neal]

He said the rams would get picked on, not to get them...

Neal

 

[thrankall]

He said the rams would get picked on, not to get them...

Neal

What i meant was how many rams could i get if i didnt have the firemouth.

 

[scrappy]

I would only recommend a single pair of rams and you may have to shop around to find a shop that sells both (or you could buy them from different shops). Its rare to find a shop that sells both males and female rams.

I would also recommend when you purchase that you check with the LFS where they were imported from as most eastern european bred rams are bad stock due to mass inter-breeding and even hormonal instigated breeding by pumping certain horemones through the water system to induce spawnings. The east european rams also tend to suffer from stunted growth (these can be easily spotted as the eyes of the fish look a little large for the head)

My male ram was a dutch bred ram and my female was locally bred by one of the LFS managers i have got to know well over the time ive been keeping fish. Unfortunatly i dont have them anymore as they were lost during a freak bout of whitespot

Heres the pics of them to help you work out what your looking for in a pair (the signs are not obvious of the sex but the shape of the body & spine length are a good start)

Male

Female

 

[thrankall]

I would only recommend a single pair of rams and you may have to shop around to find a shop that sells both (or you could buy them from different shops). Its rare to find a shop that sells both males and female rams.

I would also recommend when you purchase that you check with the LFS where they were imported from as most eastern european bred rams are bad stock due to mass inter-breeding and even hormonal instigated breeding by pumping certain horemones through the water system to induce spawnings. The east european rams also tend to suffer from stunted growth (these can be easily spotted as the eyes of the fish look a little large for the head)

My male ram was a dutch bred ram and my female was locally bred by one of the LFS managers i have got to know well over the time ive been keeping fish. Unfortunatly i dont have them anymore as they were lost during a freak bout of whitespot

Heres the pics of them to help you work out what your looking for in a pair (the signs are not obvious of the sex but the shape of the body & spine length are a good start)

Male

Female

My lfs is Petco lol and im only getting a 29gal because i dont really have room for a 55