Small, Non Extreme Aggressive Cichlid 60G

[jonny5]

So im working on my 60 gallon brackish tank right now and my theme is basiclly, i want to keep archers and have a general variety of fish.
The SG will be between 1.003-1.005, so i will have plants (mainly java fern and anacharis but hopefully vall will work).
There seems to be a decent amount of brack cichlids in that range but they all get big or aggressive.

The only relatively small ( 4-6 inches) brackish fairly docile cichlids i can think of are krib and orange chromide.
Is there anything else that can work? i know the sg is a little high for most salt tolerant cichlids and i was thinking jewel cichlid but everyone says they will tear other fish up.

Right now i have 3 mollies, purpled spotted gudgeon, knight goby and krib in the tank(with some celebes rainbows maturing in FW tank). Plan to add 2-3 more gobies, a figure 8 puffer(hopefully one of the nicer individuals), lined sole, going for variety like i said.

Plus one larger cichlid species would be a nice "showcase fish", green texas cichlid looks gorgeous but i hear they will also tear other fish up. The eartheater (Geophagus brasiliensis) also looks great but at 12" and not liking 7.9ph water i dont think it would work.

any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Ludwig Venter]

Well, when I read the heading of your topic, exactly those 2 you've mentioned came to mind... Orange Chromide and Kribensis, but since you consider Figure 8's and green texas, I will advise not to put the chromides in there... (I've had a figure 8 bite chunks out of my Blue Acara, and have since steered clear of them)

Monodactylus and Scatfish may fit into your plans and they are not overly aggressive...

 

[jonny5]

Well, when I read the heading of your topic, exactly those 2 you've mentioned came to mind... Orange Chromide and Kribensis, but since you consider Figure 8's and green texas, I will advise not to put the chromides in there... (I've had a figure 8 bite chunks out of my Blue Acara, and have since steered clear of them)

Monodactylus and Scatfish may fit into your plans and they are not overly aggressive...

ya after much reading the green texas is out(but oh man they are a good looking fish) i still wonder about the eartheater though. But your figure eight terrorized the acara eh? darn ive heard they are the one puffer you can keep that wont cause trouble. I dont want to have scats due to having plants and i would love some mono argentus, but isnt 1.005 sg to low to keep them once they get larger? I do love the way monos look and move but im not gonna increase the salinity to have them at the sacrifice of nearly half the other fish.

if i could ever find the iranian cichlids they would work but fat chance on that. Blue acara, black acara, firemouth cichs would be nice but i dont want to put the fish in a salinity that would stress them and have them mearling eeking out an existance in. Archer fish, sole, and dragon goby are really gonna need that sg near 1.005 to do well. And for the record a single male jewel cich would still be too agressive ya?

hmm just noticed something, in his book neal says not to have black aka port acara in brack, but his website says they can take up to 1.010.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Ooo, my first new fish fact for the day...

Kribs can live happily in brackish water?

Well I never!

 

[nmonks]

On the whole cichlids aren't worthwhile additions to brackish water cichlids. There are a fair variety, but with a few exceptions like the port acara, they tend to be either too big or too aggressive to work well in the average brackish water community. The list on my FAQ is kept up to date, and may in some cases offer options I didn't know about when writing the brackish water book back in 2003/2004.

Start by checking which archerfish you have. There's a one-in-three chance you have Toxotes microlepis, a species that does perfectly well in freshwater and only tolerates slightly brackish conditions. Retailers haven't a clue which they're selling most of the time, and tell them apart isn't easy. There's some sketches on my FAQ that should help.

Cheers, Neale

 

[jonny5]

ah ok gotcha, ya i think ill stick with krib and orange chromide then, a nice cichlid addition to the tank. As for the archer fish, im pretty sure it is T. jaculatrix but not too certain on that one and its at the store, have not purchased them yet.

And yes, krib can take slight brackish water, but it can also take soft slight acidic water, very hardy fish.

thanks for the advice neale

 

[nmonks]

Yes and no. They will tolerate slight salinity, perhaps 1.003, maybe a little higher. But there's no point to keeping them that way. If you intend to breed them you need a neutral pH; in brackish water you will end up with all male fry, which is pointless.

To be honest, I'd skip cichlids and look at something else. Florida flagfish occupy a similar niche and do quite well in brackish water. Other killifish might work too, depending on the size of the tankmates. With archerfish, knight gobies, sailfin mollies and perhaps glassfish would all make rather better companions. There are numerous sleeper gobies too: Butis, Eleotris and Mogurnda species for example.

If you can post a photo of the archer I will try and ID it for you.

Cheers, Neale

And yes, krib can take slight brackish water, but it can also take soft slight acidic water, very hardy fish.

 

[Ludwig Venter]

Yes and no. They will tolerate slight salinity, perhaps 1.003, maybe a little higher. But there's no point to keeping them that way. If you intend to breed them you need a neutral pH; in brackish water you will end up with all male fry, which is pointless.

To be honest, I'd skip cichlids and look at something else. Florida flagfish occupy a similar niche and do quite well in brackish water. Other killifish might work too, depending on the size of the tankmates. With archerfish, knight gobies, sailfin mollies and perhaps glassfish would all make rather better companions. There are numerous sleeper gobies too: Butis, Eleotris and Mogurnda species for example.

If you can post a photo of the archer I will try and ID it for you.

Cheers, Neale

And yes, krib can take slight brackish water, but it can also take soft slight acidic water, very hardy fish.

Excellent suggestion there nmonks... very good.

 

[jonny5]

Yes and no. They will tolerate slight salinity, perhaps 1.003, maybe a little higher. But there's no point to keeping them that way. If you intend to breed them you need a neutral pH; in brackish water you will end up with all male fry, which is pointless.

To be honest, I'd skip cichlids and look at something else. Florida flagfish occupy a similar niche and do quite well in brackish water. Other killifish might work too, depending on the size of the tankmates. With archerfish, knight gobies, sailfin mollies and perhaps glassfish would all make rather better companions. There are numerous sleeper gobies too: Butis, Eleotris and Mogurnda species for example.

If you can post a photo of the archer I will try and ID it for you.

Cheers, Neale

And yes, krib can take slight brackish water, but it can also take soft slight acidic water, very hardy fish.

Excellent suggestion there nmonks... very good.

aye ic, ya i dont really intend on breeding the krib, just wanted a cichlid or two. But florida flagfish sounds nice, i will get that for algae purpose too, the golden killi also looks quite nice.