Stocking Help!

[theryzer]

Hello all! I had this post in african cichlids but seeing as my question was mainly about addin new world cichlids i thought perhaps someone could help me here.

Im new to the forum and this is in fact my first post and i have a a few questions to ask. I set up my 55 gallon 4 foot tank and cycled it, im running a fluval 204 canister filter and a penguin 200 biowheel (without the wheel). I recently bought 4 jewel cichlids all around 1 inch long (1 was a darker variation) in hopes of forming a breeding pair. My first question is at what size will I begin to notice a pair forming. my next question is once a pair has formed and i have removed the other 2, what are some possibilities of some tank mates and when should I add them. I'd like to keep maybe kribs or even see if the other 2 jewels form a pair and leave them.( i really dont know what m/f ratio i have) maybe some smaller american cichlids or a single larger breed like a severum or blue acara if i ever find one at my LFS. Bottom feeders could be juggled in too!
my ph is 7 and my temeprature sits at 77 for the most part, that can be easily adjusted. I'm open to all possibilties and appreciate all the feedback i can get, Cheers

 

[onidrase]

A breeding pair of jewels is like a breeding pair of convicts.

They'll kill everything else if your tank isn't monstrous in size.

So your answer is, you won't be able to have any other tank mates. Especially not kribensis.

The other 2 jewels will have to go. Those 2 especially will be obliterated during breeding. If you want tank mates with cichlids, a good rule of thumb is that if it's aggressive when it's not breeding (which, mind you, once they reach about 3 to 4 inches, they're going to start fighting other fish) they're going to be really really aggressive when they are breeding.

Your tank is also too small for severums. It might be too small for blue acaras.

Either that or just not breed them. Pick your favorite and take the other 3 back. Then get some suitable tank mates. But keep in mind the one that you have is probably not going to like that. You'll have to remove it and put it in a different tank for a few hours while you redecorate that one, as it'll likely have already established the tank as its own.

Somebody else on this forum has a female jewel cichlid that will not have any other tank mates period in a 75 gallon other than a synodontis catfish. myself have a female convict that is the same way. It really depends on the individual, but with notoriously aggressive fish species, you're really taking a gamble.

 

[theryzer]

Oh okay perfect, ive heard people say theyre very passive but mostly i do hear they are very similiar to cons.
if I were to breed them what about some target or dither fish so they dont end up killing eachother, ive read that is a common occurance. any ideas as to what size they will be when I should start looking for pairs?

 

[onidrase]

Oh okay perfect, ive heard people say theyre very passive but mostly i do hear they are very similiar to cons.
if I were to breed them what about some target or dither fish so they dont end up killing eachother, ive read that is a common occurance. any ideas as to what size they will be when I should start looking for pairs?

Cichlids tend to pair very young. I'm not sure when, but I've seen some fish pair in the store at merely an inch long. Try to up your numbers to like 7 or 8 rather than 4.

I've heard of passiveness too on website profiles, but I've never heard or seen a passive jewel before. They have a more fierce reputation in my eyes than convicts.

I'm being pretty serious when I say they'll kill everything in the tank when they breed. That includes dither fish. You might be able to keep a bristlenose pleco or another similarly sized plecostamus, but even that could be attacked depending on your pair. If one of your pair starts to attack the other, the idea is not to add a decoy like dither fish, but to seperate them and keep the victim in a seperate tank.

Going back to your tank mate ideas, If you choose to only keep 1 jewel rather than breed, I think a blue acara would work. But kribensis won't. They're much too small, and will likely get obliterated if the jewel has a hissy fit.

 

[onidrase]

once again it all depends on the fishes temperament. I wouldn't risk keeping any cichlids smaller than the jewel.

 

[theryzer]

will do, im actually considering re-stocking to a more community set up with perhaps rams. thanks for all the help!

 

[theryzer]

scratch that, im going with just the jewels and maybe a Pleco of some sort, the ones at my lfs are the butterfly, and two species labelled regular pleco and then common pleco, from what I understand they both will outgrow my tank. i might look around for a syn. or bn. but there isnt enough algae in my tank yet anyways

 

[theryzer]

now the're were two or three more jewels at the lfs and if i wanted to increase my chances of a breeding pair these fish were about an inch longer than the smaller ones i got, ive read females wont mate with a male if he is smaller then her, so should i look to see if i can find some that are more similarly sized?

 

[onidrase]

now the're were two or three more jewels at the lfs and if i wanted to increase my chances of a breeding pair these fish were about an inch longer than the smaller ones i got, ive read females wont mate with a male if he is smaller then her, so should i look to see if i can find some that are more similarly sized?

Yes. Larger cichlids tend to pick on smaller cichlids, which is why it's wise to buy them all when they're of similar same size.

The butterfly plecos tend to not be a pleco at all. It's usually a hellstream loach of sorts, and requires a bit of special care, so don't go for it.

There might be a legitimate pleco out there called a butterfly pleco, but if it looks like this http/animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/HillstreamLoaches/Images/ChineseHillstreamLoachWFLo_Ap4A.jpg don't get it.

What you could probably also do is have the breeding pair of jewels in the 29 gallon, and move the fish you have in the 29 to the 55, and up some numbers, add some nice schooling fish, maybe some apistogramma or rams or keyhole cichlids

 

[theryzer]

that sounds good, i might move them to the 29, thanks!