The Start Of Something Bigger.

[snowflake311]

I feel like shareing my cichlid tank idea with who ever want to read about it. Not many people use the journal thing so I thought I would try it out.

Well I have had my 55 gal tank set up for 7 months I think. I have my breeding pair of crazy blue acaras in there they are now 3.5" long. They have spawned 8 times every time the parent turn on each other after a week. So the babys get eatten. I'm giving up on breeding them and will be looking for a new home for my female.

I have a 1.5" green severum growing out a bit in a 10 gal tank by her self. I also have a 2" EBJD growing out in a 20 gal tank by himself at the moment. In a month or 2 I will be adding them to the 55 gal with the one male blue acara.

I hope all goes well I had my ebjd with my blue acara once before and they did fine. They will be growing out together in the 55 gal for a year or so then I will set up a 90 gal or bigger what ever I can find for a good price.

So that's the game plan so far. I will post more on how the fish get long once I add them to the tank. I'm thinking of rescaping the whole 55 gal before I add them all in at the same time. I want a clean slate no one has set up territories they will have to all start from scratch.

 

[SBL]

No one has used that part of what the forum is here for. I hope all goes well, and I would appreciate some pictures so I could admire your fish better.

 

[Lace]

It sounds like a really good plan good luck with it, I also look forward to seeing pictures.

 

[snowflake311]

Here are some photos of the fish i'm talking about.

My EBJD pretty much my pride and joy of my fish. Named Sparkle.

here is Nip my baby green severum

My male Acara the one I'm going to keep.

And my Albino BN.

I also have some Red eye tetras in the 55 gal tank now.

here is the 55Gal it's a bit of a mess right now. I need to move some stuff around I'm not in love with lay out any more.

 

[snowflake311]

I need to take down my 10 gal tank I'm also sick of doing that many water changes. So Nip my severum moved into the 55 gal with the 2 blue acara.

I did a major cleaning moved everything around I did a 100% water change here is the new set up. I'm going to add more tall plants in the background.

I'm happy to say all so far so good with them getting along. I added Nip and the Acaras checked her out then left her alone and just went back to flirting I think They are going to spawn again. They are so busy with eachother they could care less about the new guy. I think moving stuff around helped too. Now I'm not sure if I should add The EBJD in yet. I think I will he seems bored in his own Tank.

My severum is following the Acara pair around its cute. I'm going to add My EBJD today also.

I'm going to see if they will all get along and if I will need to split the pair up. My acaras have a love hate thing going on. I know having these 4 cichlid in a 55 gal is bad long term But don't worry they will be moved into a 90 gal or 120 gal tank within a year or As soon as I think they need it. They will just grow out in here.

A little background on these fish in this tank.
My acarasy are 3 almost 4 " and seemed to have slowed down growing. I know they will get bigger. I'm had them for 7 months now I think They were 1" When I first got them. I bought 3 and kept the pair. I had to buy them online from thatpetplace.com. they spawn every 2 weeks. I have not been trying to raise the fry They just become live Food I know its mean but I don't have the time to raise fry or the space. I had 2 that I was doing a good job at raising but I when on vacation came back and they were dead.

My EBJD is in a 20 gal he has grown a bit in just a month and his color is looking great. last time I had him with the severum nip he was a bit mean thats why he is last to go in the tank this time.

My Green severum I bought from a not so good stoore he was rescued. They were all mislabelled and had ich. I took her home and nursed her to health. She is doing great.


I will post how sparkle the EBJD does when I add him.

 

[snowflake311]

So I just added Sparkle the EBJD. He tried to be a bully when i put him in. got alittle aggressive with Nip and then he tried to be a little aggressive with the Blue acaras and well they told him to bug off. No one got hurt but now Sparkle is hiding out laying low feeling things out.

I'm impressed with how well Nip adjust to things. I just throw her is and she is doing awesome ever showed any sings of stress. I am poud of her. I hope Sparkle can learn to play nice with the others. The Acaras are pretty much the type of fish that will not mess with other unless they mess with them first.

I'm will be watching them all day to see how things go. So far I have a good feeling it will be fine.

Nip is cool with the Acaras and they are cool with him. It's cute. Sparkle has attitude and does not like Nip and when he goes for Nip she just tries to ignore him. Then the Acaras come over and say STOP It. Then Sparkle goes away.

 

[snowflake311]

UPDATE

it has been a few days now and everyone is happy and doing great. They are all getting along no fights no major chasing just little hey move out of my way chases but nothing to even think twice about. I'm just watching them grow up together. I'm keeping a look out for a 5 footer tank for them once they get bigger.

I could not be happier with the mix of fish I have. I think having the other Cichlids around has calmed my Blue acara pair down they are not as crazy with each-other any more.

 

[Wills]

Wow these tanks look awesome! I love your sevs face, severum faces are so different I think you can get real uniqueness with them! Good name as well

 

[snowflake311]

Thanks. I forgot to tell the names of my acara Homer and Marge. I am a big Simpsons fan.

Yes the face is one if the things that I just love about the Severum. They are so cute with that tiny mouth and big eyes. I love it.

 

[snowflake311]

just wanted to add a note about the EBJD. When the temp is at 75F or lower they are a relatively peaceful nice fish. But if you bring the temp up to 79 80F They become bossy and start to do a bit more chasing. I brought the temp up to see if this was true and it is. Before I raised the temp My EBJD was mild manor and would never dream of trying to fight my Blue acara. But today I was watching them and I saw him hold his own with the Acara and even puff up to say " Hey you want a piece of this." But then they both went there separate ways.

I will be putting the temp back to 75 F in a few days. Maybe the high temp triggers that breeding behaviour that makes them more aggressive. I read about this that cooler temps make for a calmer JD and I see it is very true for my fish.

 

[snowflake311]

I had to take my Female Acara out. She was beating the *&#^$% out of the male. My poor little male. lucky for me she is easy to catch due to her larger size and love of food. In the morning the male was bothering her but she tuned on him and told him to bug off and won.

Since I took her out the male is happy. I did see my EBJD try to pick a fight with the Male BA it did not last long and things are fine now. The temp is still a bit high so my EBJD is a bit on edge.

I need to decide on what one of my Acaras I want to keep. My female is one tough cookie and she is a good size She looks huge in the 10 Gal emergency tank. She is 4 inches. The male is a bit smaller. I know you might be thinking maybe I have the sex mixed up. No I don't I have watched them spawn and I saw who was laying the eggs.

I have a feeling my Severum is a female she is very clam and never wants to fight. She is a well mannered fish. At the rate my EBJD is growing I think he will be larger then my little BA male in no time. So I am thinking maybe keeping the Female BA would be best. Because I am pretty sure my EBJD is a male since most of EBJD are males.

I will being keeping an eye on them to see how it goes and decide on what one I should keep. I will post later on how they are all adjusting and who I decide to keep.

 

[snowflake311]

Another update. The temp is at 75F they are all doing great and growing fast. I'm working on my husband to let me get a larger tank sooner. For some reason he really likes the 55 Gal and does not want me to get a bigger tank or replace it. His friend still have this OLD 95 Gal 5 Footer that would be PERFECT He said he would give it to me by my husband is being a twit about it. So we will see. Once he sees how big these fish get he will give in. But for now they are getting along and seem very happy.

Idealy I would to turn my 55 gal into a Dwarf cichlid community and then get the 94 gal for my big guys in this tank. I would trade in my 2 other tanks to have this one big one. We will see how it plays out.

Besides that all is well. But I need to find my Female BA a new home.

I'm also looking to add a extra filter to my 55gal. I have a Eheim 2215 going but I liked it better when I was running that with a hang on powerfilter. So I'm looking for one for the tank.

 

[snowflake311]

I added a rubbernose pleco to the tank today. My cichlids were confused.

New photo of my severum.

They play nice.

 

[SBL]

Nip looks so cute. He seems to have colored up nicly. I like the look of your rubbernose.

 

[snowflake311]

Nip looks so cute. He seems to have colored up nicly. I like the look of your rubbernose.

Thanks. I think Nip is really cute too I can't wait to see what she looks like when she grows up.