Thinking Of Going Back To Cichlids

[Stampos]

Hi guys,

I've recently contemplated scrapping my idea of a catfish only tank, as it just seems a waste the upper regions of my tank.


I have a 60x18x24 tank whih is filtered by a sump (circa 5-7 times turnover) and have seen the following cichlids that I like recently:

Gold severums

Blue acara

Geophagus "Tapajos" red hump

Bolivian rams

Keyholes

Firemouths


I would love to have a severum (or two) as a centrepiece fish, along with some blue acaras and geos. I'd be using some large tetra or rainbowfih as dithers. I keep hearing conflicting advice however as to the temperament of these fish? I have kept Malawi Mbuna previously so I'm not adverse to aggression (infact, it's part of why I love cichlids) but I'd like to avoid ultra aggression if possible.

From the list above, what would you choose for a show tank? I currently have some bristlenose plecs and corys in the tank so these may be a consideration also.

Thanks,

Simon

 

[minxfishy]

The severums and acaras would be absolutely fine together, neither are particuarly aggressive species, they will have their moments, until a pecking order is established, most likely the largest severum winning that, but otherwise they would be fine. The Geo's would also be ok with those fish and unlikely to be any problems with them, I would say though that you might find a firemouth could cause problems, purely because they can be feisty fish and I wouldnt recommend having bolivian rams or keyholes with the severums/acaras, as they are much more peaceful fish and would likely become stressed with the larger cichlids around.

I can highly recommend the rainbowfish as dithers, I used to have loads in with my severum and have only recently moved them to another tank as I put an Oscar in who decided they were tasty snacks.

 

[Stampos]

That's great to hear thanks minxfishy

I terms of numbers, how would you do it?

I appreciate the fish get large so I will have some space whilst they are juvenile, the acara I've seen are around 3-4" and the sevs I can get at either that size or 5-7" from my LFS.

Would it be best to get them all around the same size and allow them to grow together?

 

[minxfishy]

Its roughly the same size tank as mine? 125g approx I think, so I would say two severums, which can max out around 10", but more likely 8", 2/3 acara (depends how many you want, 3 being max) which reach approx 6-8", again 2/3 Geo's, I think tapajos reach around 8", then dithers, if you do decide on rainbows, I would say 6-12 (if your talking boesemani,lacustris, reds etc which max out around 5") if you were thinking praecox (dwarf rainbows) then up to 20, these max out around 3" more likely 2". You could also have some corydoras for the bottom, as they wont be a problem at all with any of those fish, as many as you like really.

In my 125g, I used to have 3 severum, a nicarguan, T.Aureus, Daemons with at one point 20 rainbowfish (the larger varieties) around 20+ corydoras, so you plenty of space to play around with