# Mixing w/ Firemouths



## Keifer (Apr 10, 2006)

I have a very dominant firemouth that chases anything around that I put in there (lost a german ram, green terror, and another firemouth to being over stressed). I also have a needle gar that will eat any small fish that i put in the tank. Any ideas of a fish I could add that wont get eaten or picked on?


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## Georgia Peach (Sep 23, 2005)

more than likely, NONE. Your firemouth has established the tank as his and its highly doubtful that he will allow any roomies.. What size tank is this??


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## Torpedo (Jan 23, 2006)

if you could get a red terror (festae) or a Midas of equal size id be more than willing to bet that they could hold their own against pretty much anything.


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## Cichlid Man (Jan 19, 2005)

Torpedo said:


> if you could get a red terror (festae) or a Midas of equal size id be more than willing to bet that they could hold their own against pretty much anything.


That's completely the wrong thing to do and I would stongly reccomend against that.
If you add a more aggressive cichlid to a tank with a cichlid who has established the tank as his territory, the more aggressive cichlid will eventually fight back, and when he wins, he'll give all the other tankmates a very hard time, especially the firemouth who was harassing him in the first place.
Also the mistake you made was you added a fish to a tank where the firemouth has claimed the tank as his own. If you buy them all together and introduce them all at once, you won't have this problem.
A lot of people don't seem to realize that CA and SA cichlids can't be kept together very easily. I never keep cichlids in small tanks, unless if they're on their own or if they're a breeding pair.
What size is your tank anyway? Trust me, if you put the most aggressive cichlids in a ten foot tank with lots of hiding spaces, you'll have no problems what so ever.
I would reccomend to get rid of all your fish and start again. Either have a tank with needle nose gars and large peaceful fish like silver dollars. 
If you want to keep a community of cichlids, get malawis, or tanganyikans.
Central and SA cichlids are best kept in pairs with sufficient terrotories.


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## pureplecs (Jan 25, 2006)

My first question is what size tank do you have?

I have a 90g tank with a full grown firemouth with three full grown severums and they seem to get along fine. Sometimes if the severums go over by his "space" the firemouth will flare at them but never does any harm. I would not suggest putting anything that is smaller than the firemouth as it will get stressed to death as you've already experienced...


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