# firemouth tankmates?



## rywill (Nov 22, 2005)

my firemouth is about 3-3.5" and there is already a blood parrot in with him/her. they get along pretty good and i am looking for another cichlid that would do good with both of them, any suggestions would be great, thanks


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## ron v (Feb 24, 2005)

rywill, did you read my post in your other thread????


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## Cichlid Man (Jan 19, 2005)

What size tank is it? And is there anything else apart from the blood parrot in the tank?


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## rywill (Nov 22, 2005)

right now they are in a 35 gallon and there is also another cichlid, not sure what kind because i have seen and heard many different names for it(ruby clown, red jewel, etc.)


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## ron v (Feb 24, 2005)

rywill, what, exactly are you looking for??? You have asked the same question several times in different threads, and you have been answered. You are the only person that can decide which fish to put in what tank. Your blood parrot will probably kill your firemouth, in time, along with whatever else you put in that tank. Maybe if you could ask a more specific question... or maybe post a picture of the red fish and maybe we could id it for you.


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## rywill (Nov 22, 2005)

sry ron, i dont know much about cichlids so i was hoping to hear what would be a compatable tankmate with as little fighting as possible. As soon as i can i will get a pic on here of my unknown cichlid, and sry for the multiple posts of the same thing


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## ron v (Feb 24, 2005)

It's OK rywill, we will try to help as much as possible. I gave you a fairly lengthy analysis of the fish that you have in the other thread and you didn't respond. I would love to see you get into cichlids ( my favorite group of fish ), but some things are not possible. The cichlids that you have are impossibly aggressive. Compatable tankmates DON'T EXIST. Now if we start over..... If your question were..... Hey guys, I have a 75 gal. tank... or maybe a 35 gal. tank and want to get some cichlids. What would you recommend? Then we might could help you.. Do you want spawning or a pretty display tank or....?


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## rywill (Nov 22, 2005)

well ron, i am in the midst of setting up a 38 gallon tank. I want to keep goin with cichlids. I have had them for a little over 2 months and love them. I really love my jack dempseys, im hoping the pair i have are m/f and will spawn. i want spawning for this new 38gal. What would b the way to go for spawning fairly easy. convicts?


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## ron v (Feb 24, 2005)

The trick for spawning any cichlid is to get a group and let them choose partners. I can understand why you like your dempseys. They are really nice fish. But again, they get big and they are aggressive. Some things are just not possible and a 38 gal. ( that's an odd size ) is small for dempseys. Convicts or maybe kirbensis would be better. If you must try.... I would say buy two more dempseys about the same size and put them all in together. With good conditions, they will spawn at a fairly small size so you might get lucky and have two pair off. You can then take the others out and leave the pair alone. As a pair tho, as adults, they will need ,at least a 75.


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## rywill (Nov 22, 2005)

yea when i found out the tank was 38 gal it sounded odd to me as well. We are actually getting a 75 gal soon (i hope). I am going to town in a couple hours and i will look and see if they have any dempseys the size i need or look at the convicts or kribs. thanks for puttin up with me, haha, and thanks for your help.


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## ron v (Feb 24, 2005)

Think about firemouths also. They would work better because they are not as aggressive and don't get as big. I'll bet the firemouth you have is not colored up very well and hides a lot. It's because of his aggressive tankmates.... If you are willing to rethink what you have and maybe take some fish back, we can get into something you will enjoy. If you go to the pet shop today, just look around and see what cichlids are available. Ask for varities that stay small. Good luck...


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## rywill (Nov 22, 2005)

im gonna try and get a pic of the firemouth on here as well. And actually the firemouth seems to b the dominant fish in the tank, i think this is jus because he is close to an inch bigger than the other 2, not sure. i will post again when i find out what the pet store has, and get the pics on here asap


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## IloveCichlids (Jul 11, 2005)

I have had firemouths with black striped convicts and texas cichlids before. 
The Texas will get way too big for your tank though.


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## Cichlid Man (Jan 19, 2005)

My ideal central american/neotropical cichlid breeding tank for a 30-55g size would be a pair of small cichlids at each end of the tank so that they'll have half the tank each. 

Here are some good "compatible" choices and the minimum tank lengths they need without one pair dominating the other pair.
Remember that each pair should have a good size cave or good size rock structure to breed on.

One pair per tank:

2 kribs 2 ft
2 firemouths 2ft
2 convicts 2ft
2 jack dempseys 3ft
2 texas 3ft
2 jaguars 4ft
2 wolfs 5ft (no less than 150g for a pair)

Two pairs per tank: (Pairs should be of equal size, otherwise won't work)

2 convicts__________2 firemouths 3ft
2 kribs_____________2 firemouths 2.5ft
2 convicts__________2 jack dempseys 4ft
2 texas____________2 jack dempseys 5ft
2 jaguars___________2 jack dempseys 5 ft.

Three pairs per tank or more:

Best avioded. Not for beginners.

Other fish should be avioded in these setups unless the fish won't be a threat to the the cichlids e.g. hatchet fish/danios. (Tetras shouldn't be included in a cichlid breeding tank. Neither should slow moving mid water fish).


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## ron v (Feb 24, 2005)

Gosh, CM, we need to be careful here. I don't think we need to be recommending things like jaguars cichlids that get a foot and a half long and wolves that get even larger to this person.... and this pair thing... a pair of convicts and a pair of dempseys in a 4' tank... I don't think so. But even if it could work, how would you ever get to that. You need a group of each species to get to a pair. Lets get rywill started off right. Maybe one group of 4-6 firemouths in a tank and let him have some success!!!! You could probably make some of the things you have suggested, work. But you've been doing this for a while, and know what you are doing!!!!


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## Cichlid Man (Jan 19, 2005)

These are final tank setups which will work with established breeding pairs.
But yeah, the one pair per tank is more ideal for the moment, as it's only a 38g tank. And the jags etc are just as easy to keep as convicts, they just need a bigger tank, more food, bigger water changes, everything bigger.


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## rywill (Nov 22, 2005)

thanks cm and ron, first i think im going to see if my 2 dempseys are a successful pair. if they do not work out then i will start off simple with some convicts as i heard they spawn quite easy and quick usually.


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## rywill (Nov 22, 2005)

oh and i did go to the pet store yesterday to look around. they didnt have very many cichlids in stock. all they had were africans. So all i bought was a medium pleco. And this pleco has problems..lol. About 3am this morning my dog was goin crazy and barking in my room. I woke up to find my new pleco on the floor about 3 feet away from my tank.. haha. only 1 spot to jump out by the heater. What should i do to not let this happen again?


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## Lisachromis (Jan 19, 2005)

I'd like to know what the dimensions are on the 38 gallon tank. Could you let me know?


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## rywill (Nov 22, 2005)

well ron i think i found out what kind of fish my "unknown" is. As i said before in the petstore it was listed as a ruby clown or sumthin like that and was said to be a C.A. cichlid. i was searching and found a picture of a jewel cichlid and that is definately what i have, which is an african. So i have an african with a couple of C.A. cichlids and they have co-existed great for around 3 months or so now. http://badmanstropicalfish.com/afcichlids.html


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## rywill (Nov 22, 2005)

the dimensions on my 38gal are, L=36 1/4".....W=12 1/2"....H=20"


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## wildtiger (Jun 8, 2005)

From the dimensions you gave your tank is:

32.84 UK gallons
39.40 US gallons
149.27 Liters


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## rywill (Nov 22, 2005)

yea thats what i found out after i measured, they are still sold in my area as 38 gal


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## ron v (Feb 24, 2005)

Your jewel cichlid is probably a member of the Hemichromis group and yes they are from Africa, but they are very different from the cichlids from the East African Great Lakes. Jewels are from West Africa and are soft water fish, much like most of the South American fish. Central American fish are from hard water areas.


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## rywill (Nov 22, 2005)

i took some pics yesterday, just cant get em on here yet, the digi cam cord is in my brothers school locker, so hopefully monday i can have my pics on here


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