should i make the switch?

[dj hall]

hello everyone, i just want to say this is the best cichlid forum and i have been learning alot from it and find it very interesting as well as entertaining. I have a couple of questions that maybe someone can help me with. I would really appreciate it. First of all i have a 75g set up consisting of 1 oscar, 1 green terror, 1 firemouth, 1 lukanani, 1 carpinte, and i jag which in which i originally thought was a dempsey. My problem is the oscar is such a glutton that he is growing so rapidly and the lukanani is going to get huge. My friend wants the oscar and i want to replace him with a tri-mac that my local pet store just got in. do you think it will be too aggessive. all my fish are 1-3 inches except for the oscar which gets bigger everyday. The carpinte is the most aggressive right now. What are your suggestions? i would really like some advice. Also does anyone know about flower horns, my fish store got them in as well. Thank you.

[Rex Karr]

[quote:c0c5b8c3cb="dj hall"]hello everyone, i just want to say this is the best cichlid forum and i have been learning alot from it and find it very interesting as well as entertaining. I have a couple of questions that maybe someone can help me with. I would really appreciate it. First of all i have a 75g set up consisting of 1 oscar, 1 green terror, 1 firemouth, 1 lukanani, 1 carpinte, and i jag which in which i originally thought was a dempsey. My problem is the oscar is such a glutton that he is growing so rapidly and the lukanani is going to get huge. My friend wants the oscar and i want to replace him with a tri-mac that my local pet store just got in. do you think it will be too aggessive. all my fish are 1-3 inches except for the oscar which gets bigger everyday. The carpinte is the most aggressive right now. What are your suggestions? i would really like some advice. Also does anyone know about flower horns, my fish store got them in as well. Thank you.[/quote:c0c5b8c3cb]

Hey, welcome to the Cichlid Forums. He is my advice. The Lukanani is definantly going to get huge. This peacock bass could easily get 2 ft. So your first priority is to either plan a 250g tank into the equation or to take him back.

That would leave you with

1 Oscar
1 Green Terror
1 Jaguar
1 Firemouth
1 Carapinte

With these, you are likely to have trouble with the Jaguar in particular as males can reach over 14" and are extremely aggressive in tanks this size. Trimacs and Flower Horns both will also reach 10-14" and will claim the entire tank. These 3 fish are certainly in the top 10-15 of the Most Aggressive Cichlids. So you could either keep a single male of one of the three species of skip on them.

Considering you probably want more than 1 fish (although if you just want the single large show fish it is well worth it) that would leave you witt

1 Oscar
1 Green Terror
1 Firemouth
1 Carapinte

With this setup you will have to do serious water changes to keep the water clean and there are good chances you will run into more problems with aggression.

So basically, you have a very bad selection of fish. I [b:c0c5b8c3cb]know[/b:c0c5b8c3cb] this is not what you are wanting to hear. But I can give you some suggestions for a succesful cichlid tank.

[b:c0c5b8c3cb]
Choice #1:[/b:c0c5b8c3cb] You go with a single large aggressive cichlid. Examples would be the Trimac, Jaguar, Red Devil and Buttikoferi. The Flower horn would also fit into this catagory, btu i would advise against them, as they are a hybrid and well, most serious hobbyiest don't support hybrids for various reasons. If you chose to do a tank with a single large cichlid, you could buy severl juveniles, let them grow up and then pic your favorite. It is possible that doing this would also allow a male and female to pair up, and in that case you may be able to keep the 2.

[b:c0c5b8c3cb]
Choice #2:[/b:c0c5b8c3cb] You go with 1 larger more "Peaceful" cichlid that would proabbly allow a few other smaller tankmates. An example would be an Oscar (which is usually peaceful and can reach 14") and 3 Firemouths.

[b:c0c5b8c3cb]Choice #3:[/b:c0c5b8c3cb] You scrap all the really huge fish and try several smaller species in your tank, Examples would be Fire Mouths, Nicaraguense, Green Terror, Texas, Nourissati, Robertsoni, Blue Acara, Convict, Geo. steindachneri ect. With this tank you could start off with a large group of juveniles, and as they grow, remove the ones that cause the msot trouble, until you have a group of fish thay will live in relative harmony. Most of the fish given in the example will reach 5-9" and are usually not real killers.


I know you probably weren't expecting to hear this, and you may nto be real happy about it. Sorry. Just trying to help. American cichlids are my thing, I currently have maybe 150 American cichlids, many of which are small fry that will be sold off. But in the end I should have somewhere around 80 fish. So I have quite a bit of experiance.

Rex

[SomeThing Fishy]

i gave away a big messy oscar. one of my biggest mistakes. sure hes bigger then every1 else but he needs 2b. imo i dont think oscars are as aggressive as other fish their size. i had a green terror a little bigger then half the size of my oscar and he chased my poor oscar around. the oscar is a great fish who u probably would become attached to once u started hand feeding the begger. their very funny and trusting, kinda like a wet bug-eyed dog.

[jonah]

[quote:d9a0da5e86="Rex Karr"]

[b:d9a0da5e86]
Choice #2:[/b:d9a0da5e86] You go with 1 larger more "Peaceful" cichlid that would proabbly allow a few other smaller tankmates. An example would be an Oscar (which is usually peaceful and can reach 14") and 3 Firemouths.

Rex[/quote:d9a0da5e86]
My first choice would be scrap it all and get Africans :wink: , but of the choices Rex listed #2 sounded best to me. I really miss my old oscar even though it's been years since he passed away. :cry:

[satansqueen]

:oops: I think you should get rid of you other fish and keep your oscar with a few plecos and maybe 2 or 3 firemouths\

don't lose the oscar or do it as a last resort because, as they grow they become very interesting creatures, even some learn tricks and can be taught to be hand fed or petted

I had an oscar who would jump completely out of the water to take a goldfish out of my hand.

[SomeThing Fishy]

if u do decide to keep your oscar be sure to stay on top of your water changes and keep your ammonia low. they r prone to hole-in-head which is basicly a protazoa that can be treated. but y treat when u can prevent. they r really beautiful fish but if u dont keep him give the begger a good home.