50 gallon firemouth tank planned

dbacksrat

dbacksrat

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Jun 3, 2003
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I finally got a job at Petsmart and I can get a good deal with my discount on a 50 gallon tank. I plan to use flourite/gravel as the substrate and buy 2 48" shoplight kits (going for somewhat of a planted tank). In my store, there are six firemouth cichlids that are obviously a tightly knit group and act naturally and normally together. Would a 50 gallon have enough room for any other fish (maybe a rubber lipped pleco or a pictus cat) in the event the six firemouths decide to breed?
 

radamsk1

radamsk1

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Apr 23, 2005
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Well firemouths can get to be 6" when fully grown. If you plan to have 5 or 6 of them, that equals about 30-36" inches of fish. If there is some breeding going on, you can increase your numbers, but also at the same time decrease them unless you separate the others out of the tank from the parents, since they will get a bit more aggressive. It's important not to place them with fish that are too aggressive, but with calmer more community like fish. A rubberlip pleco or any pleco that remains smaller in size, such as a bristlemouth or a zebra plec would look nice. You can also maybe add some rams or smaller cichlids that aren't overly aggressive. Hopefully you'll get to see some nice behavior from these fish in the tight knit group, I find them to be very interesting especially when they flare their gill flaps against each other :)
 

Orion

Orion

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#3
Feb 10, 2003
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I'm not to familiar with the breeding pratices of firemouths, but I would say the more teritories you can provide for either pairs, or wayward fish the better.

These guys like most cichlids are going to be hanging out at the bottom of the tank, so I would try to aviod any bottom dwellers, and probably only stick to top dwelling fish for tank mates if any at all.
 

dbacksrat

dbacksrat

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Jun 3, 2003
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I wasn't planning on rearing any firemouths in the near future....I'm not going to follow the 1" per gallon rule because these are larger fish
hmmm....some suitable top dwellers from the amazon/central american scene....no tetras (too small/tasty)? angelfish maybe?
 

W

wayne

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Oct 22, 2002
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I tried to post but it failed (?). I would agree with a C American biotope - medium to high pH and kH, big boulders , some 'natural' or better still wild caught livebearers.
Keepingthem with rams strikes me as not a good idea at all. Not the same water conditions, and the rams will be totally intimidated.
 

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wayne

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Oct 22, 2002
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Can't get wild caught livebearers - drive to mexico? Bizarrrely here in Norway there are a bunch of people locally who do this so I have tons of access to wild caught livebearers.

Anyway hatchets might work, but might not liek the higher pH's. I wouldn't like it as hatchets come from 'classic' S America enviroment, and Firemouths from Central America.
 

dbacksrat

dbacksrat

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Jun 3, 2003
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ahh--different water chemistry--that makes sense

wayne, you definetly know more about south of the border than I do *thumbsup2

it would take me days (3-4) before I arrived in an area that could support livebearers in mexico...then I would have to figure out how to catch em...then transport em...all without getting shot at or held up or getting tapeworms/dysentary :)

local livebearers would be the easiest option--I'll check my more specialized LFS's for a variety
 

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