Dwarf Cichlid Idea

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fishydude22

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Jul 14, 2003
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hi, I have an idea and I was wondering if someone could help me out.

Would it be possible to have a dwarf cichlid community tank in a 55 gallon or larger?.

I was wondering which dwarf cichlids get along with eachother?.

I was thinking of having a 55 gallon or bigger tank with the following:

4 German Blue Rams, 4 Bolivian Rams, 4 Kribensis(Pelviachromis Pulcher),4 Cockatoo Dwarf Cichlids, 4 Nannacara Anomala,4 Checkerboard Cichlids(2 Creniacara,2 Dicrossus).

I wonder if any other Apistogramma species are a good choice for this idea?

What about A.Thomasi?

Any suggestions or help would greatly appreciated thank you.
 

C

Cichlid-Man

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Jul 9, 2003
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Well you do have room to work in a 55gal. And all these fish stay pretty small.

Only thing i see is that you have 8 rams and 4 kirbs. If they all form pairs there could be some battling going on, since they do stay near the bottem. (especially while breeding.) And i don't think a 55gal is big enough for so many, unless you give them enough hiding spaces.

I would lose some rams and go with more mid swimmers or another peacful type.

My opinion
 

fishboy

fishboy

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Oct 22, 2002
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I always wanted to try this idea, but never had the chance. Sounds like it could be interesting. But remember when choosing fish, stay away from similar species, as they may interbreed, and we really do not need another flowerhorn issue on our hands. I would try to limit the fish, if you can to three pairs or groups, and have some subdominant females as dithers.

Sounds good so far, but i would personally drop the kribs and bolivian rams, they are, in my opinion way to aggressive. Other than that sounds like it would be fun. Just remember to have LOTS of hiding places and alot of dithers such as neons,cardinals, etc. Keep us updated as well!


Here is an interesting link regarding this:

http://www.sydneycichlid.com/apisto2.html


-Daniel
 

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fishydude22

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I always wanted to try this idea, but never had the chance. Sounds like it could be interesting. But remember when choosing fish, stay away from similar species, as they may interbreed, and we really do not need another flowerhorn issue on our hands.
Click to expand...
Which species are similar(other than the Apsitos?).

And what's wrong with Flowerhorns, interbreeding sounds cool!*celebrate
 

C

Cichlid-Man

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Jul 9, 2003
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I am not against Hybrids, and there is nothing wrong with flowerhorns. They just should have been kept in the breeders own collection.

I am not against Hybrids as long as you don't sell them out to LFS and other breeders so they get out in the market.

Thats a problem with Peacock Cichlids these days........hard to find pure blooded peacocks.
 

F

fishydude22

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fishydude, plz do a search on threads relating to hybrids and why people are against them, i hope after this you will change your mind
Click to expand...
.

Hey Soulfish,

I have read many articles on how bad hybrids are. I personally have no problem with hybrids.

Think of it this way, if you sell some to your lfs, you make some money. Someone walks in and buys these hybrids, the store makes money, therefore everybody's happy:D*celebrate *PEACE!*
 

Managuense

Managuense

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#10
May 16, 2003
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#10
Think of it this way, if you sell some to your lfs, you make some money. Someone walks in and buys these hybrids, the store makes money, therefore everybody's happy
Click to expand...
yeah, until you realize months down the road that what you thought was X species, is now just some other hybrid fish and you become angry that the pet store sold you the fish as X species.

if i paid good money for some aulonocara sp that i wanted to possibly breed and then found out that it was just some crappy hybrid i would be mad as hell.

this really only becomes a problem with the african cichlids (peacocks mostly) as it is pretty easy to tell what a red texas, or a BP, etc. is just by looking at it.

i personally dont care whether or not you change you mind.

just keep your hybrids to yourself.
M
 

SoulFish

SoulFish

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Oct 22, 2002
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The first generation of hybrids look like a cross between teh 2 species, the second generation can look exactly like either of the parents meaning the the pet store will sell them as that species not as a hybrid, people will buy them and breed them together and this will continue until you will not be able to find a pure strain of the fish unless you pay a very high amount of money to have them shipped to you from a reputable dealer, this has happened with trimacs and red devils which are now almost impossible to find pure strains of.
 

W

wayne

Elite Fish
#12
Oct 22, 2002
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Well for a start apistogramma don't hybridise very well, and the offspring always look like crap as the scales become misshapen, and the colours wash out. Plus the fry are always nearly infertile so they die out after a generation. So buy some of these from a store, and your breeding efforts are worth zero. And that includes close crosses like panduo x nijssenni, letalone more remote ones. There's more genetic variation statistically in genus apistogramma, than the whole mbuna group together apparently! The rate of speciation is astonishingly fast.
And NO I do NOT want to see apisto hybrids!
And also I do not think the original plan of all those cichlids in a 55 will work, and certainly not well.
 

S

supahtim

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Jun 30, 2003
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speaking of hybrids, the Big Al's by my house has hybrid peacocks. bright blues, greens, pinks, purples, all the colours of the rainbow. now i ask you...when are they coming out with that glow in the dark fish? people may be against them...but who wouldn't want a glow in the dark fish? imagine have an in-wall planted aquarium with glow in the dark fish. you turn off all the lights so all you see are the fish darting in and out of the plants. man...i gotta get me some of those. lol

Tim
 

pablo111

pablo111

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Oct 26, 2003
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SHUT UP ABOUT HYBRIDS! THIS IS A THREAD ABOUT DWARF CICHLIDS!

- CHECKERBOARDS WILL BE KILLED BY KRIBENSIS. YES. REALLY!

-SINGLE KRIBS WILL BE ATTACKED BY PAIRS. DO NOT GET MORE THAN ONE KRIBENSIS. KRIBENSIS ARE VIOLENT WHEN THEY PAIR

-BOLIVIAN RAMS ARE LIKE TOTALLY MELLOW SO NO PROB

-BLUE RAMS ARE ABOUT THE SAME BUT NEED A LOW PH. ALSO MAY GET NIPPY IF SPAWNING

-APISTOS ARE COOL. NO PROBS THERE. AGAIN, LOOK OUT FOR AGRESSIVE SPAWNING BEHAVIOUR

ID STAY AWAY FROM EVEN THE POSSIBILITY OF HAVING THE FISH BREED. EVERYTHING IN THERE GOES INSANE WHEN IT BREEDS TO A DEGREE EXCLUDING THE BOLIVIAN RAMS/ALTISPINOSA

GOOD LUCK AND SOUNDS LIKE A BITCHING TANK SHOW US A PIC IF IT WORKS OUT !
 

pablo111

pablo111

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Oct 26, 2003
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FORGOT TO MENTION- CHECK OUT AQUADENS MARONII (KEYHOLE CICHLID) THESE NEED TO BE KEPT IN A SCHOOL OF ABOUT 3+ AND I KNOW THEY ARENT AS BEAUTIFUL AS A KRIBENSIS BUT THEY ARE SO ADORABLE AND CURIOUS YOU WILL FALL IN LOVE WITH THEM!

AQUADENS MARONII- 10CM/4IN PEACEFUL EVEN WHEN SPAWNING EATS AAAAAANYTHING (MEAT/FLAKE/VEGGIE DIET IS A SMART MOVE FOR ANY FISH!!!)
 

W

wayne

Elite Fish
#20
Oct 22, 2002
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#20
Sometimes fish are described as conspecifics, which means they inhabit similar habitats and have similar behaviour. All these dwarfs are conspecifics and as they share habitat and behaviour they will inevitably scrap. If you want to keep lots of dwarfs in one tank keep to one species and let them sort their picking order out.
What's going to happen when they want to breed - are they going to form an orderly queue?
 

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