Rearranging/adding cichlids

[FroggyFox]

Hey...could use some help from you Cichlid folks

I'm getting this new 55 this weekend, so for purposes of this discussion I have a 29G tank and a 55G tank, both of which are cycled and ready for fish.

The 55 is empty except for a pleco.

The 29 has:
1 n. cylindricus
2 julidochromis transcriptus
a group of brichardis (probably about 4 adults and a few juveniles...total of 10 or so?)
1 alto compressiceps
3" pleco

I've been thinking about these two options, and this is where I need your help/suggestions.

Option A - Keep the ones currently in the 29 there, get one or a pair of JD's. I'm kinda liking the JD's and Oscars right now...and from what I'm reading I could probably get one JD, or a male and a female in a 55, but probably not a JD and an Oscar unless maybe both were females? I guess the question with this option is...what would your choice of stocking be in a 55 if you wanted a JD? Any tankmates? etc

Option B - Move the fish from the 29 into the 55, give them their territory room, add a few to create an actual colony of the transcriptus and let the brichardis do their thing without annoying the others in the tank as badly. Then get a single 'wet pet' JD for the 29. Now I realize that this is a smallish tank for an 8 inch fish...but dont shoot me quite yet. I was reading through some of the opinions on Cichlidforum last night and most of the people who spoke up seemed to agree that if you were just going to keep a jd alone that it'd probably be OK in a tank that size. Opinions on that?

Option C - What would you do? Assuming I am not getting rid of the cichlids I have...and have these two tanks to do with as I please.

 

[BigDaddy420]

you could try the JD and the oscar in the 55, but id be prepared to get rid of one or the other after awhile, i had 2 O's in the 55, and the bigger one took over, now he has the feeder convict in there that he wouldnt eat, but now its getting bigger he seems to give it a lil chase every now n then, nothing major yet, usually just during feeding time. Most know that i love Oscars, if i could id have a monster tank with a community of them. just seeing how they grow and how their personality chanes is amazing, it is truely like having an underwater dog. Im a member of Oscarfish.com, there are alot of people over there who have success with JD's and Oscars, also Green Terrors, Convicts and FIremouth's. I myself like the Convicts obviously

 

[Orion]

I would move the tangs into the 55. Maybe get some more julies or comps, and add a school of cyps. I would also look into getting some either some synodontis petricola or multipunctatus. I have 5 multipunctatus in my 75 and they are great. One of my favorite fish of all time.

A 55 is kinda hard to work with for a medium/large New world setup. I hate 55's just because of the lack in depth, that's why I went ahead and got the 75, but hey your's was free so beggars can't be choosers.

Oscars are not the holy terror that so many people make them out to be. They are mildly aggressive when it comes to territory and not breeding, but do see any fish small enough to fit in it's mouth as food. If you want to go with New Worlds, I would pick a fish that you want, and then make the rest of the tank centered around that fish.

Personaly I've always wanted to keep green terrors, Severums and Festivums(sp?).

Agian this is just my personal preference, but if I were to do a CA/SA tank I would want to have it planted. I like the more 'natural' look. But depending on what you want to do, everywhere in the south isn't covered in plants so there is actualy a lot of different ways you can go with the decor.

 

[FroggyFox]

I am leaning towards moving the tangs into the 55...but that still leaves the question open about keeping a JD in a 29g tank...if thats possible (of course its possible...but if its 'ok')

I hear what you're saying on the size...I never would have picked a 55 if I was buying the tank, but as you said beggars can't be choosers

 

[Orion]

You could always do some dwarf cichlids like apisto's in the 29.

Or a paludarium. heh.

 

[joker1857]

i wouldnt keep a jd in a 29gal for the sole reason that i wouldnt want to live in a closet. most(i would say all but im not 100% sure) fish love to have room to swim and move around. an 8 in jd doesnt have much space in a 29gal. i just cant imagine it would be happy in there.
i would deffinetly move the brichardis to the 55gal as(im sure your aware) they can be pretty mean when spawning. get some more julies and put them in the 55 as well, IMO they can hold their own against the brichardi. i personally i would add a group of about 10 non-jumbo cyps(ie. utinta, blue flash). then get a small group of syno petricola(about 5). make a rock pile at either end of the tank one for the brichardi and one for the julies.
as for the comp and cylindricus i belive they are also rock dwellers and its kinda hard to make more than 2 rock piles in a 55gal. you might be able to get away with 3 but 4 seperate rock piles is way too hard. so i would leave them in the 29gal for now.
as for the pleco, i dont like plecos in african tanks, they just arent natural but its your tank and it should be fine with the tangs.

remember this is just my opinion.
hth

 

[FroggyFox]

Thanks for your opinion Joker...I need some more to help me think through this...

Well...all of the tangs have been fine in the 29 for over a year now...so I think all will move or none will move. Leaning towards all. The Brichardis have about half of the tank and the others co-exist on the other half of the tank. I can definitely see 4 areas in a 55...seeing as I have 3 in the 29 that they seem to stick to (comp is more free-water and likes to have a cave to himself sometimes). The pleco was actually a rescue from a neighbor's tank and I didn't have another tank to put it in, and seems to be doing quite well in there...strangely enough. The 55 I have (or will have tomorrow) has a pleco in it...so thats why I said the plecos because I don't have anywhere else to put them...although I could try trading one in at the store I suppose...but I have to have something for Algae.

As for the JD...I totally understand the analogy and I'm trying not to sound like one of those people I hate who has already made up their mind and is just looking for someone to tell me what I want to hear...but I'm honestly torn. From what I read on CF, JD's aren't a very active fish. Looking at the tanks...the dimensions of the 29 and the 55 are nearly the same...just that the 55 has 18 more inches lengthwise. There's no extra turning radius because the tank is pretty much the same front to back...and we're not talking about territories etc because there wont be anymore fish in there. So I'm wondering if a 29 really is as much of a 'closet' as I'm thinkin it is.

There's always the chance too that after he gets bigger I'll feel the need to put him in a bigger tank...since I have no intention of buying an 8 inch fish

Anyone else?

 

[FroggyFox]

You could always do some dwarf cichlids like apisto's in the 29.

Or a paludarium. heh.

Mr. one track mind. No Plaudariums. If I dont put a JD in the 29, I'll most likely go for a planted tank with harlequin rasboras, corycats and white skirt tetras (and a pleco)...because thats kinda sounding good too.

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Well...tangs grow slow and may only push 1" per year if that in some cases.

What attracts you to the JD? We could possibly think of something with the same qualities but smaller? Color? The thought of having a dog in the tank? etc.

I would move all my africans to the 55, more room and possibly some more room to stock more. And more is always good right, in this case?

 

[FroggyFox]

I think I like the JD because of the bluish/shiny coloring, yet they're very much like an oscar and everyone says how fun it is to have oscars...they're like a dog in the tank and...well I love dogs What could be better? Not to mention it'd be kinda nice to have a fish in the tank that is big enough I can actually feed him other fish

My comp will be big enough...eventually but he's still tiny after a year, they tell me he's supposed to top out around 4 inches...

 

[Rokl33t]

word of advice! stay away from the south americans!!! please i repeat please do not got large fish lol....one big reason...they'll out grow it!!! id honestly start up a tang system or even just a peacock...rememeber depending where u are and how much you'll pay tangs are some what on the expensive side and a little on the dull colors...again depending on where u live and how much fish are...but i have a tang tank right now and its a 46G and i love it!

 

[FroggyFox]

Um thanks? I already have tangs...and they're moved to the new 55.

Question still remains on the 29 if anyone has an opinion....

 

[Rokl33t]

lol sorry im on a lot of cold medication right now haha wat i would do with ur 29 man...as cheesy as this sounds start up a real nice plant tank ya know? get some rams u no some nice little schooling fish here and there woopty woop ya no? i mean shoot i kinda wish i could start a plany tank up but i don't have the time or money...but i dunno thats jus my 2cents
good luck

 

[Cichlid-Man]

You could do something like a trio of peacocks in the 29gal and try you're hand at breeding them! 1m/2fm

As for SA/CA fish...hmmm..here is a small list of some choices. I'm trying to think of something with the color of the JD, but not to much is like it.
-Blue Acara
-Firemouths
-Salvini Cichlid (maybe?)
-Honduran Red Point (Pretty much a convict with a very nice blueish tint color to it.)

Hard to think of other options lol. I'm trying to think New World cichlids.

 

[FroggyFox]

Thank you Matt I'll take a look at some of those, maybe when I go in to my cichlid store to beef up the tangs in my 55 here in a few weeks I'll see if she has any of those. I'm kinda liking the planted tank with community fish idea too...so it looks like I have a few months to decide while the goldie(s) hang out in my 29 until Dad can take them.

 

[Cichlid-Man]

If i went planted with that tank i'd have to get Checkerboard Cichlids. Small cichlid that is sometimes hard to get you're hands on but could possibly fit into a community setting. Not to mention that thier size just makes them so interesting. Or apistos?

Community fish are the debil.

 

[lordroad]

Well someone has to say it... Personally I'd do the JD solo job in the 29, and I'd get a good night's sleep from doing it... though not like I'd ever think of putting a big bad new world cichlid in a 29 tank, lol

 

[cinlnk]

methinks apistos in the 29 is a great idea...I have some Rams in my 25 community and they do great