55 Gallon Balzini & Firemouth

[901MFKer]

I have not kept BGK and Fire eel, but I would not mix fire mouth with G. balzanii.

I'm not worried about the BGK or Fire Eel... I've kept a fire eel before and I've have plenty of knifefish to practice on having a BGK.
And I have a firemouth male in the with my Balzini now and they get along great...And when I add the females his aggression will increase so I think they'll be fine.

yeah the FM pair might be a problem, the bgk should not cause any problems with that stock but they are easily injured since they are nakey, if you grow it out first until its larger before adding it then it might be ok, but i know i lost my first bgk to a pair of jewels i only had in the tank to make feeders but my bgk wandered over to their half of the tank one day and they completely shredded him down to the bone so i had to put him down

i dont know about fire eels

and you could do the larger peaceful cichlids like the chocolate or something, they prolly wouldnt have a problem, or severums would be good, in the bigger tank you really would have so many more options, a bocourti would also most likely not bother your balzanii and they are nice looking fish...

I said Chocolate earlier and someone said it would work... What about a school? instead of firemouth and chocolate?

 

[901MFKer]

*discus school

 

[cichlidfish]

I'm surprised no one mentioned the difference in water requirement difference. The balzini requires soft water and ph 6-7. A FM needs hard and ph 7-8. If it were me I would just do a gymo tank with fish that would come from the same cool waters or a similar condidtions. Gymos are very unique in the cichlid world, and have very different requirements them any other. The chocolate, BGK would need warmer temps and I beleive the fire eel would too. A black belt would be too aggressive too.
If it were me and had a 150g I would do a planted tank w/ sand substrait. I would stick w/ gymos and add a large school of buenos aires tetras and a large school of cory catfish.

 

[peathenster]

And I have a firemouth male in the with my Balzini now and they get along great...And when I add the females his aggression will increase so I think they'll be fine.

I actually expected this kind of response from you. You've already decided what to do.

*discus school

Please, do some homework. Discus like warmer water (e.g., 85F) and G. balzanii is the opposite - many people give them a cool down period of a few months a year at 60-70F.

 

[peathenster]

I'm surprised no one mentioned the difference in water requirement difference. The balzini requires soft water and ph 6-7. A FM needs hard and ph 7-8.

Actually, I asked Ed Burress about this before. He said the water he collected G. balzanii from in Uruguay was in the low 7s, so pH wise it might work.

 

[Words]

Hey guys & gals I want to house a pair(male & female) of Balzini cichlids and Firemouth cichlids in a 55 gallon. How do you feel about this, Good Idea?

And I have a firemouth male in the with my Balzini now and they get along great...And when I add the females his aggression will increase so I think they'll be fine.

Uhh... seems like you've already decided what you want to do here...

 

[cichlidfish]

Actually, I asked Ed Burress about this before. He said the water he collected G. balzanii from in Uruguay was in the low 7s, so pH wise it might work.

As I mentioned ph 6-7. A FM needs 7+ ph to be healthy. It would work in the short in the short term, but life span and development of the fish would be comprised. The immune system will be weaker w/ the difference in water temps, PH and soft/hardness. The warmer water temps may also cause crooked fins, and may have digestive problems.

 

[peathenster]

As I mentioned ph 6-7. A FM needs 7+ ph to be healthy. It would work in the short in the short term, but life span and development of the fish would be comprised. The immune system will be weaker w/ the difference in water temps, PH and soft/hardness. The warmer water temps may also cause crooked fins, and may have digestive problems.

This is what Ed said - "The pH everywhere I've been in the Rio Uruguay drainage has been 7-7.2".

Haven't heard about crooked fins and water temp before....would love to learn some details.

 

[driftwood]

I see a train wreck on the horizon.

 

[901MFKer]

I don't mind you're input but some of you can be rude!

I going to think of another stock but I know for sure that I'm getting the fire eel, BGK, balzini, so maybe another school of cichlids would be nice but i don't want any more earth eaters...