55 Gallon

[Amaroq]

Ok so im starting to change my mind with my 55 stocking list Im wondering if its possible for me to have a male GT and a female Sal in a 55 together? and maybe a FM or Con? I REALLY like the look of a Sal and im at the point of if i cant have a Sal i might dump the whole 55 and buy a pair The best part is my LFS has some for sale. I relize i wont be able to have a GT,JD AND Sal in the 55 but it would be killer if i could so i dont have to get rid of him, my girlfriend and mom are kinda attachd to him but those Sals are just..breath taking! So, is it possible?

Thanks,
Spencer

 

[rmcder]

Male gt will get pretty big; I would say that a 55g is barely enough for just the gt. FM and con would work, pair of sals would work (but have a divider handy). MAYBE.. female sal with female jd if you get lucky with their temperaments.

 

[davidefc]

female sal, female GT and female Jack dempsey....or if you keep up with w/c a male GT, male JD nad female sal...... the male GT may out grow the 55
it also depends on the width of the 55

 

[Amaroq]

So it is possible for me to have the female Sal, male GT and male JD? That would be perfect in the end and i plan on having a 20 gallon sump which will help with filteration and its going to be doing 750 GPH then ill have a AC 300 on there so ill be overkill for filtering not like thats a bad thing though .

Thanks guys,
Spencer

 

[HiImSean]

i dont think it would work. all those fish will get pretty big and pretty aggressive. you might look into upgrading to a 75 or 90g

 

[rmcder]

So it is possible for me to have the female Sal, male GT and male JD?

Long-term? No. A male gt, full-grown and by himself, will be cramped in a 55g tank. Gts are big, beefy fish. Dempseys aren't as big, but a full-grown male is going to want at least half that tank and maybe a bit more. If you get a nasty sal, it's going to want the whole tank and even a calm one certainly isn't going to let anything come on its side of the tank. You can do what you want when they're all 2-3" fish, but when they get to be 6" or more you're going to be in for problems, and when they're getting to be 8-10" somebody's going to be killed. Despite being the smallest, my money is on the sal to survive. I've got a small female sal (2") in my big tank right now, and despite being the smallest cichlid in the tank, she goes wherever she pleases and is busily trying to hunt and kill my giant danios (she's already killed one twice her size). My friend's female dempsey started killing the other fish in his tank at 3"; she's already kllled another dempsey, a tiger barb, and a small danio, and is getting nastier by the day. These are not the kind of fish that always play well with others. Sometimes you get lucky, but oftentimes you don't.

If you want a realistic idea of what you can get away with long-term, I'd suggest you re-read my earlier post of suggestions. Imo, you have to go with females (smaller), forget about the gt, and no more than two fish with this kind of size and aggressive nature. If you want more bodies in the tank, then you have to go smaller and milder.

 

[Amaroq]

Im very much considering on upgrading to a 75 gallon in the future i just need to get a job and seeing as i dont have taxes yet (im a student) i should be able to pick up JUST the tank and hood with my first paycheque and ill just pour all my water in the 75 from the 55 put my filters on it and it should be fine, would i even to worry about cycling because id only be adding 20? Id already have enough filtration as well so i wouldnt need to buy any new filters just a new heater. I think i will do this, purchase the Sal now and keep it divided with the GT in the 55 gallon and ill get a job as soon as possible then upgrade when i have enough and who knows maybe instead of making a sump ill just buy a good canister filter and with the with a small amount of mech then all bio...SORRY i started to ramble there. Would they all be fine in a 75 together? I might even just buy to Sals then upgrade the 75 as quickly as possible then give the Sals the 55 and the 75 to the GT and JD and they'll have a Con and FM for some company/lesser dither ( real dither would most likely be 10 or so adult tiger barbs )

Thanks,
Spencer

 

[rmcder]

Now you're sounding more reasonable... Ok, you clearly want the gt, and a 75g is big enough for one long-term. A male is going to take up a big chunk of that tank, however (is yours male?). I can see, maybe, a male gt with a male dempsey in the 75g, but you're going to have to be very lucky with their temperament. If you go with a female dempsey, then the convict might be ok with them, but the firemouth is overmatched in that company. Something is going to harass it to death.

I like the idea of a pair of sals in the 55g; they're really beautiful fish. Keep a divider handy, though, in case the male gets rough with the female. Alternatively, a male gt (and maybe a female salvini) in the 75g and a male dempsey (and maybe the convict) in the 55g. If your 20g is a long, then you can leave the firemouth in there.

I ran into the same kind of issues that you are, in that I wanted certain fish, but my 75g wouldn't really support what I wanted. I had a gt, and it just got too big (it's hard to appreciate how beefy these guys are until you see one that's grown out a bit) and started bullying everything in the tank by the time it got to about 8" (which probably wasn't full-grown). Finally, I got rid of it and basically have been starting over with my stocking.

I'm working on raising some electric blue dempseys and hope to eventually have one, or better, two in the 75g with a female salvini. The 30g will get a pair of firemouth.

 

[Amaroq]

See then we might have a problem here because i already have the GT, JD and Con so yea. Im hoping for a male, how can i sex him? He has pointed fins, had the longest fins of everyone in the tank and had the thickest band of orange on him so i was pretty sure it was a male. I can try and get some picks up after "work" tommorow. ( Its Take Your Kid To Work Day at my school ) he's a bit beat up right now because of the Con but he's divide and is constently trying to pick a fight with the Con then the Con remembers he cant get through the divider LOL and i think the JD likes the GT because since i added the divider and put the GT on the other side the JD (Bob) wont leave the divider unless im feeding his territory used to be the side away from the GT (Alice, as in Alice Cooper because he has a black streak under his eyes when stressed/angry) Personally i dont think the 75 would be overstocked with the GT,JD and Con because i was told that the 55 was fine for the GT,JD,Con AND FM so obviously im getting conflicting information.
Anyways...the 55 is gonna be downstairs in the kitchen most likely so it will be a show piece tank because of there beauty and how they will have the best colours as a pair ive been told.

Also Bob (JD) is a deffinate male.

Spence

 

[rmcder]

It's hard to say what will and will not work; fish vary as to their temperament. My experiences suggest that firemouth can't hang with anything that is genuinely tough, but are too stupid not to try. If your gt and dempsey continue to get along, then you've dodged one potential bullet. In that case, adding in the convict will most likely be fine. You might even try out a salvini female instead; maybe you'll get lucky. I just can't see a full-grown gt being happy in a 55g tank; add in a couple other good-sized fish and a bad situation gets worse. That's just me.

Otoh, I know people who subscribe to the overstocking to spread aggression theory, which, I guess, works with Africans. I'm not convinced it works with new world cichlids, but who knows... Either way, the 75g is a better choice than the 55g.