Cichlid compatibility.

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..puSkar..

Dovii
MFK Member
Dec 6, 2020
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I've decided to go a different route with a 90g 48*18*24 . I'm planning on stocking it with a senegal bichir and one centrepiece American cichlid.
I strictly feed pellets so I would like to avoid gluttonous feeders like oscars who outcompete the bichir for food.
Need suggestions.
Thanks.
 
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I currently have the same tank with a male red Devil and Senegal bichir. RD chases the bichir every once in a while but for the most part is fine.
 
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Dude I would say best is to go for full grown Oscars
The have very slow metabolism won't bother your bichir and won't compete for food (make sure it isn't very small)

Others cichlid uh can go for veja
And severums
Discus will also be a very good choice
All will be healthy on only pallete diet
 
Dude I would say best is to go for full grown Oscars
The have very slow metabolism won't bother your bichir and won't compete for food (make sure it isn't very small)
Did that, been there. IMO Oscars make worst tankmates for a bichir , they eat like pigs and easily out compete rhe bichir for food. When I had a Oscar and bichir previously, I had to feed almost twice or 3 times the amount I generally feed so as the bichir could get food. It not only led to the Oscar getting bloated and overfed but also resulted in poor water quality very soon, due to max waste output.
I'm considering a solo vieja or maybe a chocolate cichlid.
 
A full grown oscar is too large for 90 gal tank.
I wouldn't get anything that maxes out beyond 9".
What are your tap water parameters? Hard? soft? High pH, low pH?
To me, these parameters will help determine success and health of the type cichlid added.
I try to match the fish I keep, with the water parameters I'm dealt.
For instance my water has a pH of 8.2, and mineral rich.
To me it would be ridiculous for me to choose a soft water species like Uaru, severum or a soft water Geophagine that live in pH 5 (or lower than 7).
You may also consider that some cichlids do well alone as a single specimen, some do best in shoals (if your tank is large enough)
Thorichthys and Cribroheros are shoalers, and when kept as a lone cichlid specimen can become hyper dominant, and attack anything that moves in the tank.
Any Vieja I've kept get too large for a 90, and "can" also get hyper dominent if other fish in a tank the tank they're in doesn't have a length of at least 6 ft to exercise in.
Some of the genus Nosferatu might work if your water is hard and mineral rich, and there are "no" other cichlids in the tank, and they probably will ignore the Senegal.
Most remain the right size, and are loners.
Here are a few.
Nosferatu bartoni .
Nosteratu pantostictus
Nosferatu pame
 
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All cichlids are aggressive and gluttonous feeders. It is part of their survival strategy in the wild as food is not as abundant than you think. In fact most don’t eat every day. They can easily go weeks without food. They will eat themselves to death in the aquarium. A fish like a bichir wouldn’t be able to compete even w/ a firemouth (unless it was big enough to eat it lol).
 
A fish like a bichir wouldn’t be able to compete even w/ a firemouth

I was fortunate to keep a group of Senegal with a Firemouth over 2 years. Senegal are probably the fastest to react to food from my experience out of the bicher species I have kept. The Firemouth did become pushy though for territory before it passed.
 
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