So I decided I was going to try and go a cheaper route with dithers for my flowerhorn, jack dempseys, red devil, and pike cichlid to see if they would accept a more colorful dither. So I added 7 comet goldfish (bred by a friend of mine so I know they're disease free) and within an hour the flowerhorn ripped the face off of one. That's after I heavily fed them with flakes and pellets and then added 25 guppies (which I am breeding in a spare tank), and they had the guppies cleared within a half-hour after eating. Mind you, the longest fish in the tank is the grass cutter catfish (which is roughly 4 inches long), followed by the bellycrawler pike, and then followed by the flowerhorn (who is the boss of the tank).
Cichlid Tankmates...
- Thread starter fishfreak2009
- Start date
Ya...I don't think there are many dither fish that can go good with that stock. Have you tried giant danios and tinfoil barbs?
People usually choose much faster and hardier fish as dithers. Goldfish are just too slow to evade aggressive cichlids for a long period of time. They also generally need cooler water than most cichlids to survive for an extended period. There are a few species of barbs and tetras that would serve much better as dithers.
ya, I kinda figured, but thought I'd try anyways since they were free and he was giving them up as feeders. I actually have 3 giant danios in the tank now, but the cichlids seem to completely ignore them. Also, the grasscutter cat will be able to eventually swallow the danios, and I feel as if the pike will be able to do the same... Maybe I'll just add some tinfoils, although I was trying to find a colorful dither...
so its down to 4 goldfish now... It seems as if the red devil doesn't like any of the goldfish with the longer fins, but the shorter finned goldfish swim with the giant danios and are completely ignored...
So its down to 4 goldfish now. Interestingly, they attack all the long tailed comets, but leave the short tailed ones alone (maybe because they seem to be schooling with the giant danios).
Convicts, sliver dollars, tinfoil barbs(Too Big), maybe some tiger barbs. I would not risk it, flowerhorns are sneaky.
I got Columbian tetras in with my cichlids, they are fast as hell, bright blue and red. and one of them is almost at 4". other than that, ive had good luck with silver dollars in the past