Cichlid to cohabit with clown loaches and rainbow fish

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PoopSmart

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Jun 26, 2007
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I am setting up my 75 gallon aquarium again (footprint of 48" x 18"), and the current inhabitants are 5 3-4" rainbow fish, 3 3-4" clown loaches and a 4-5" pleco.

I have kept an array of SA/CA cichlids in the past (texas, salvini, red devils, flowerhorns (hybrid, I know), snooks, rams, discus, angels, jags, severums, oscars, cons, green terrors, nicaraguense, and jack dempseys) and I was looking for something that I haven't had before that would fit with the tank mates I have now.

I was under the impression that electric blue jack dempseys were much more docile than their standard counterparts (pretty much that all my previous cichlids aside from the rams, angels and discus were too aggressive for them), but my LFS told me I heard wrong. They said they were the same aggression level as the standard JD. They also told me their plecos are trained to eat only off the glass if they want to survive and that keyhole cichlids are only to be put with other SA/CA cichlids. I know Royal plecos can't thrive, or arguably survive, on algae alone, and I know keyhole cichlids are more like a krib as far as aggression and tankmate compatability. So is their statement about the EBJD incorrect as well?

Would a single 2-3" electric blue jack dempsey be a good addition to the tank I have now, having the rainbow fish as dithers?

If not would a festivum fit better or possibly a blue acara? I'm open to all suggestions.
 
either of the three cichlids are docile to the point of going in that tank...personally I'd go with the acara as I find them to be more attractive than the festivum, and more hardy than the EBJD.
 
A thousand thank yous for your help. Also would it be best to just stick with one cichlid in this case, and are there any other suggested species that would work well in this setup?
 
I asked on this board a while ago if anybody's EBJDs had killed anything - didn't get a "yes" answer. This may be partly due to the fact that many EBJDs are still small, but based on my own experience, they do seem to be more docile. The other two species you listed are even more so.....so I'd say go for it.

Nice severum in your avatar btw ;)
 
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