Community-ish tank

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MP_cichlid

MP_cichlid

Dovii
MFK Member
Mar 3, 2015
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Ok, so at the moment I am in predicament. I need some opinions. I have a 6 inch male festae and a 5 inch female. As well as a 4 inch dovii. I am willing to get rid of the dovii however,I am simply at this point trying to get some other fish in the tank. My parents are insisting that the tank be "prettier" and have more fish. Now being a cichlid lover i cannot find a heart to get rid of my festae or any switch from cichlids. If i sustain a nice filled tank for a while, I will be able to upgrade. Now comes the hardest part. the tank is only 40 gallons. I know small, probably just big enough for the festae. But I have almost 800 gph of filtration on the tank right now, I know that doesn't make up for the lack of space, but I'm sure it helps. If anyone has any recommendations on what I can add to spice up the tank a bit. Maybe some convicts, firemouths, vieja, I'm not sure what would be best. That is why I'm asking, lol. i will pack the tank nicely with hiding spots and caves and what not. If i can get a couple months out of the 40 I should be able to upgrade to a 125 or so. Or in the worst case just get rid of some of the fish. Thanks
 
Your overstocked as it is. You can't keep a dovii in a 125 gallon tank. You need to keep the festae in a 125 gallon tank alone.

My recommendation is you sell the dovii and that's it no new fish.

I don't want to sound mean or anything but that's my two cents.

Dovii get a few feet big... You need at least a 300 gallon tank.

I would ditch the dovii ASAP he will kill your other fish.
 
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I'm having a hard time with one of my RTMs in a 125 already. They're not nearly as large as dovii, nor quite as boisterous. I'm assuming it's a 40gallon breeder? 36×18 footprint? The Festae alone already overstock the tank. As Ihsna commented, dovii has to go... should've never been in the tank. If you want color look into dwarf cichlids and get rid of the Festae as well. Basically anything tough enough to hang with the Festae are gonna get huge relative to the tank you have. I personally don't like 125s for the footprint. The width isn't enough to truly accommodate most of the larger cichlids. Figure a 150 or 180 as long as you get 18 inches minimum width.
 
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Don't add anything else to the 40 gallon. The two festae are already too much.

Remove the dovii and focus on getting the 125. Then focus on the keeping the festae healthy.
A 125 with a pair festae is more than enough.
 
More or less with everyone else. Ditch the dovii and get the 125 for the festea ASAP.
 
Ditch all 3 fish, get a community; then you'll get points from your parents and a bigger tank.

Or get a community, and throw a firemouth cichlid in there; you'll still have a cichlid, but chances are it won't destroy the colourful fish your parents will like. This applies to severums too, but I'd be reluctant to do a community around a severum in a 40g
 
Or you can keep the 40 and get some Africans which imo are more colourful and you can keep lots together happily unlike ca/sa cichlids.
 
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