Considering a venture into Cichlid keeping - help planning an aggressive community

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
johnnytaboo

johnnytaboo

Fire Eel
MFK Member
May 4, 2005
1,123
27
68
MD, DC, VA
So I've been looking into cichlids recently, and I've kind of fallen for these flowerhorns; however, I am not looking for another species tank. I was hoping to start another aggressive tank. I have a 144 gallon semi-circle tank that I was planning on using for a native tank, but I wondering if it would work for this. Ideally, the stock would consist of
- Red Dragon Flowerhorn
- Jack Dempsey (ideally electric blue)
- Green Terror
- Tiger Oscar
- Some sort of Pike Cichlid

The plan would be to buy all as babies between 2-3" long and grow them for a few months in a 40 breeder before transferring them to the 144 gallon.

Is this a formula for total disaster? Are there any other similarly tempered cichlids that could work in this tank?

Thanks for any help!
- John
 
Out of that combo even with a good size tank the dempsey the terror and an oscar are all going to be your weaker links for a rd and a pike but you may only notice it after a while flowerhorn just seem to have a grudge against everything that moves and pikes will get their bluff in on fish twice their size and I don't think a dempsey 's growth rate will keep up with the rest especially a eb

Sent from my SM-T210R using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
 
So I'm pretty close to a 100% fail here with the flowerhorn agro community it seems.

May have to move to another section, just because my other ideas for cichlid communities do not include a flowerhorn...... Although, say I tried this, and it does fail when the FH gets larger, would he still display this kind of aggression if I threw him in a 180 (or 240 if it's running by this time) whose stock included larger, meaner fish? - silver arowana, Odoe pike, common wolf fish, and a rtc...
 
I don't see why not and whos to say for sure maybe you don't fail and you end with one of those flowerhorn thats mellow

Sent from my SM-T210R using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
 
Ok, I made a purchase. Most of this mix feels like a bad idea, but if by some miracle it works out, this will be the prettiest collection of fish I've ever had in a tank:
1. Red Dragon Flowerhorn
2. Jack Dempsey
3. Green Terron
4. Polleni Cichlid
5. Texas Cichlid
6. Nandopsis beani "Rio Panuco, Mexico"

all fish should be arriving around 2-2.5" long. I was initially thinking of starting them all out in a 40 breeder and transferring them to my 144 gallon when they get a bit bigger, but I started wondering if it wouldn't just be better to put them directly into the big tank.

Thoughts?
 
I would just put them in the big tank, but that's just me

Sent from my SGH-I467M using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
 
The JD and tbe GT are gonna grow WAY slower than the other fish. You can swap em later for bigger adults/juvies later maybe. Especially the GT.


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
 
If i notice they're being beaten up, I could take out the JD and the GT and grow them out in the 40br if need be.

What's the growth rate like on those two? 1/4-1/2" per month? The flowerhorn is going to grow a lot faster than that isn't he....
 
For a Jd usual 1/2 an inch to 3/4 a month is usually what I see/hear.

A Gt usually 3/4 to an inch a month.

Sent from my SCH-R830C
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom