Firemouth Cichlid w/ Breeding Pair Black Convict Cichlids?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Hmm how do you even sex firemouths? If anything i'll probably end up just having a black convict tank for the 55gal. Also as for dimension, I clearly forgot precise measurement's but its a standard 55gal plexi.
 
Well that's true. I'll see & decide what I'll be doing & getting once im at the LFS later in the afternoon. Thanks for all the insight's in your guy's personal experiences & opinion's on this!
 
I got a 125 gallon with 6 pairs of convict breeding like rabbits and one pair of firemouths with lots of hiding places. They get along really good.


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app

6 breeding pairs? I was only planning to add 2 pairs of marbles to my 135. I'll probably add 3 breeding pairs of hrps to that


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
 
I would say to go with 6 meeki, let a pair form, give em about 6-10 months to really get to know the tank, and then add a smaller pair of convicts. I have had a similar tank using large swordtails as the "dithers", it was in a 45 gallon long. 13x48" footprint. Or you could scratch the meeki, and instead go with salvini, salvini are a great tankmate for convicts or firemouths, but it soulds to me that you lean more towards the convicts. One of my favorite tanks I ever had was a 125 with 3 pairs; 1 meeki pair, 1 convict pair, and a slavini pair. Very fun and busy tank.. but like it has been pointed out, having distinct boundries so each pair has a territory is essential. Good luck, all three of those fish are a joy to keep. And as a matter of fact, my 7 year old firemouths are my favorite fish I have kept in 20 years of the hobby.

Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
 
Salvini's do have nice coloration, as do the Firemouths colors too. Well possibly when I can get a 90-125gal up in the very near future i'll look into those species and possibly TRY to get those pairs to work in a tank together. Just hearing how your tank is makes me really excited lol sounds like ALOT of male & female action in one tank haha. How does the fry's do with other pair's of different species in the tank also? Or do you take them all out once there free swimming?
 
First off, this was an old tank. I had it up and running with them for 2, maybe 3 years. And I would only pull about 3/4 of the fry. I was always scared the male would turn on the female if I pulled them all. If for some reason one of the fry stayed alive in with the parents to the point it was brave enough to go out and see the world, something would always make a fast meal of it. My convict male was a solid 5 1/2" as was my meeki. And my salvini was about 6 and nasty. Fry never survived big enough that I was able to tell what was what. Another purk to doing meeki with salvini is the geographical correctness of it. They are found together in several locations in the wild.

Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
 
I would also like to add, I have a good friend that has a 5' 120 gallon tank with 3 breeding pairs of convicts in it.. they all look really good. And its very impresive.

Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
 
MonsterFishKeepers.com