With what I cut off from the fake bamboo, I do have quite a bit left over and plan on either planting them in the bottom or tieing them off to a decoration I have in there.
Firemouth is the bully
- Thread starter Trap Music
- Start date
Have you tried anubias and weed types? Here's a picture of my tank, with JD, parrot, and convict. Right now aggression is managed quite effectively.
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Nice tank! I don't have as many plants as you do. I'm not sure if I were to have all the plants and other decorations in the center of the tank that there would be less aggression. Then again, I'm not a cichlid expert. I have my fake plants more spread out so that way, they can weave in and around them. I also made a triangle with some fake plants hoping the firemouth would occupy that space and stay there. So, do you think I should have my fake plants more bunched together in the center of the tank or spread them out throughout the tank more to cover more ground? I will be putting in the extra two feet I cut off as well as another plant decoration that is 14in high or so.
Picture probably doesn't do justice to the amount of plants lol, looking down on the tank I'd say roughly 75% of floor space is covered by plant, with the centre, left side, and much of the back right densely populated. Its not so much placing it in the centre as opposed to watching where your fish territories are, then working backwards from there. For example in the picture, the JD occupies the rock ornament on the left hand side. If she sees another fish outside of it she goes nuts, but quite often is rebuffed by the plants on the left or middle; which either break her sight of vision or just stop her charges through obstruction.
Even with plants such as anubias, fish still enjoy swimming in amongst them so I wouldn't worry about plants taking up too much room. I'd recommend, if you can, buying a whole bunch of live plants from the LFS and throwing them in. Nitrates would be helped, and aesthetically its often more pleasing than fake plants.
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I defiantly agree with what you said about live plants, I use to have live plants and I usually had a lot of plant pieces caught in my filter. I had a lot of hornwort and loved them. The reason I have my fake plants more spaced out is because the firemouth roams the entire tank to pretty much bully the other fish. I have one cichlid that stays in his cave on the opposite side of where most of the bullying is done. If the cichlid in the cave starts to come out, the firemouth comes over to flare his gills to make the cichlid stay in his cave. I have tried to cover the angle of the cave entrance but he can stil see around the fake plants.
When I had firemouths, they'd always start fights and/or bully, then as soon as they got a response they'd get super stressed and bullied back, becoming skittish. I've had a largely negative experience with them unfortunately, as well as the fact that specimens where I am are low quality.
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Interesting. Did you tie them all down with fishing line/sewing thread? I was able to jam my anubias rhizomes into a few crevices on my pieces of driftwood, but only have 4 of them. I'd like to get more but didn't want to wait on them growing onto the pieces.
I too, used to have a lot of plants until a festivum destroyed them all. I went to fake and was ok with it, but after a new addition to my tank causing me to re-scape I abandoned them and went back with real plants (just the 4 anubias). Seeing how it looked and your tank is making me want to get more plants again!
As for the firemouths, I have noticed similar behavior with them though. I've had a variety of tankmates with mine, and if he couldn't bully the other fish he just wasnt the same. Colors were dull, and he did a lot of hiding. I had a large GT with him at one point, and he would always stay in the GTs shadow (guess he felt the closer I am the safer I am). If the fish is smaller, they'll bully. If it's similar sized or larger they'll back down.
Right now, my 3.5" firemouth is bullying a 2" convict and 3" jack. They are tough fish though, so they show 0 signs of being stressed, despite his constant chasing away from his cave. The con and jack actually seem to be trying to fight over third place in the tank, as once in a while they'll flare up at each other. First place is a bristlenose pleco oddly enough. No one goes near her and everyone scatters out of the way when she moves.
Two of the anubias cuttings are tied on with fish line to small bits of drift wood, the other 3/4 pieces are wedged in or simply left to sit, the roots quite efficiently grab onto the other plants and stay stable
other than that I wrap small strips of lead round the anubias stems. Sounds like a decent mix, I'd guess that your convict will very soon establish dominance when he grows a bit, then ultimately the JD's dominance will emerge lol. Dyu have pics?
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Two of the anubias cuttings are tied on with fish line to small bits of drift wood, the other 3/4 pieces are wedged in or simply left to sit, the roots quite efficiently grab onto the other plants and stay stable
Sounds like a decent mix, I'd guess that your convict will very soon establish dominance when he grows a bit, then ultimately the JD's dominance will emerge lol. Dyu have pics?
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Oh, cool. I guess I could try tying some I have a lot of empty space on the wood for anubias.
Don't mean to hijack, but yeah, he is a she, and she's pretty feisty. When I hold a mirror up, the FM and JD just stare, while the convict goes crazy. Flares up and tries to start a fight with the FM!
I'm ready to upgrade or re-home if that should arise, but a lot of the time JDs I've seen are pretty tame.
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