idk... those widebar silver dollars are quite nice looking. But, I would actually go with pairs of convicts.. You have to be stragetic when u place there territory, or w/e territory they claim. Make it all the way against the side of the tank and limit their line of sight.. otherwise they will have an imaginary line, that one of your other fish crosses, they go after it. (Saves more room in the tank.) The live food stimulates your predatory fish and sharpens their instincts. My jag cichlid always looks forward to that time of the month when my convicts breed.
Good dithers for SA tank
- Thread starter Jc1119
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farawayinn;4994233; said:
Interesting. I'd kinda written them off based on the experience with mine. Lotsa bark and very little bite , at least compared to a con of the same size. I had already made plans to move the firemouth into another tank.
I figure a full grown male Demsey will be an ass. GT might be worse . A full grown festae or jag will be quite the handful at adult size. I figure, dithers would need to be pretty sturdy. I love the idea. I just worry about them (firemouths) being able to handle themselves.
I a have all the cichlids in my signature block in a 360 gallon and it is not easy to keep all them living together, IMO you have to have good aquascaping/landscaping to break line of sight as mentioned, start them out small, and I would use more than one group of target fish, such as a few silver dollars and maybe to convicts as mentioned. Frequent water changes and variety of foods, it has a good chance to work, but it still will be a challenge. I feel that I need even a bigger tank than what I have to really feel comfortable that it will all work for me, lol... Good luck 
Your tank sound like it will be a nice looking tank
Your tank sound like it will be a nice looking tank
Oh by the way, I almost forgot, I also have about three or for Red Jewel in the tank for dithers/target fish...
As soon as the convicts get big they will start to protect there own territory and destroy the fins on your priced fish.
In my 150 I have a pair of Jags, RD, GT, Severum, Salvini, Tex, Flowerhorn (they will be going into bigger home this weekend) and 4 Silver Dollars.
The fish doesn't bother each other and the only fish that is interested in the Silver Dollars is the Flowerhorn, I think having allot of different territory in your tank is more important than having differs.
If you really want dithers i think silver dollars will work best.
In my 150 I have a pair of Jags, RD, GT, Severum, Salvini, Tex, Flowerhorn (they will be going into bigger home this weekend) and 4 Silver Dollars.
The fish doesn't bother each other and the only fish that is interested in the Silver Dollars is the Flowerhorn, I think having allot of different territory in your tank is more important than having differs.
If you really want dithers i think silver dollars will work best.
Tank will have LOTS of scape. Probably a dozen or so pieces of wood, some 36-40" long. Sight breaks galore. And Buford, the Dempsey recently killed a jewel that he didn't take a fondness to so I dobt think I'll try that again.
I was a bit worried about the aggressiveness of the cons once they set up territories. I haven't bred them yet, but I've heard they become quite the spectacle once they pair off. I guess silver dollars would be more user friendly in the long run. I'm using tiger barbs right now in my 90 and it works pretty well since the barbs are some 2" long, but I really want something from SA/CE.
Might be silver dollars after all. What about some of the larger tetras? Might try more than one school of dithers.
I was a bit worried about the aggressiveness of the cons once they set up territories. I haven't bred them yet, but I've heard they become quite the spectacle once they pair off. I guess silver dollars would be more user friendly in the long run. I'm using tiger barbs right now in my 90 and it works pretty well since the barbs are some 2" long, but I really want something from SA/CE.
Might be silver dollars after all. What about some of the larger tetras? Might try more than one school of dithers.
shamrock;4995230; said:
Yeah, that's kinda what I was figuring but I figure I'd ask for those with experience. The live food was just going to be a bonus,but it sounds like the cons may be a problem anyways.
