Green terrors

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Breeding pair will do fine in a 55 if it's a 48x18 footprint.

Other alternatives, depending on what you can get a hold of (I'll stick to common) are Green/Gold/Rotkiel Severum, Firemouth, Salvini, Blue Acara, and Jack Dempsey's (if you decide you want a fish the same size as GT's)
 
you could have 2 pairs of firemouths in the 55 maybe even a pair of sajica and firemouth.
IMO a green terror or kack dempsey pair would be ok in a 55.....for along time anyway
 
Thank you for all of your replies. I want something common, because I don't really have the money right now to pay for an exotic fish. I think I'm going to end up with either firemouths or green terrors. What size can GT's and FM's be sexed at? The ones at PetStupid are only 2". I know, not the best place to buy fish, but the only LFS around here has yellow water, and all of the fish I got from them got ich.
 
well FM's are very very easy to sex. as long as they have red on their throughts its a male but don't go by that if they are anything under 2"or 3", for GT's you will not be able to sex themn until they are about 4" but if they have long pointed fins then it is male but if they have more rounded fins then its female. IMO you could get away with a FM pair and a GT pair in the same tank. i know how it is my parents won't let me get anything bigger than a 55 either. right now i have a green severum, a green terror, and a herotilapia multispinosa.
 
A standard 55 is actually 48x13. 48x18 is 75/90. But this is no issue as they should be fine. You say Petsmart is not a good place to buy fish....why not? I know store to store is all different, but I've had no problems with ours. I actually got my juvie gt (as well as a couple of my other fish) from PS, and he's awsome. BTW, if the fish you got from your lfs didn't have ich when you got them....you can't directly blame it on them. Sorry, not trying to jump topic, but I get defensive with store flaming, as I've been in their shoes running petstores. :)
 
yes you can do a breeding pair in a 55 4'x12"
 
The most Ideal situation for GT's is 1 in a 55g and 2 in a 75g but if you don't have access to anything bigger than 55g you should be fine breeding 2 GT's in a 55g especially because you won't have to worry about territorial problems. The only problem you wold have to worry about (which I really don't think is a problem) is the water quality. Just make sure you have good filtration and your water changes are consistent and you'll be fine.

Firemouths and GT's are hard to sex until they grow. The male in both species is larger and more colorful. The green terror males get a hump on their head as they mature. Color is not always the best way to determine sex. My last pair of firemouths were both colorful expecially when they were breeding. The only way you could tell which was male and which was female was by size. I've also seen pictures of female GT's that are just as colorful as the males.

By the way,.. I love firemouths as well and they are fun to breed. It's been my experience that firemouths aren't much more challenging to breed than convicts. I've never bred GT's so I couldn't help you out there.
 
I'll have to go to PetSmart and look at the GT's and FM's and see if there are any pairs. The reason I don't like PetSmart is because none of the animals there are taken care of. Most of them are skinny and frail. The one I got from the LFS also gave parasites to my other fish and they all died as well. The water his fish are in is disgusting, and the only reason I bought from him is because he was the only person that had the fish I was looking for at the time. I understand there are stores that have employees that take good care of their fish, but PetSmart has a bad rep for not taking care of their animals.
 
convict94;1387901; said:
well FM's are very very easy to sex. as long as they have red on their throughts its a male but don't go by that if they are anything under 2"or 3", for GT's you will not be able to sex themn until they are about 4" but if they have long pointed fins then it is male but if they have more rounded fins then its female. IMO you could get away with a FM pair and a GT pair in the same tank. i know how it is my parents won't let me get anything bigger than a 55 either. right now i have a green severum, a green terror, and a herotilapia multispinosa.
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that is not true for firemouths, i have a 4" female with better colour than my 5"male and both have a red throat. the thorichthys genus is very hard to sex. one way is when they are mature the males fins grow longer and have a tip. the females are normaly a curve but they can also get pointed ends on their fins.
the best way to get a pair of firemouths is to buy around six and grow them out and you should get a pair from them, then do what you want with the single 4 firemouths left over. you can also do this with the green terrors.

when doing this watch agression. also doing it this way usually makes the pair bondage alot stronger and only the stronger 2 of the 6 will pair up.
 
Some Petsmarts are better than some locally owned shops. Some locally owned shops are better than Petsmarts. It all depends on where you live.


Anyway, you could do a pair in a 55 for a long time. A GT is not going to be growing as fast as an oscar. A male may hit 7" the first year, if you are feeding liberally, but also doing large weekly water changes. The water changes are crucial for GT growth, IMO. Each fish responds differently, but if you skimp on your water changes, your GT will not grow quickly, the way an oscar will.
 
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