Jewel Cichlid Tankmates

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Wiggles92

Dovii
MFK Member
Apr 25, 2009
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Pennsylvania
I have a pair of jewel cichlids that are currently about 1.5" long.

They are currently house by themselves in a 10 gallon aquarium, but I plan on moving them to my 55 gallon aquarium.

I want to add other fish to the mix, but I've read that they can be very aggressive once they have formed a pair. Any suggestions for tankmates?
 
It depends a lot on which hemichromis species you have but you shouldn't have a problem placing non-territorial tankmates with them. Mine generally will chase fish away from close proximity to the fry but stop the attack as soon as the 'intruder' turns tail. Chasing a fish all over the tank doesn't make sense as it leaves the kids open to attack from others.
 
I just picked up some jewls from this lady she had a pair and had hundreds of frys and after that it happened again with the frys when they grew up. But neways she was telling me when they are ready to breed they are pretty aggressive but its going to be like that with most fish.
 
I'm not quite sure which species I have; I bought them at Petco and they were just labeled "Jewel Cichlids". I'm pretty sure there wasn't a scientific name given, but I'll double check the next time that I'm in there.

I'll go take some pictures of them and post them to this thread; maybe that will help with an I.D. of what species they are.
 
Petco wouldn't know. They are most likely h. guttatus but unfortunately all '3-spot' species are either merely labeled ' red jewel' or given an often bogus specific name.
 
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