Jewels

[Vetteacher]

Okay, I have to admit, I am not a cichlid fan, so I don't know much about the various types.

Anyway, I have a 40gal tank that I was experimenting with some live plants and stuff. The only fish in it was a pleco that came with the tank and was being revived from his previous existance as a "scavenger". So, the pleco is looking good and the plants are growing nicely and I thought I might like to have some angels. Here I am researching angels and planning a nice tank for them and my boyfriend comes home with 5 young jewel cichlids (3 females and 2 males) he rescued from a tank where they had been allowed to breed unchecked for some time and threw them in. Well, any abused/neglected fish coming to our house are very lucky and they were spawning within the week. All of those fry dissappeared. Spawned again a week later and we grabbed few fry to raise before they rest disappeared. Spawned again a week later and those fry are now free swimming and disappearing at a much slower rate.

Now, I need the advice of people that have actually had them. What I read and what I see in my tank are two different things.
1 - Will they continue to spawn like this? Best case scenario is each female has spawned once, I am concerned about their health if they keep this up.
2 - Are my plants safe? Reading material says to forget having plants with them, but so far all they have done is dig up some sand around the roots and have had the courtesy to fill in the pits when they are done. At this point, there does not seem to be any adverse affect on them.
3 - Can I still have my angels? I think I know the answer to this one, the spawning pair keep the other three confined to the amazon sword plant where they do their best to "be the leaf".
4 - If they had to move, what might be good tank mates for them? I think they are too big for the tetra tank and too small for the oscar tank. If I have to set up another tank for them, might as well make it a good one!

Thanks for any input you may have.
Cathey

 

[Vetteacher]

Please excuse this shameless bump, but I can't believe no one has an opinion to express about jewel cichlids.

 

[gomezladdams]

1 yes
2 no
3 they most likely will kill them
4 when I had jewels I kept them in a single species tank,they are interesting enough for that

 

[Vetteacher]

Thank you!

 

[Jason_S]

1 yes
2 no
3 they most likely will kill them
4 when I had jewels I kept them in a single species tank,they are interesting enough for that

with answers 1, 3 and 4. my very limited experience with jewels keeps me from having an opinion about them with plants. they are cool fish and have excellent colors but can be pretty aggressive.

 

[hemiboo]

It depends on the size of the jewels and the oscars. My jewels are 4-5" and the oscars are about 10 " and they get alond fine. When the oscars were small the jewel took a chunk out of the oscar's lip and it hasn't messed with it since. One of my jewels died today but I've had it a long time but it wasn't beat up or anything.

 

[zekni]

On a positive note, as long as they are spawning like that, you have a steady supply of free feeders.

 

[Vetteacher]

On a positive note, as long as they are spawning like that, you have a steady supply of free feeders.

Just what we were thinking. Until one of the fry started looking like an albino. Many more of those and we'll have to set up yet another tank just to see what the albinos turn out like.

It depends on the size of the jewels and the oscars. My jewels are 4-5" and the oscars are about 10 " and they get alond fine. (

Actually, made some promises around here not to put anyone else in with the o's. However, we've had a small windfall, maybe the o's will get a bigger tank and I'll keep that in mind. But, our 2 of our o's are 12"+ and the jewels are only ~3" now.

Sorry to hear about your jewel. They seem to be a beautiful, entertaining fish!