Need a good looking cichlid as a centerpiece. Any Ideas?????
- Thread starter nbarbagallo98
- Start date
I used a male Green Terror as a center piece for my African cichlid tank. I like the center piece concept because my Africans are small that can only be appreciated close up. My GT has the size to be the focal point 20 ft away, yet mellow enough to get along with his small tankmates.
A center piece has to be large, colorful and gentle, and be kept alone and tolerant of small tankmates. Green Terror, Red Severum, and any of the Vieja species will work. Oscar, Festae, and any of the Amphilophus speices won't work becasue they are too big and aggressive.
A center piece has to be large, colorful and gentle, and be kept alone and tolerant of small tankmates. Green Terror, Red Severum, and any of the Vieja species will work. Oscar, Festae, and any of the Amphilophus speices won't work becasue they are too big and aggressive.
If you like africans, jewels can be very pretty when in mating color. I also have a pair of snow whites that I find very stunning. I have a single OB red zebra as a center fish for my bottom feeder tank, a very nice addition. For south americans I like oscars and blood parrots best.
Nice Tank! Thanks for your input, I like your concept of big centerpiece with little fish, how do you keep the africans from being lunch though?
festae will kill smaller tankmates , id go down the severum route much less aggressive although in my eyes not as pretty as festae but still stunning colours and you won't end up with just one fish
This is why you have to select the big centerpiece that is not predatory. All the fish I recommend, Green Terror, Severum and any of the Vieja species are not predatory by nature, and if you raise them together with small fish, they never acquire the taste for small fish. Another trick is to provide rock piles for the smaller fish to hide. Over time, the big guy get used to and never bother them. My small Tanganyikans and bristle nose plecos even breed regularly in the rock piles, and compete for food comfortably with the big guy that can swallow them whole.
