Nicaraguan cichlid

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Nigelk8485

Gambusia
MFK Member
Oct 3, 2014
462
1
18
Louisville, KY
So I ordered fish and they came in today. Got a green severum, albino Senegal bichir, and 11 boesemani rainbows. Unfortunately one of the rainbows died during shipping though.

I acclimated them and out them in my tank, everyone seems to be doing great. My original plan was to grow the rainbows and bichir out and add an oscar; however, after watching these rainbows I have fallen in love with them and don't want to risk getting an oscar that will kill them all. I do still want a large centerpiece fish though so I began looking at alternatives. One that popped up is the Nicaraguan cichlid. I keep seeing mixed comments though about them either being aggressive and best left as a mated pair or that having one should be fine with my current stock.

Any of you with experience with these fish? Do you think I'd have better luck on keeping my rainbows alive with a Nicaraguan than an oscar? Or do you know of any centerpiece fish you think I'd have the best luck with?

Tank is 150 gallons running an fx5.


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I keep nics and I can say that they are medium level of aggression. The males are around 8" each but the females are about 4-5 ". I'd recommend female nics with your rainbows.

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They are great fish - but would not exactly be the centerpiece you are looking for. They take a while to color up, and even so, don't have the "centerpiece quality" that normally comes to mind.
 
fwprawn said:
They are great fish - but would not exactly be the centerpiece you are looking for. They take a while to color up, and even so, don't have the "centerpiece quality" that normally comes to mind.
Click to expand...

Do you have anything that could work that would come to mind? I was really into Uaru but I like having plants in my tank so they're out. I guess I could resort to more severums. I have been thinking about sharks as well.


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I believe nics would work with rainbows, they are not piscavores and tend to remain close to the substrate, unlike rainbows which prefer mid to higher areas of the water column.
They do take a while to color up, but as you can see with Black Tunas, they become quite beautiful.
I picked up a 1.5" group of 8 nics back in May this year, they looked like this back then.

they are now between 3"-5" and look like this, I have the group in a 75 gal tank, so far aggression is minimal
 
The one nic I had was more territorial than aggressive. She had her rock pile and as long as others stayed away from her she didn't care about other fish, if they tested her a short 6-12" chase was all that ensued unless the trespasser didn't flee then she stud her ground.
 
Nics are great cichlids. They are so colorful and feisty. Very active and fun.
 
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