I am new to this wonderful hobby and as of right now I have a 2 inch convict in a 55 gallon tank but would like to add a firemouth and a Salvini . Is a 55 gallon tank big enough to house these 3 fish?
Salvini /Firemouth/convict
- Thread starter Kvandy
- Start date
It may work for a while when young, but both the salvini, and convict are very territorial, so at maturity I would expect conflict in such a small tank. I could see the salvini taking over one half the tank, and the convict the other, with both making mincemeat out of the FM.
I also find most Thorichthys (firemouth) to be a very social species, doing best as a shoal of 4 or more of their own kind (without other more aggressive cichlids present) but with a shoal of live bearers as dithers, and because they are more bluff than bite, cannot usually handle the eventual hyper aggressiveness of a salvini.
If you grow all 3 up together, you may be the exception to that scenario, but odds are, will not.
One of my favorite tanks (visually) was a friends 100 gallon with a shoal of 8-10 fire mouths (all between 4 and 8")always hanging around, mouthing the substrate with a shoal of at least a dozen large swordtails making use of the mid and upper areas.
I also find most Thorichthys (firemouth) to be a very social species, doing best as a shoal of 4 or more of their own kind (without other more aggressive cichlids present) but with a shoal of live bearers as dithers, and because they are more bluff than bite, cannot usually handle the eventual hyper aggressiveness of a salvini.
If you grow all 3 up together, you may be the exception to that scenario, but odds are, will not.
One of my favorite tanks (visually) was a friends 100 gallon with a shoal of 8-10 fire mouths (all between 4 and 8")always hanging around, mouthing the substrate with a shoal of at least a dozen large swordtails making use of the mid and upper areas.
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Thanks for the advice that is very interesting. So if the tank cannot house a Salvini ,and firemouths do best in a shoal of 4+. What are some other options? I’m fine with the convict being the only fish in the tank if that’s what’s best.
This is what I’m working with. I do not plan on upgrading the tank anytime soon. So any new additions would have to be able to live their whole life happily in a 55 gallon with a convict. Open to all suggestions if you think I should do anything with the tank
You can keep one other cichlid in it, but not 2 others. So add a Salvini, but not both Salvini and firemouth.
After that your looking at dither fish (non cichlids, who can survive in a cichlid tank) and bottom dwellers (catfish, bristlenose plecos etc) to fill up your tank.
Ok thanks for the advice. I wanted a Salvini because of their looks but the more I research the fish the more I realize It might not be a smart choice with only having a 55 gallon with a fish in it already. I going to buy a jewel cichlid to keep with the convict and maybe another small cichlid. Not sure what though I’m still looking and open to suggestions.
Is there another small cichlid I could add to the tank with a convict and jewel? I would like to ask here because I don’t trust people at the fish shop. Good example of not trusting them is one time I bought a crayfish and than asked for some live plants to put in his tank and they sold me a bunch knowing dang well he was going to shred them all that first night.
At the moment you could add what you like, but as they grow and get territorial, they will fight and if your not quick to separate them to a different tank, they will end up killing each other.
A 55 is not large enough territory for an additional cichlid, which is why I suggested other fish the cichlids won't consider competition and probably ignore.