stocking a 36*18*18..

[..puSkar..]

i have a semi planted tank with some java fern , val, and tiger lotus (N.zenkeri) . its a 36*18*18 tank ( 50 ish us gallons) . was thinking of having a single salvini ( or a green terror ) in there . what do you guys think ? salvini is the 1st preference .
Lfs currently has some 2-3" ones. could i have a rainbow shark in there for algae control cause here in india we generally dont get bristlenose plecos , just common plecos that grow huge . if not then what should i get for algae control and any tetras for dithers ? cause i"ve seen on forums that salvinis tend to be skittish .

 

[..puSkar..]

duanes

 

[duanes]

I believe a 36" tank is a bit small for salvini, and/or GT as full grown adults.
For a pair of salvini (with appropriate dithers), the Cichlid Room Companion, recommends no less than a 6 ft tank, and my experience with salvini, I concur.
Although they max out at only 5", its mostly because they can be very aggressive, and few other tank mates would be safe, in that space (pound for pound one of "the" most aggressive CAs).
In that size tank, (especially if planted, and if tank mates are desired) I'd go with the smaller GT cousin, Andinoacara pulcher (blue Acara), or ....if a similarly colored Central American to salvini, either Amatitlania nanoluteus, or Herotilapia multispinnossa.
A nanoluteus below

spinnossa below

 

[C. Breeze]

On the acara side A blue acara, Or one of its kissing cousins would work in that tank possibly a pair depending in the fish and fish keeper. Also the cichlasoma species from Brazil, Uruguay etc like Dimerus, portalagrensis boliviense etc A pair of laetacara like curviceps or dorsigera would work and getting back to CA- a fire mouth would be good and a big male can be a very nice fish

 

[Gourami Swami]

A female salvini would likely be fine, a big male would eventually get a little big for this tank and would be better off in a 75. Either sex of green terror would get too large.
I currently have a pretty big cichlid (about 7") in a tank this size. Just out of necessity, I had him in a larger tank and he was not doing well with the pH and water conditions as it was also planted and he started developing HITH. Salvini are from central america, what is your pH and hardness like? If it is softer and lower as many planted tanks are, you would be better off with a south american cichlid like perhaps a blue acara. Which should be OK in this tank size. German or bolivian rams would be an even better choice.
My 40gallon, by the way, needs a 75% water change every 3 days to keep water quality in check with the cichlid in there. If that sounds like alot, I would go for smaller fish.

 

[..puSkar..]

Pretty hard finding a test kit where I live but govt journals say that the well water in my locality is from ph 6.5-8 and from what I know the water is mineral rich. I've had oscars, blue acaras, severums, bettas, Australian rainbows, bichirs, and am currently having tinfoil barbs, vieja argentea, vieja zonatus x melanurus, firemouth, convicts etc without problems .
Most of the fish we get here have been bred locally for many generations so I don't think water parameter would be an issue.
What do you guys say?
I'm leaning towards a female salvini with or without tankmates. Cause I've kept acaras previously and I find firemouth to be skittish especially when solo. I just want a solo fish with/ without dithers for that tank. Water changes are not an issue my general routine is 50% wc wednesday and Sunday. Plus I have java fern( mother plant) , vallisneria, and a tiger lotus inside and dumb canes ( like duanes uses) , pothos, snake plant on the outside for nitrate reduction.
What say?
Female salvini? With 6 skirt tetras / tiger barbs/ zebra danios? Or without?

 

[..puSkar..]

In India we don't get the exotic cichlids that are not that common in the hobby. It's just oscars severums firemouth, blue acaras, flowerhorns etc. The guy at the lfs got to know about viejas, rainbow , geophagus, salvini, etc after I visited him. And he is the only one in the city that deals with them. People here keep 4 oscars in a 3 ft tank. I've seen 2ft silver arowanas in 3 ft tanks. What else left to inflict pain on these poor souls.

 

[newworld]

Single salvini would prob work a pair long term prob unlikely, a pair with other fish highly unlikely, never really thought of them as that aggressive until I kept them, one of the most aggressive cichlids i had

 

[C. Breeze]

I think if you found firemouth skittish you’ll find salvini to be the same or moreso, and that you’ll need to view the first month or two as a conditioning period during which you are conditioning the fish to act how you like


if you want the fish to be not act skittish you basically need to feed it about 5 times a day / everytime you approach the tank. Just a tiny bit. But won’t take long before your fish will be banging the glass as the y say wanting some food / attention.

I think another view point that might help is that with a salvini there’s no such thing as dithers. The other fish are targets or prey. So you need to have that kind of flexibility toward losing them along the way and having to restockperiodically. I think the female salvini is obviously the smaller and the more striking fish and would be really cool.

 

[..puSkar..]

I'll keep it solo . Thinking of putting in some fast tetras for now as the salvini is only 2inch . If there's any aggression I'll remove them into my other tanks.