Suggested tankmates for larger, less aggressive cichlids?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
You're already overstocked.

I'd keep the 6 severum only (you're gonna have to move a few of them at some point) and add a few schools of different kinds of tetra/barbs/loaches to give the tank a lot of movement and color.... like 10 adult serpae tetra, 10 adult odessa barb and a school of yoyo loaches. The severum would be the centerpiece obviously.
 
I agree that the tank is considerably overstocked, but if you must keep all of them, make sure to supply some major filtration.

If you get it down to just the Sevs, I would maybe add some smaller Eartheaters or a school of Bleeding Heart Tetras.
 
cacichlids;5154865; said:
You're already overstocked.

I'd keep the 6 severum only (you're gonna have to move a few of them at some point) and add a few schools of different kinds of tetra/barbs/loaches to give the tank a lot of movement and color.... like 10 adult serpae tetra, 10 adult odessa barb and a school of yoyo loaches. The severum would be the centerpiece obviously.
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^^ agree with this. I would get down to maybe 3-4 Severums if possible and pick up a school or tetras/barbs. If you cut down to 3-4 Severums then you could get a nice 20 Barbs (tiger/green/albino mix) to school around and like he said, a loach bottom to go with it or cory's. I know how hard it is to part with fish, we've all been there, but sometimes it's for the better as long as they are going to a good home, or split them if you have another tank.

Either way, good luck.
 
If I bring down the number of sevs, wouldn't that make the aggression less well spread out? Every instance I've had 3-4 conspecifics, one ends up getting badly beat up and moved out, and then it's on to the next in line getting beaten on. That was my main concern with the number.

The other thing is that we're probably selling the house in 3-4 years (and my parents would move back to Taiwan), so we'd have to sell all the fish. Would the sevs outgrow the tank that quickly? They seem awfully slow once they've reached about 6" (SL, without tail).

Thanks for all the help so far! I'm definitely trying to take these things into consideration.
 
Severum are not particularly aggressive either way... not even close to the really aggressive cichlids out there. Even if one of them wanted to dominate the rest, they rarely do much more than a little chasing and maybe a poke here and there... My 4" male salvini keeps beating my pair of 6" severum all day lol, the male is missing a chunk of his forehead.

But to answer your question, no you don't need to get rid of em now... they will take quite some time to reach their max size of 10-12"... but I would def. get rid of the bala sharks.
 
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