Tank Mate Opinions lol

[Sarah J]

Ok, I have 2 -two inch EBA's, 2 -one inch EBJD, and a 1.5inch Diadema cichlid in a 125g. Im so hesitant to add anything aggressive because I want all of these fish to survive.
Does anyone have experience with meeki fire mouth aggression?
I was also going to get 2 more EBA'S. I don't want anymore jack dempseys unless its best to keep them in a group. these electrics don't grow as big for either breed.
I can't find another Diadema for sale anywhere or I would get it so the other wasn't alone. although, he seems to like the acaras.

 

[Sarah J]

also, I only want 8-9 fish in this tank so they will be comfortable while growing and for bioload. so ill only be getting 3-4 more, 2 of them being acaras. None of these will grow over 6 inches each. The electric jacks I heard experience growth problems from this breeding.

 

[Sarah J]

ugh ok never mind lol I read that maybe one more ebjd so its not paired off , 2 acaras, and a silver place. boom all done. and if I find another diadema of course

 

[Gourami Swami]

Options all sounds ok to me. Only issue might be aggression from the EBJDs when they get larger. Adding another ebjd won't stop the two you have from pairing up if they want to.

So you want to add two more acaras and a pleco? sounds reasonable

 

[ryansmith83]

A. diadema if they’re males grow larger than 6” and will be fairly pushy. Your acaras should be able to hold their own as they’re all acaras, but EBJD can be a bit placid.

If you end up with any pairs that will obviously drastically shrink the usable real estate in the tank because pairs will claim territories and drive the fish away from certain parts of the tank. Something to think about when stocking.

I wouldn’t advise a second diadema. With only two, the dominant one will likely torment the other. Conspecific aggression is pretty high in acara species.

 

[Sarah J]

Options all sounds ok to me. Only issue might be aggression from the EBJDs when they get larger. Adding another ebjd won't stop the two you have from pairing up if they want to.

So you want to add two more acaras and a pleco? sounds reasonable

Yes, the two acaras I have seem
Paired off already. :-/ they are juveniles. I ordered two more. And a pleco.

 

[Sarah J]

A. diadema if they’re males grow larger than 6” and will be fairly pushy. Your acaras should be able to hold their own as they’re all acaras, but EBJD can be a bit placid.

If you end up with any pairs that will obviously drastically shrink the usable real estate in the tank because pairs will claim territories and drive the fish away from certain parts of the tank. Something to think about when stocking.

I wouldn’t advise a second diadema. With only two, the dominant one will likely torment the other. Conspecific aggression is pretty high in acara species.

I’m not going to get a second diadema.
The 2 acaras I have are juveniles but already seem paired off. I did order two more. And I ordered a pleco . I already have the 2 ebjd that are you s and unconcerned with each other on opposite sides of the tank. One even seems a little stressed.
I’m sorry, could you explain conspecific aggression to me?

 

[Sarah J]

Also thank you both for responding. I really appreciate it.

 

[ryansmith83]

Conspecific means “belonging to the same species.” Conspecific aggression is when there is aggression between the same type of fish. Acaras, in fact lots of SA cichlids, have considerable levels of conspecific aggression. For instance, you may put two diadema together and they may want to slaughter each other, but you can put a single diadema with other types of cichlid and it’s perfectly fine. Sometimes cichlids also hate fish with similar body shape.

 

[Sarah J]

Conspecific means “belonging to the same species.” Conspecific aggression is when there is aggression between the same type of fish. Acaras, in fact lots of SA cichlids, have considerable levels of conspecific aggression. For instance, you may put two diadema together and they may want to slaughter each other, but you can put a single diadema with other types of cichlid and it’s perfectly fine. Sometimes cichlids also hate fish with similar body shape.

Oh, I didn’t know about the acaras having that issue. I did hear about others which were actually South American as well. Sorry, I didn’t know the actual name of what it was called. I had heard acaras do better together though? I suppose there will always be a chance. The ebjd’s seem to not like each other so they are opposite sides right now.