Ok so I have a new 55 gallon tank... I know your going to say it's to small for what I want to do but I also have a 150 gallon 6 foot tank ordered. I am planning on getting a juvenile Green Terror (1) and a juvenile trichromis salvini (1) and 3 zebra loaches. Will they be fine together in the 55 gallon "grow out" tank?
Tank Mates
- Thread starter HuskerDave
- Start date
If you already have the tank ordered then I'd assume it would be here in a month, cycling lets say 2 months just for fun so 3 months in total. I'd say it wouldn't be hard to keep them together for 3 months if they are true juveniles. Do you have them already or will they be bought? If so, I'd recommend getting them as small as possible to make them get along for longer. I'd put it a crazy amount of driftwood. Like you literally couldn't see the back of the tank unless you look at it from a certain angle. Bunches and bunches of root like pieces of driftwood all creating a maze. Although that is what I'd do and I'm a bit crazy so...
My LFS has them there right now... I was going to pick them up tomorrow after work. And yes I would think they would be in the 55 for 3 months 4 at the most. Also the fish r true juveniles they are roughly 2 inches right now.
The problem is that salvini are usually much more aggressive than GT's especially at a small size. Also, two cichlids is usually a bad number, since there are no other cichlids to distribute the dominant one's aggression. Most likely scenario is the Salvini will kill the GT. I don't think salvini and GT are a great mix, but if you are dead set on trying it, I would add 2 or 3 other juveniles as well, so the subdominant one doesn't get bullied to death as soon as one takes charge.
I agree with Gourami Swami
As juvies salvini can be quite shy, and retiring, but don't let this fool you into a a false sense of what is to come. Once they hit maturity, I would put the Trichromis aggression level at 9.9 (one of the most aggressive Central American cichlids, pound per pound) compared to a
GT at about a 3 or 4 depending on the individual.
I find the common name G Terror to be quite misleading by Central American cichlid aggression standards.
I also like GS's idea of more than 2 or at least a bunch of non-cichlid tank mates.
Salvini are from the Atlantic coast of Mexico, and in nature would be surrounded by large shoals of live bearers (although Astyanax tetras are also quite common).
GTs are from west and north of the Andes in South America, and would share habitat with a higher concentration of tetras (Colombian types come to mind)
Either cichlid will set up territorial boundaries in either size tank as they mature, and spend most time in the lower half of the tanks. Dither fish such as tetras or live bearers large enough to not be eaten, would create interest in the upper areas, and provide a security blanket of sorts to make the cichlids less wary and come out more.
Loaches on the other hand, being ground huggers, may become a territorial threat, especially in the eyes of the salvini.
As juvies salvini can be quite shy, and retiring, but don't let this fool you into a a false sense of what is to come. Once they hit maturity, I would put the Trichromis aggression level at 9.9 (one of the most aggressive Central American cichlids, pound per pound) compared to a
GT at about a 3 or 4 depending on the individual.
I find the common name G Terror to be quite misleading by Central American cichlid aggression standards.
I also like GS's idea of more than 2 or at least a bunch of non-cichlid tank mates.
Salvini are from the Atlantic coast of Mexico, and in nature would be surrounded by large shoals of live bearers (although Astyanax tetras are also quite common).
GTs are from west and north of the Andes in South America, and would share habitat with a higher concentration of tetras (Colombian types come to mind)
Either cichlid will set up territorial boundaries in either size tank as they mature, and spend most time in the lower half of the tanks. Dither fish such as tetras or live bearers large enough to not be eaten, would create interest in the upper areas, and provide a security blanket of sorts to make the cichlids less wary and come out more.
Loaches on the other hand, being ground huggers, may become a territorial threat, especially in the eyes of the salvini.
Yeah Ive decided to skip on the salvini. I'm just going to go with the Green Terror and some dither's for now.
I was thinking some of the large danios and some bigger tetras...
Those would be good choices. If you care about the locale of the fish, danios are from asia and (most) tetras are from SA, as is the GT. So my choice would be some Colombian tetras or similar. But either should work.