Tankmate suggestions?

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driftwood

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 9, 2005
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Denver, Colorado
Well my Ornatus male has killed his female and I don't want to try getting more of these guys so I want to get him a tankmate or two. Its a 125 gallon tank and at the moment he is all alone. Any suggestions for tankmates? I was thinking of getting a couple H. Pissiticus (true Parrot) or possibly going another route and getting some V. Regani but the Ornatus is South American and kind of skiddish himeself and I've had Regani's before and they too seem a bit skiddish too so aside from being from different areas ,2 types of skiddish fish may not go over well. Any suggestions? Very open to suggestions here. I do have 3 Urau that I could try but the Ornatus will more than likely bully them way to much so that probably won't work. Oh he is about 5-6 inches and seems to be mellow towards other cichlids but not alot of experience with these fish.
 
very nice suggestion. I as actually thinking about that last night. One of the local fish clubs is having an auction this weekend and I'm going to go check out the South/Central American stock but doubt they will have any Bocourti. I was trying to stick with South Americans but just don't know of too many that would make good tankmates for an Ornatus. I was also thinking about a female Festae but this choice seems too much along the lines of the Ornatus.
 
What about istlanum? Could always go with a nice carpintis variant I know they are CA. Maybe you could find a larger beani :) lots of options here
 
freebyrd;4954316; said:
What about istlanum? Could always go with a nice carpintis variant I know they are CA. Maybe you could find a larger beani :) lots of options here
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Are you familiar with Ornatus? From what I have observed they are aggressive with each other but I haven't really seen them be aggressive with other cichlids? I had thought about a Beani but I know they can be very aggressive so I'm wondering if the Ornatus would be able to hang with a beani?
 
driftwood;4954521; said:
Are you familiar with Ornatus? From what I have observed they are aggressive with each other but I haven't really seen them be aggressive with other cichlids? I had thought about a Beani but I know they can be very aggressive so I'm wondering if the Ornatus would be able to hang with a beani?
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I am not familiar with ornatum at the size you have, just smaller ones around 3-4" I don't have beani experience, though. I can't comment on those. I know my festae female isn't very aggressive but the male is, and together they are true terrors.
 
I have minds in a 360 gallon tank, and I am experiencing some problems. IMO the Ornatus is aggressive... My Ornatus beat my Escondido up pretty bad... I had to remove the Escondido out of the 360 so that he could healed. He has healed and looks good...

Although now I have another problem, my green terror beats up on my Ornatus now. I am watching them carefully, I haven't removed the Ornatus due to I have so much room in the tank for him to get away.

I would suggest getting something larger them the Ornatus, that is not too aggressive. A Beani IMO is out of the question, a Beani is very aggressive. You could try a larger Carpentis, Chocolate Cichlid, Bocourti... In others, you want to pick something that will not dominate the Ornatus, and the Ornatus not dominated the new cichlid, so something that is larger than the Ornatus, but not very aggressive...
 
I would suggest some Veijas, Sajicas, Snooks and female festae maybe not all of them but any of those would work fine. I would stay away from carpintis, beani, istlanum and such as those guys like to be dominant and wouldn't play well with the ornatum. I'm not into hybrid so maybe just add females which would submit to the ornatum whereas males will bring competition. Not only that the females should spark his personality into coming out and being social;)
 
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