Which one would do well with cichlids

[Cohazard]

Nothing should be kept with breeding cichlids, it's just asking for trouble.

I have mixed poly's with various types of cichlids with great success, not all cichlids are crazy glass bangers, but it is important not to attempt keeping a breeding pair in a community.

Cichlids I've had success with:

Gold Saum (I had an 8" male with my polys, it killed some other cichlids, not my polys).

Chocolate cichlid

Severums (very peaceful towards bichirs, but they keep each other in check)

Angel fish

Geophagus surinamensis, and balzani

Killin (parrot x flowerhorn hybrid)

EBJD (8" male never touched my bichirs)

Oscars (they'll eat bichirs that are tiny compared to them, as long as you're not trying to keep baby bichirs with them, it's been fine for me)

 

[pwmin]

Yeah, as Cohazard said, definitely no breeding cichlids or aggressive ones. There are some cichlids that are nasty in a very high percentage of cases (dovii, midas, etc.), some that are usually hit or miss (i.e. jags - mine gets along great with my polys, you just have to stuff the jag before the polys get any food) and there are some that are generally not very aggressive (gold saums, etc.). The best thing is to make sure the polys eat well and are healthy first and then put in a cichlid that you know gets along well with other fish

 

[wolfsburgfanatic]

Here's an example of what an aggressive cichlid can do to a bichir. Do you really want to risk it?
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=133969&highlight=senegal+oscar

kinda OT, but I went to the LFS this weekend and they had an Endli and a Lap in a tank with two Oscars. That thread came to my mind and I wanted so bad to rescue those guys but I've got no room for another tank in the apartment. When I get my bichirs their tankmates are gonna be wusses.

Good luck whatever you choose

 

[Mike fail]

yeah ive witnessed the cichlid agression towards non cichlids they ripped out my plecs eyes

 

[shamrock]

Hit or miss-one thing about my experience in the past is that my cichlids tend to be more aggressive towards each other than a non cichlid fish.

 

[MERCURY133]

I am new here but wondering the same thing, the conclusion that I have arrived at is that while the bichirs may exist with the other cichlids at some point its probably not a good idea, does that accurately reflect the popular opinion?

 

[MERCURY133]

I figure I could give a little info, 125 gallon tank, 2.5" albino oscar, 2.5" blood parrot 2.5" African (YELLOW) all others are 2 in. or smaller, 4 female convicts, 2 jack dempsey, 1 green terror and 1 firemouth...give me a little time to get familiar with this and I will try to use proper names.

 

[shamrock]

Update my Umbee killed pretty much everything and is in a 1032 gallon pond solo-so in my 240 gallon right now I have 4" Trimac 4" Red Devil 4" Red Terror-so I'm thinking it would work and I like-Ornate, Saddled Bichir, and my fav Delhieszi.

 

[channarox]

Update my Umbee killed pretty much everything and is in a 1032 gallon pond solo-so in my 240 gallon right now I have 4" Trimac 4" Red Devil 4" Red Terror-so I'm thinking it would work and I like-Ornate, Saddled Bichir, and my fav Delhieszi.

IMO i'd get rid of the umbee and cichlids.
and just keep the polys and other monsters.

 

[Steve_2]

Here's my opinion. UWE has a good point when he said that his breeding JD chased the polys. The good news is that there is a solution! Don't keep several cichlids of the same specie(or species that can hybridize) in the same tank. That way you'll never get pairs wanting to breed and becoming extremely territorial. It's a known fact that even placid little cichlids like dwarf south americans can become very nasty towards their tankmates when breeding. Yet if kept singly or with others of the same sex, they co-exist with their tankmates very well.

I have cichlids with my polys and they don't bother eachother. I've never even seen a cichlid noticing a poly. And I have an 8" male jack dempsey with polys ranging from 4-9".