Firemouth's

[dreamer]

I have a pair of firemouth's in my tank (along with a pair of apisto's, shoal of silver tip tetra, oto's, cory's and loaches). The tank is heavily planted with lots and lots of hidey holes.

The firemouth's got on fine for a while but now one has gone very dark and just hides in the corner. We tried separating the other firemouth into a smaller tank for a week, and it started to work - the darker one started coming out to feed and nose around.

We had to release the "bully" back into the tank and the darker one is retreating into the shadows again as it gets chased mercilessly by the "bully".

So i guess i need to take one of them back. I am tempted to take the shy one back, but should i take the bully back?

And should I replace with another one and see if they get on, or is the tank just not big enough for 2 of them (it's 120L)?

Thanks in advance!

 

[farm41]

I would take all the firemouths back, if you really want to keep apistos, that is.

 

[dreamer]

Trust me, the apisto's are fine - I thought it may be an issue as well, but they are fine! In fact surprisingly so - the firemouth's are the ones that suffer!

 

[farm41]

I'm not that suprised really, especially if the are on eggs. apistos can be ferocious.

 

[dreamer]

"on eggs"? What do you mean?

 

[farm41]

If they had spawned, and are guarding eggs.

Even the most mild mannered apisto can be a little terror when guarding eggs and fry.

 

[dreamer]

Oh okay, I understand. I don't think they are - haven't been in the tank more than a few weeks.

We swapped the quiet firemouth for a "female" but due to the fact that the 2 firemouth's had a major face off tonight, gills and ended up a fight, either it's 2 females, 2 males or just one very aggrssive fish!

Next step is to take them both back and try to get a better matched pair :?

 

[farm41]

I have shipped fish to a few people that have had them spawning within 2 or 3 days of receiving them. Not that uncommon. Especially when they are pulled out of a crowded growout tank, they all of a sudden are dropped into an tank by themselves with a few caves, and whamo 8O you have eggs.

 

[aspen]

jo, often with cichlids, they need to either live in larger groups as they grow, or pair off as male and female to live in peace. i have never kept firemouths, but you may have better luck with only one, or with a bunch. with my geophagus i found that by increasing the number, they would nip at each other constantly, but the agression is spread around much better with 7 than with the smaller group of 4 at the beginning. when my ruby rams paired, they killed the third ram, yet everyone else was pretty much left alone. when a pair forms with the geophagus, i will likely have to pull the pair or the rest of the group to minimise problems. such is life with cichlids. some are tough on conspecifics, yet quite peaceful with other species. others are fine with each other and the tankmates 'pay the price'.

i have quite a variety of s/a cichlids in my 90 gal, and they get along very well now. it took some shifting around and playing with the tank dynamics to keep the peace though.

rick

 

[dreamer]

Thanks for the advice - I caught the new fish yesterday and separated it, as otherwise they would have killed each other. Will take them both back and try with a pair from the same batch, otherwise we will be on single numbers I think.

It was a very spectacular display last night, but painful to watch in a way!

We also added a pair of chequerboards (thought it might help and cause a bit of a distraction) who have settled right in and make for a really nice tank, just need to get the firemouth's sorted!