tropical fish

damo dempsey

hi, i'm looking for some advice. i bought a few cichlids today, and am just wondering is it okay to mix them with a gourami which is already in my tank. i realise cichlids are more aggressive than gouramis, but would they kill it?
any advice with a) taking care of cichlids
b) what to do with my gourami
would be greatly appreciated

Arcadian

The real problem may lie in trying to mix the cichlids, what species are they?

damo dempsey

to be honest i'm not sure what species they are. basically, i trusted the guy in the shop, and he told me they should be fine together.
i'll google it and try to find out what species they are.

Nala

To be honest, you really should've checked all this out before buying the cichlids.

LegacyUser

well, you would hope that the guy in the shop knew his stuff! Its all well saying "you should have checked first" but he asked the assistant and took advice

Kersh

Taking advice off most 'assistants' is useless, I once stood in a reputable fish shop, where the assistant sold a 3 foot tank, to a woman, and included 14 tinfoil barbs with the deal - ffs one tinfoil barb will grow over 12", and unlike most fish, they dont confine their size to the size of tank they are in.
Anyhow, what cichlids are they - unless they are either festivums/blue acaras/keyhole cichlids/firemouths or rams then i fear you are going to have trouble. And I pray you dont have Oscars/any africans, or red devils.
Most cichlids are to be kept with there own kind, unless they are in my first list.

LegacyUser

Kersh wrote:

I once stood in a reputable fish shop, where the assistant sold a 3 foot tank, to a woman, and included 14 tinfoil barbs with the deal - ffs one tinfoil barb will grow over 12.

:eek: WOW!! Yeah, point taken. I wouldn't go in to buy a tank and fish like that without doing my research. I'll come here instead!

cichlid child

I would say your ok with the cichlids if the petsop said so. the only thing is they pobably will kill your gourmai,s and chiclids will often be very aggressive to each orther if they are of the same species it,s better to have 1 male -3 female in your tank.
1.what color are the cichlids.
2.why dont you sell your gourmai,s to the petshop they often give you credit so you can buy fish,food,stones etc
3. what petshop sold them to you.

damo dempsey

the cichlids seem fine together. i have had absolutely no trouble whatsoever with them. but i brought back my gourami to the shop (just to be safe) and they're giving me money off my next purchase.
it was in wackers in parnell st. and i got them off kevin- i think everyone here will agree he knows his stuff, and doesn't give bad advice

Kersh

What cichlids are they?

cichlid child

ye your right he does know his stuff.if you get a chance check out fish fx in Dun Laoghaire they have good selection of malawi,s

damo dempsey

i browsed through a few websites, and they seem to be malawi's. i have 4, and they are all relatively small,
1. small yellow, with black-tips on top fin
2. 2" black one, with blue horizontal stripes
3. small orange one
4. greyish one, with yellow top fin and tale

i realise these descriptions seem rather juvenile, and i also realise you's must think i'm an idiot for not researching what types i'm buying. but, as i say, they seem fine (not fighting) and i bought them off someone i trust, and all is going well!

Nala

damo dempsey wrote:

the cichlids seem fine together. i have had absolutely no trouble whatsoever with them. but i brought back my gourami to the shop (just to be safe) and they're giving me money off my next purchase.
it was in wackers in parnell st. and i got them off kevin- i think everyone here will agree he knows his stuff, and doesn't give bad advice

Is that the younger guy, or the grumpy older guy?
The Chinese guy is lovely.

damo dempsey

kevin is the young guy. he used to have curly hair, but has got it cut. he's sound, i don't think he would purposely screw you in order to make a sale

cichlid child

don,t worry about the descriptions.there are alot of malawi hyprids out there(cross breeding between species)so you may never find out exactaly what they are.but the yellow one with black fins sounds like a yellow lab thats the short name most people use the scientific name a yellow labacroious or something like that.It dosn,t matter that you did,t do any research before buying if they are happy they will bred every 1-2 months.just enjoy them chiclids are very intresting fish make sure you build lot,s of cave in your tank.anything i can help with just ask.i am not an expert by any means but have a cichlid aquariam with 6 different species and another tank for cichlid fry.

damo dempsey

thanks a lot 'cichlid child'.
the breeding aspect interests me. is there anything i can do to 'set the mood' as such? and is it rare/common for cichlids to cross-breed?
and i presume mine are only young, so do they have to reach a certain age/size before they can reproduce?

thanks for you help

Kersh

If you were sold one each of 4 types of fish...for a community tank, then I fear you have been had. Fish number 1 sounds like a yellow lab alright. Number 2 sounds like melanochromis Auratus (male), and if so then there will be trouble. Number 3 could be anything, I suspect a Melanochromis Johanni, and 4 sounds loke a pseudotropheus acei.
The fact you were sold individuals of different species is a joke. These fish should be kept in groups, ideally of 6 each, that way there naturally aggressive behaviour is kept to nipping at each other. At minimum they should be kept 2 females to 1 male, but when you buy juveniles you cannot sex them, which is why you buy 6, and let them pair off etc. For ex, I have a 6' tank with 6 I. sperengerae, 6 M. Johanni, 3 Yellow labs, and 9 Brichardi (I Know Brichardi are tangs). As it is one male Johanni is very aggressive to everyone, as he tries to take over the tank. I fear your Auratus will grow to be very mean.

Kersh

Anyhow, as for breeding, buy more of each type, raise the ph of the water to 8.5 or so, make sure its very hard water (it should be this for Malawis anyway, im sure the shop told you that), change 1/4 every 10 days, and watch them grow. Most are mature at 2-3 inches, and will breed when ready. Dont keep any or many plants in the tank, as these acidify the water, which is bad for malawis/tangs, and they will probably eat them anyway. Thge easiest way to raise the ph is to change your gravel for coral gravel, and put in lots of ocean rock.

cichlid child

[Kesh is spot on with the ph etc.You could also for bfeeding higher the temp to 29 or so.If or when you are changing your aquascape arrange the coral rock so it forms a cliff like structure this will give you lots of caves wich will ease the aggression you will have a dominent male in any cichlid tank they are terrotaial.in answer to your question yes it is common for them to cross breed but they will stick to their own if they canso as Kesh said get more of the same looking fish and do a bit of research on mouthbrooders.Maybe you should go back to kevin and ask him whats the story with selling you these fish for a first cichlid tank.

whiteshadow

yup that seems crazy to me that you would be sold malawi cichlids
to go in with gouramis...

The habits of both sets of fish couldn't be further apart.
Gouramis are asian fish who like very soft acidic conditions
many tanks will have lots of bogwood which softens the water
and brings down the ph for them.

Malawis like the other extreme, hard alkaline water with no wood
only coral sand and rocks.. however if you had no decorations in the tank
only plain gravel both sets of fish could independently live at a neutral
ph 7 but they wouldn't thrive... and it's not ideal.

even food wise, stuff that gouramis love like bloodworm shouldn't be
ever given to cichlids. But to mix the two is odd to say the least, the tendrils on the gouramis would have been nipped away within a few days i'd imagine.

anyway good choice, cichlids are
much more interesting fish to keep imo. and they'll keep you endlessly entertained.

tell me... Have you any more fish in there and what size is your tank?

mick

cichlid child

[whats the story with the fishfx website everything is comming soon are they working on it

damo dempsey

whiteshadow,i only have the four cichlids in the tank.
and it's a Juwel Rekord 96. i know this isn't a big tank, but its all i have space for at the moment
oh, and i got rid of my gouramis the following day, so thats not a problem

whiteshadow

cichlid child wrote:

[whats the story with the fishfx website everything is comming soon are they working on it

err.. yes they are.. edit... I am.
two weeks and new site will be launched

whiteshadow

damo dempsey wrote:

whiteshadow,i only have the four cichlids in the tank.
and it's a Juwel Rekord 96. i know this isn't a big tank, but its all i have space for at the moment
oh, and i got rid of my gouramis the following day, so thats not a problem

hi damo,
ah that's plenty big for the cichlids you have and probably more.
if you can put in some of the ocean rock and take out any bog wood
if you had any in there... good luck..

cichlid child

Sorry whiteshadow that wasn,t a dig at you i only realised now your doing the fish fx web site.i think it will be a cool site when its up and running.Damo keep us informed about the fish.

whiteshadow

no worries, of course i didn't think it was a dig.
the old site shouldn't have been launched until it
was completed but the next version will be great.
you can upload photos of your tanks and we will
be running a tank of the month competition along with
fish species profiles, weekly newsletters etc...