Community Cichlids?

Someone should really make a "known" website for cichlids for "community"
cichlids.

When I first started in freshwater, I was told by a lfs barbs couldn't be in
anything but with other barbs. I've "grown up" since then, thanks to the
internet, but the ever feared cichlids have finally pronouced their way into
our community. Absolutely any lfs within 20 miles of us will say there is no
cichlid that can go into a community tank.

Defying the lfs's we introduced kribs, which supposively was "bad". They
went like peas and carrots with the tetras, loaches, barbs, sharks,
everything.

Stepping further, got a parrot fish (carefully selecting one from an lfs
that was young dull grey / black ones, to know they weren't dyed). Don't
care they're "manufactured", our Parrot is our best buddy, follows us around
the tank, hangs next to our hand when we vacuum, etc. Still no probs in the
tank, he didnt bug anyone, no one bugs him.

Introduced a paired Arie(sp?) cichilds (blue with yellow fins), again, no
problems, they school with the panda cories.

There's so many colorful and characteristic cichlids out there, but there's
also "bad boys" that would clean out a community tank.

Seems the rule is "Rock/cave dwelling" cichlids are NOT community fish, open
lake cichlids are more passive and adaptive.

What I would love is if you guys could post the names of cichlids that you
know are normally passive cichlids, stay within 3-5", don't require special
water conditions, known to be exceptionally agressive, etc. Can compare to
Kribs.

I'll try to make a community listing published online from these results, so
please, anyone that has anything to input, please do.

Thanks.

"D&M" wrote in message
...
Someone should really make a "known" website for cichlids for
"community"
cichlids.
snip

What I would love is if you guys could post the names of cichlids that
you
know are normally passive cichlids, stay within 3-5", don't require
special
water conditions, known to be exceptionally agressive, etc. Can compare
to
Kribs.

I'll try to make a community listing published online from these
results, so
please, anyone that has anything to input, please do.

Thanks.

A tank of fish is a recipe, where the order of introduction can be as
critical as the ingredients. Cichlids (as ingredients go) are a bit more
volatile, sometimes being perfect tank-mates as last-introduced
juveniles, but developing stronger 'personalities' as they sexually
mature. There is no 'safe' list of cichlids as it's all probabilities.
You also cannot mix any tetras together as many will dominate the tank,
but statistically there is less effort to successfully mixing tetras.
You can mix large nasty cichlids together if you do it right, but there
is far less room for error. What you are asking for depends on i) your
expertise, ii) if you have spare tanks (when things go wrong), iii)
whether you are trying (or allowing) them to breed.

_Relatively_ docile large cichlids are Discus, Festivums, Severums, Flag
cichlids, Angelfish and sometimes Blood Parrots. Under ideal conditions
(large enough tanks and/or not breeding), the number of docile medium
sized cichlids is too numerous to list. Going with smaller cichlids can
sometimes improve your odds (and it's all about probabilities, age,
sequence of introduction, shelters, tank-mates etc ;~) Here is a listing
of Apistogrammas http://www.thekrib.com/Apisto/ which include your Kribs
& Rams. Moving to African lakes, there are Shellies and many other small
cichlids (Brichardi, Leleupis etc) which will mind their own business if
given enough space to call their own. Once they are spawning, their
space requirements will increase dramatically though.

If you respect the rule that if it fits in their mouth, they will try to
eat it, Oscars & Frontosas are very docile cichlids. Their interest (and
primary motivation in life) is food. Once a tank-mates is determined to
have no food potential, they will generally co-exist with them
wonderfully. ymmv

NetMax

"NetMax" wrote in message
...


If you respect the rule that if it fits in their mouth, they will try to
eat it, Oscars & Frontosas are very docile cichlids. Their interest (and
primary motivation in life) is food. Once a tank-mates is determined to
have no food potential, they will generally co-exist with them
wonderfully. ymmv



I don't know the technical names, but I have two S. American oscars...a red
tiger and a tiger, if my lfs was correct. Anyway, they have constantly told us
that we can't put anything in the tank with them. We have them in a 55gal tank
along with a Japanese Algae eater and a black and yellowish-mottled algae eater.
The two oscars and the jap have been tank mates since we first got them. Roscoe
and Squiggy, (the O's), were an inch and a half long maybe and now are 10 inches
long. The four of them get along fine even though our lfs swears that's not
possible. They had some snakehead fish in once and told us that one of those
would do great in the tank IF he didn't kill our Oscars. They had it
backwards...he made a nice lunch for them after about 2 weeks. They also killed
an 8 inch catfish we tried in there. (thought he would help clean the tank)
Spot, the catfish, was way bigger than their mouths but they killed him anyway
by ripping his fins apart and off.

The main aggressor is Roscoe. Squiggy doesn't always agree with the way we clean
the tank and will show us by changing colors and pouting in the corner, but
Roscoe bites my husband every chance he gets, repeatedly. He always moves
everything Mike puts in the tank, no matter how well 'anchored' it is.
Squiggy's motivation is definately food. I sometimes think Roscoe's is more in
line with being 'king of his castle' than anything. He won't eat the feeder
fish but jumps out of the water to get his red balls (Hikari cichlid gold ).
He's also the one who will play ball with me, dances when he sees me coming and
will stay right with my face for as long as I sit there in front of the tank. I
think Squiggy would do fine with other fish as long as they were too big for
her to eat. Roscoe would eventually attack them.

noname

btw...Squiggy, with exception to feeder fish, won't attack anything until after
Roscoe has had a few go rounds. It's almost like he's her leader or something.

add keyholes to that list of *very* peaceful cichlids.
TZ



"NetMax" wrote in message
...

"D&M" wrote in message
...
Someone should really make a "known" website for cichlids for
"community"
cichlids.
snip

What I would love is if you guys could post the names of cichlids that
you
know are normally passive cichlids, stay within 3-5", don't require
special
water conditions, known to be exceptionally agressive, etc. Can compare
to
Kribs.

I'll try to make a community listing published online from these
results, so
please, anyone that has anything to input, please do.

Thanks.

A tank of fish is a recipe, where the order of introduction can be as
critical as the ingredients. Cichlids (as ingredients go) are a bit more
volatile, sometimes being perfect tank-mates as last-introduced
juveniles, but developing stronger 'personalities' as they sexually
mature. There is no 'safe' list of cichlids as it's all probabilities.
You also cannot mix any tetras together as many will dominate the tank,
but statistically there is less effort to successfully mixing tetras.
You can mix large nasty cichlids together if you do it right, but there
is far less room for error. What you are asking for depends on i) your
expertise, ii) if you have spare tanks (when things go wrong), iii)
whether you are trying (or allowing) them to breed.

_Relatively_ docile large cichlids are Discus, Festivums, Severums, Flag
cichlids, Angelfish and sometimes Blood Parrots. Under ideal conditions
(large enough tanks and/or not breeding), the number of docile medium
sized cichlids is too numerous to list. Going with smaller cichlids can
sometimes improve your odds (and it's all about probabilities, age,
sequence of introduction, shelters, tank-mates etc ;~) Here is a listing

of Apistogrammas http://www.thekrib.com/Apisto/ which include your Kribs
& Rams. Moving to African lakes, there are Shellies and many other small
cichlids (Brichardi, Leleupis etc) which will mind their own business if
given enough space to call their own. Once they are spawning, their
space requirements will increase dramatically though.

If you respect the rule that if it fits in their mouth, they will try to
eat it, Oscars & Frontosas are very docile cichlids. Their interest (and
primary motivation in life) is food. Once a tank-mates is determined to
have no food potential, they will generally co-exist with them
wonderfully. ymmv

NetMax

West Africans are very peacful, I have them in a 90 g community with angels
rainbows and tetras, and they keep brreding!



TZ wrote in message ...
add keyholes to that list of *very* peaceful cichlids.
TZ



"NetMax" wrote in message
...

"D&M" wrote in message
...
Someone should really make a "known" website for cichlids for
"community"
cichlids.
snip

What I would love is if you guys could post the names of cichlids that
you
know are normally passive cichlids, stay within 3-5", don't require
special
water conditions, known to be exceptionally agressive, etc. Can
compare
to
Kribs.

I'll try to make a community listing published online from these
results, so
please, anyone that has anything to input, please do.

Thanks.

A tank of fish is a recipe, where the order of introduction can be as
critical as the ingredients. Cichlids (as ingredients go) are a bit
more
volatile, sometimes being perfect tank-mates as last-introduced
juveniles, but developing stronger 'personalities' as they sexually
mature. There is no 'safe' list of cichlids as it's all probabilities.
You also cannot mix any tetras together as many will dominate the tank,
but statistically there is less effort to successfully mixing tetras.
You can mix large nasty cichlids together if you do it right, but there
is far less room for error. What you are asking for depends on i) your
expertise, ii) if you have spare tanks (when things go wrong), iii)
whether you are trying (or allowing) them to breed.

_Relatively_ docile large cichlids are Discus, Festivums, Severums, Flag
cichlids, Angelfish and sometimes Blood Parrots. Under ideal conditions
(large enough tanks and/or not breeding), the number of docile medium
sized cichlids is too numerous to list. Going with smaller cichlids can
sometimes improve your odds (and it's all about probabilities, age,
sequence of introduction, shelters, tank-mates etc ;~) Here is a
listing

of Apistogrammas http://www.thekrib.com/Apisto/ which include your Kribs
& Rams. Moving to African lakes, there are Shellies and many other
small
cichlids (Brichardi, Leleupis etc) which will mind their own business if
given enough space to call their own. Once they are spawning, their
space requirements will increase dramatically though.

If you respect the rule that if it fits in their mouth, they will try to
eat it, Oscars & Frontosas are very docile cichlids. Their interest
(and
primary motivation in life) is food. Once a tank-mates is determined to
have no food potential, they will generally co-exist with them
wonderfully. ymmv

NetMax

Perhaps I am crazy.. I had a 55 setup with three Oscars, 6 koi and 6 gf.. A
local LFS clerk said thats pretty well impossible.. The Oscars should be
eatting the carp snacks.. I chuckled then showed a Koi magazine they had on
thier shelf. Inside there was a picture of koi and Blues haps in one pond
and the other pond picture there was gf, koi and Oscars schooling together..
So much for the you can't mix this and that because....blah blah blah...

Tim...


"ponder" wrote in message
...

West Africans are very peacful, I have them in a 90 g community with
angels
rainbows and tetras, and they keep brreding!



TZ wrote in message ...
add keyholes to that list of *very* peaceful cichlids.
TZ



"NetMax" wrote in message
...

"D&M" wrote in message
...
Someone should really make a "known" website for cichlids for
"community"
cichlids.
snip

What I would love is if you guys could post the names of cichlids
that
you
know are normally passive cichlids, stay within 3-5", don't require
special
water conditions, known to be exceptionally agressive, etc. Can
compare
to
Kribs.

I'll try to make a community listing published online from these
results, so
please, anyone that has anything to input, please do.

Thanks.

A tank of fish is a recipe, where the order of introduction can be as
critical as the ingredients. Cichlids (as ingredients go) are a bit
more
volatile, sometimes being perfect tank-mates as last-introduced
juveniles, but developing stronger 'personalities' as they sexually
mature. There is no 'safe' list of cichlids as it's all
probabilities.
You also cannot mix any tetras together as many will dominate the
tank,
but statistically there is less effort to successfully mixing tetras.
You can mix large nasty cichlids together if you do it right, but
there
is far less room for error. What you are asking for depends on i)
your
expertise, ii) if you have spare tanks (when things go wrong), iii)
whether you are trying (or allowing) them to breed.

_Relatively_ docile large cichlids are Discus, Festivums, Severums,
Flag
cichlids, Angelfish and sometimes Blood Parrots. Under ideal
conditions
(large enough tanks and/or not breeding), the number of docile medium
sized cichlids is too numerous to list. Going with smaller cichlids
can
sometimes improve your odds (and it's all about probabilities, age,
sequence of introduction, shelters, tank-mates etc ;~) Here is a
listing

of Apistogrammas http://www.thekrib.com/Apisto/ which include your
Kribs
& Rams. Moving to African lakes, there are Shellies and many other
small
cichlids (Brichardi, Leleupis etc) which will mind their own business
if
given enough space to call their own. Once they are spawning, their
space requirements will increase dramatically though.

If you respect the rule that if it fits in their mouth, they will try
to
eat it, Oscars & Frontosas are very docile cichlids. Their interest
(and
primary motivation in life) is food. Once a tank-mates is determined
to
have no food potential, they will generally co-exist with them
wonderfully. ymmv

NetMax