firemouth in community tank??

[fl4ian]

just started an aquarium and have fish that were given to me by the breeder who sold the aquarium to me.

the gentleman at the aquarium store told me that i should get the firemouth out of the tank immediately; i want verification of that...

guppy, swordtail, odessa barb, and goldfish (+ a couple tiny crabs). is the firemouth going to kill all the fish?

right now, the firemouth is just under 2" (as is the odessa), none of the other fish are over 1.5". the firemouth doesn't seem agressive, and ALL OF THE FISH (except the goldfish and crabs) were coexisting in the breeders aquarium.

i like the firemouth, but if it's going to kill everything in the tank then of course, i'll get rid of him.

what do you guys think? what are your experiences?

[capekate]

Hello and welcome to fishlore.
Im surprised that your LFS was concerned about the firemouth, but not the goldfish you are keeping in your tank? The goldfish are cold water fish and your other fish are tropical fish that need much warmer temps than what your goldfish can tolorate. If it were me, I would return the goldfish.
I had a firemouth in my community tank and did not notice any problem with it. It was still young tho maybe that is why it didnt bother any of the other fish. It passed away before it matured, so I really can not say if it will bother your other fish but I can say that mine did not.

[fl4ian]

I didn't know that about the goldfish. The temp is set at 75 and everybody seems happy and active. The goldfish were our first fish actually, they were in a large bowl which became a hassle to maintain, so we made the jump to a proper aquarium with filter, heater, light, etc. What kind of behavior will they exhibit if it's too hot?

[capekate]

They can tolerate temps up to 72* maybe you can lower it to that?

[fl4ian]

Thanks for the help!

[Stradius011]

I would not reccomend firemouth cichlids in a community tank since they can get aggressive but you might get lucky since fish have their own personalities.

[ProfitXL]

firemouth are the least aggresive cichlids that iv ever owned they can sometimes be put in a community tank but, if they begin to breed it would not be good for the other fish