Some help w/ stocking the cichlid tank plz

hello
two weeks ago I brought home what was sold to me, as two d.cichlids only to find out they were a JD and a Firemouth! Big difference eh? After having them home for a week, I decided that I didnt have the heart to return them and so a week later I introduced two Jewel Cichlids to the tank. For a week, I thought what was the 'normal' aggression of cichlids turned out to be many fish including my beautiful Angelfish with nipped fins. These two Jewels are terrors of the tank and I put them in a breeder box last night and they are going back to the LFS today.
In the 55 gallon tank there is now 1 JD, 1 Firemouth and the three cardinals that for some reason were left alone. I know that I will have to move them eventually, but the JD and firemouth are only, about 2 inches at most.
I don't want to repeat the same problem and really need to find out what fishI can put into the 55 with them. I really do not want to just keep 2 fish in there and need some compatible fish suggestions.
Anyone want to give me a hand with this?
thanks, ~ kate
ps. My PH is6.4 and need to find SA or CA compatible fish...

 

I knew the jewels we going to be a problem. :console:

 

HI Allie
thanks for the response, I really am looking for some tank mates before I head to the LFS and make the same mistake I did with the Jewels. Which btw, were terrible terrible terrors of the tank! OMG and they were only about 2 inches in size. My gorgeous angelfish that had such long beautiful dorsal fin, has lost the top part. The firemouth and the JD look like they got hair cuts! ugggh... what a mess! and of course, the jewels tailfins are perfect so I knew who the culprit was in that tank!
My new thoughts on the whole thing are this: either keep the JD and firemouth in the 55 and get either a keyhole or two, or 1 festivum. Possibly a striped rapheal catfish or a red tail shark. OR a school ofgiant danio's OR 1 severum.
Can you advise on those fish for me please?
Now the other plan is this:
move the JD and Firemouth to the 29 gallon and let them have their own grow out tank together with no tank mates there. Then when they do get bigger I can move them back to the 55.
In the meantime, in order to do this I can..
Move the inhabitants of the 29 which are 1 discus, 1 angel, 2 rainbows, and 2 bolivian rams. Most of which were moved to the 29 due to the aggression in the 55. and I can get another bolivian in the trade with the jewels today.
how does that sound? ;D

 

I would try a festivum or keyholes if you can find them. My keyholes aren't aggressive at all, but a friend of ours has one who is terror. I wish your were closer to me I have an extra male keyhole. Severums are plant destroyers.
Whichever tank has more fish should be in the 55g. I'd put the JD & FM in a tank alone for a bit to grow out.

 

I would try a festivum or keyholes if you can find them. My keyholes aren't aggressive at all, but a friend of ours has one who is terror. I wish your were closer to me I have an extra male keyhole. Severums are plant destroyers.
Whichever tank has more fish should be in the 55g. I'd put the JD & FM in a tank alone for a bit to grow out.

thanks Allie,
So I guess it really comes down to if the LFS has any keyholes today. I have artificial plants in the tank, so I'm not sure if the Severum would bother those.
My guess is that they will not have either the Severums or the Keyholes today. My gut is telling me to go ahead and put the JD and FM in the 29 as a grow out and move all those other guys back to the 55 where I am sure they will be much happier. and add another bolivian while I'm at it. ;D Hopeful on finding a female this time.
I wish I was closer too! BTW I did go to Nova Scotia last october... went to Margaree? is that the spelling for it? Loved it.. went to the Celtic Colors festival. A friend of mine has a home up there... beautiful country for sure! ;D
ok.. going to head out to the fish store and get this over with!
thanks again for your help.. as always~

 

thanks Allie,
So I guess it really comes down to if the LFS has any keyholes today. I have artificial plants in the tank, so I'm not sure if the Severum would bother those.
My guess is that they will not have either the Severums or the Keyholes today. My gut is telling me to go ahead and put the JD and FM in the 29 as a grow out and move all those other guys back to the 55 where I am sure they will be much happier. and add another bolivian while I'm at it. ;D Hopeful on finding a female this time.
I wish I was closer too! BTW I did go to Nova Scotia last october... went to Margaree? is that the spelling for it? Loved it.. went to the Celtic Colors festival. A friend of mine has a home up there... beautiful country for sure! ;D
ok.. going to head out to the fish store and get this over with!
thanks again for your help.. as always~

No problem. Yes Margaree is gorgeous. When I was a kids my family rented a house there one summer. SO nice!

Good luck

 

thanks... I'm heading out now....

 

Now you got me itching to go to the fish store. > The problem is we don't have our own car. My parents live like four blocks away & I usually have access to their car. They are busy all day...maybe tonight or tomorrow.
We've got credit at our fav lfs. Nearly $200. Plus we just got more fish on a trade to bring there. We are waiting on discus until we can save up enough to order quality fish. And we are in the process of changing up the 120 gallon for discus. My boyfriend want to do the tank exactly for discus right down to tannins in the water.
We have 3/33g, and a 29 gallon for the Africans plus we are getting a 55g+ for the African in the next few weeks or so. A friend is getting out of the hobby for a bit until he moves to his house this summer. So he is selling his fish stuff to us for cheap.

 

HI Allie
I hear you ... when you get the 'itch' to go the fish store... nothing or no one better stand in your way! lol... You have some great store credit there Allie and you will be able to take your choice in the Discus you end up buying. I know you are really looking forward to them.. I wish you a lot of luck and hope that they get some great looking ones in there for you soon.

Well ... I spent an hour in the fish store where I returned the jewels. I had to look at every tank! at least twice.. even the saltwater fish.. oooo they are so gorgeous! ;D I spent a long time looking at the 7 or so Bolivians they had left. It really appeared that they were all males. And I probably have males here as well. So I put my hand in my pocket.. and shut my mouth! lol.. It was tempting for sure either way. So I took the store credit and waiting for the day that they finally get some GBRs in. They keep ordering them, the breeder says sure.. but they never arrive. So I have to keep at them each week til they come in. They had 2 beautiful cockatoo apisto's there. That were about 3.5 inches or so. They wanted 21.00 for one, and I really didnt have the money to spend.. but I was almost tempted for sure! My husband would have killed me! I looked at the Green Texas cichlid and almost got one of those. But I walked out with none and that is very unusual for me lol. Then I spent about an hour in Petsmart and saw they are carrying SA cichlids there as well, and had firemouths, JD's, severum and the Texas. Again... I stopped myself from getting a severum or another firemouth. But did pick up some API stress coat for the injured fins.
Commen sense told me that if I stick to my plans of putting the baby JD and firemouth into the 29 gallon for a grow out tank, they really do not need any other big fish in there.
So today or tomorrow my husband and I will spend time moving the angelfish, Discus, two rainbows, and two bolivians over to the 55 with the 3 cardinal tetras that are there already. The unknown apisto really looks like a teeny tiny baby male JD to me now after looking at the teeny tiny males at the fishstore. So will have to keep an eye on that one and see what it grows up to be. I will put that one in with the JD and firemouth, since they have been together anyway and not bothering it.
So that's it... no fish came home with me today! lol... sigh....
Have a great weekend! ;D

 

Well hopefully they'll get some GBRs in soon. Well at least you had no impulse buys.
We realized that the fish room manager isn't in until Monday. Plus they are low on fish until the shipment comes in this week, usually Thursdays. So no fish/pet store for us until then. What's the point? I'd end up spending money on things we don't need.
My bf remembers that the cichlid section had hardly any fish at all. Hopefully they all sold and didn't die. What are the chances of that happing?

Thanks you have a great weekend too.

 

Updated: Oh my...my boyfriend just called from the lf/ps. The fish room guy was there but no working. He just got a bunch of fish. Umm I got left out. Tho he said I would want what he got.
The bf was just talking to the fish room guy. He just told him NOT to get the discus from their store. LOL Pretty bad when the manager can admit the quality is . They get all of their fish all species from the same place in China. So I guess we are going to be on the look out for people selling their discus
PS I let you know what the party pooper got without me.

 

Well hopefully they'll get some GBRs in soon. Well at least you had no impulse buys.
We realized that the fish room manager isn't in until Monday. Plus they are low on fish until the shipment comes in this week, usually Thursdays. So no fish/pet store for us until then. What's the point? I'd end up spending money on things we don't need.
My bf remembers that the cichlid section had hardly any fish at all. Hopefully they all sold and didn't die. What are the chances of that happing?

Thanks you have a great weekend too.

Ohhh impulse buys that's what its called? hahaha..
Well that tells you something about the Discus there. jeesh.. well, its a good thing. I bought some Discus from a local fish store that ended up being runts. It all depends on if the breeder/seller is feeding them quality foods before getting to the store. I sure learned the hard way. I loved them as much as perfect ones, but a few died that just never got bigger than when I bought them, no matter how much I tried to feed them. :-\
SimplyDiscus.com has some great breeders there, and maybe you can find what you are looking for there. ;D

I'm sure the cichlids were sold out.. and didnt die! lol.... You have done a great job, and by the amount of spawns and fry you keep having there, you must be doing something right by those cichlids!

 

You have done a great job, and by the amount of spawns and fry you keep having there, you must be doing something right by those cichlids!

I dunno it's like there is something in the air here lol. I love it.

 

LOL I GUESS SO! hahah... saw your thread on the keyholes.. btw, they are the cutest things... and more eggs! You have got to be one pretty busy lady with all these fish and their fry lol....

 

LOL I GUESS SO! hahah... saw your thread on the keyholes.. btw, they are the cutest things... and more eggs! You have got to be one pretty busy lady with all these fish and their fry lol....

Fry we are going to be over run in fry by 1.5 weeks.
Here's what the bf got:
A 7" freshwater barracuda ??? and a 4" garfish, a bunch glowlite tetra (Datnoid feeders) and 20 or more red platys. And I mean red. He wants to try breeding livebearers, and they can go in with keyholes. With the angels too plus it'd be great feeders for the predators when there is too many fry.
I love the platies! Or is platys?