[Gfish]

If you look at my signature you will notice a heap of fish in my 4x1.5x1.5ft that simply won't be able to stay in there long term. First you may rest assured that the fish are all only young & under no stress from being cramped.
The terror is the largest at 3 inches or maybe its the plec at 4 inches.

Anyway, I have a new 6x2x2ft that I am going to set up for all of those fish over the next few months. The firemouths are only about 2inches & I'm waiting for the last one to be rejected so I have a breeding pair. (I have two other rejected firemouths in another tank). I'm not going to get a mate for the terror because I think it will cause problems at breeding time as they can be very aggressive.

I'm looking for suggestions of possible tankmates for these fish. I'm thinking of a breeding pair about the same size as the firemouths? I'm not sure if it would work having two different spieces breeding in the same tank though, so some advice on that would be good. If I can't have a pair I'm thinking another larger solo specimen like the green terror. All suggestions are welcome but no catfish please. There's enough of them already for my taste.

I'm also turning thier current 4ft home into my 1st planted community so tips & stocking/plant suggestions are welcome for that as well.

 

[JIM]

i think you will definitely have a problem with The firemouth breeding in the same tank with anything. These are great looking Cichlids but semi-aggressive when theyre (not) trying to set up a breeding territory. Add to that the very good possibility that you would most likely lose a lot of fry, to anything else you have in there that is a carnivore, and i think you would be much better served to have a small maybe 15 gal breeder set up for that purpose IMHO.

 

[Gfish]

Agreed. I know the habits of both of these fish quite well. The terror should be fairly right, he is rather more belligerent than the average terror. I have kept terrors & a breeding pair of Firemouths in a 5x2x2 before & it was ok as they were firemouths particularly peaceful. Temperament varies of course & I'm prepared if aggression at breeding does become an issue. I have a 30gal that I use for propogating plants that can easily be converted into a home for the firemouths.
I think I may have got lucky with my last firemouths so I thought I would ask. I don't have huge amounts of experience with breeding pairs in large tanks so I thought it best to find out others experiences with them.
They are not an absolute certainty to go into the new tank yet anyway. I'm keeping my options open with them but the terror & catfish are must haves in the tank. Was thinking maybe of putting in an oscar & a geophagus variety if the firemouths get thier own home. (seeming much more likely the more I think about it).
Do you think the 3 larger fish would get along ok?