Jewel Cichlid

[87gmc4x4]

Does anyone else have these? are they compatible with my tiger barbs? what kind of live food can they eat?

 

[thetim6]

i have kept jewels before, a few years ago. If they are the same species, then no they are not compatible at all with your tiger barbs. I had a pair and the male killed everything in my tank, including the female. very mean, deffinately not a community fish.

 

[semper fi]

jewels are great fish. they can be very mean tempered. had a pair of jewels that when breeding got very mean and lost to the red devil. would not reccommend putting them in with tiger barbs though. they are beautiful fish. the females are a dull brown while the males are a very brilliant red color. there are two types of jewels. the three spot and the five spot. the three spot has a spot on the base of the tail, mid body and on the gill. the pair i had were very peaceful. got another pair along with two firemouths and a managuense. started losing fish and thought the managuense was the culprit until the managuense cam belly up and the jewel was the only one left. very mean little bugger. holds his own now in the community tank with the devils, budda, pacu and dempseys.

 

[thetim6]

just to let up any confusion. when i said community tank, i didnt mean it cant be kept with other species of fish. it can, as long as they are just as mean. by community tank i was referring to a tetra, barb, danio kind of community tankbecause you were asking about keeping them with barbs. as far as live food goes, i fed mine rosy reds, or small goldfish sometimes. also use crawfish sometimes, but not to sure if the jewels ate them, or if i even used crawfish when i kept jewels.

 

[semper fi]

they do like a diet of live foods, brine shrimp are great to feed them. they are great community fish as long as like you siad they are kept with fish of the same aggression. find that mine eat the crumbs or flake that falls to the bottom near their little hidey holes when they are small. when they get bigger they still keep to the bottom but will come out more often.

 

[i love cichlids]

i had these fish a while ago and they are very active and rough but as long as the barbs can look after themselves and dont nip the Jewels fins they should be right.
But they do grow up to 4inchs.
Good luck

 

[i love cichlids]

They are very agressive as i have just thought back and they killed some of my other fish so no not with barbs.
Sorry

 

[Xxzsdrklakdfj]

I would also agree that the Jewel cichlid is a fine addition to the aquarium. I have had a pair for about a good 3 years and they breed every once in awhile. I made like $75 dollars off several of my last batch and ended up giving more than half of them away for free. These fish are not one bit afraid to defend their territory when they have babies, no matter who they're defending it against. I have a 45 and when my jewels have babies their "territory" quickly spreads to the entire tank. But the Jewel is a good fish and i would recomend it. Just keep it with fish of equal agression.

 

[87gmc4x4]

well the jewels have been with the barbs for about 2 weeks now and they seem to fine.

 

[PunkRock050]

well the jewels have been with the barbs for about 2 weeks now and they seem to fine.

Yeah, just wait until they get older

I have a Pineapple sword tail with my South Africans right now. Theyve been doing great so far, but im pretty sure hes toast once the Cichlids get a little bit older.

 

[semper fi]

all depends. when i first started up our tank. actually my husband did it (can already feel cm's eyes rolling! ) i got the privilege of shoosing the inhabitants. picked out the fish like a car, the red one is pretty and the blue one.... later i got online and found out about the fish and found that the inhabitantas should not be getting along as well as they should. i think cause they were young when they started to live together, they learned to get along. i had tangs, malawi's, mbunas and americans all mixed together. when i seperated them, they adjusted. about a year later, had a problem with one of my fish and since i had no hospital tank available, put the healthy fish in with the others that they used to live with. and the battle was on. didn't even take an hour.

my inlaws have a 90 gallon built in and have mbuna with red devils. everyone gets along fine. but they were also young when they were introduced together. they do not know they are not supposed to get along. so who knows?

also should mention that i kept the tank at about 76-78 degrees. so maybe that had something to do with it also.

maggie