Recently aquired a tank full of cichlids that's meant for an older community to move into. Who goes and who stays?

I recently bought a 125 gallon as part of an expansion project for my 55 medium-sized community, but it came with a bunch of cichlids and I need help in choosing what I should rehome (I've found an LFS that will take them).

To give some idea, the 55 gallon dwellers are 4 clown loaches, 1 bristlenose pleco and 1 rainbow shark, 2 upside catfish, 1 giant danio and 2 Australian rainbowfish (yes I'm aware the latter three species need more of their kind, part of the reason for the expansion along with the loaches getting too big).

The cichlids are 2 red devils, 2 green terrors, 2 blood parrots, 2 yellow tail aceis and 1 severum (and another bristlenose but that's obviously a safe one).

I already know right off the bat that the devils and terrors are a no-go, likely the blood parrots too and probably the severum. I'd like to keep the aceis but I want to try live plants (driftwood-rooted and free-floating ones since I know the clown loaches are already disruptive) and I've read that aceis are herbivores that tend to eat plants so I'm not sure if it'd be worth a shot.

All that said though, I'm open to thoughts and suggestions.

Get rid of the red devils, green terrors and parrots, like you were going to.

Put the acei and rainbowfish in the 55 gallon tank and raise the pH and GH for them. Make sure the rainbowfish get plenty of plant matter in their diet.

Put the remaining fish in the 125 gallon tank. The severum will be fine in the big tank with the other fishes.

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LIGHTING TIMES
Most aquarium plants like a bit of light and if you only have the light on for a couple of hours a day, they struggle. If the light doesn't have a high enough wattage they also struggle. Try having the tank lights on for 10-12 hours a day.

If you get lots of green algae then reduce the light by an hour a day and monitor the algae over the next 2 weeks.
If you don't get any green algae on the glass then increase the lighting period by an hour and monitor it.
If you get a small amount of algae then the lighting time is about right.

Some plants will close their leaves up when they have had sufficient light. Ambulia, Hygrophilas and a few others close their top set of leaves first, then the next set and so on down the stem. When you see this happening, wait an hour after the leaves have closed up against the stem and then turn lights off.

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LIST OF PLANTS TO TRY
Some good plants to try include Ambulia, Hygrophila polysperma, H. ruba/ rubra, Elodia (during summer, but don't buy it in winter because it falls apart), Hydrilla, common Amazon sword plant, narrow or twisted/ spiral Vallis, Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta).

The Water Sprite normally floats on the surface but can also be planted in the substrate. The other plants should be planted in the gravel.

Ambulia, H. polysperma, Elodia/ Hydrilla and Vallis are tall plants that do well along the back. Rotala macranda is a medium/ tallish red plant that usually does well.

H. ruba/ rubra is a medium height plant that looks good on the sides of the tank.

Cryptocorynes are small/ medium plants that are taller than pygmy chain swords but shorter than H. rubra. They also come in a range of colours, mostly different shades of green, brown or purplish red.

Most Amazon sword plants can get pretty big and are usually kept in the middle of the tank as a show piece. There is an Ozelot sword plant that has brown spots on green leaves, and a red ruffle sword plant (name may vary depending on where you live) with deep red leaves.

There is a pygmy chain sword plant that is small and does well in the front of the tank.

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IRON BASED PLANT FERTILISER
If you add an iron based aquarium plant fertiliser, it will help most aquarium plants do well. The liquid iron based aquarium plant fertilisers tend to be better than the tablet forms, although you can push the tablets under the roots of plants and that works well.

You use an iron (Fe) test kit to monitor iron levels and keep them at 1mg/l (1ppm).

I used Sera Florena liquid plant fertiliser but there are other brands too.


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CARBON DIOXIDE (CO2)
There is no point adding carbon dioxide (CO2) until you have the lights and nutrients worked out. Even then you don't need CO2 unless the tank is full of plants and only has a few small fish in.

There is plenty of CO2 in the average aquarium and it is produced by the fish and filter bacteria all day, every day. The plants also release CO2 at night when it is dark. And more CO2 gets into the tank from the atmosphere.

Don't use liquid CO2 supplements because they are made from toxic substances that harm fish, shrimp and snails.

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TURNING LIGHTS ON AND OFF
Stress from tank lights coming on when the room is dark can be an issue. Fish don't have eyelids and don't tolerate going from complete dark to bright light (or vice versa) instantly.

In the morning open the curtains or turn the room light on at least 30 minutes (or more) before turning the tank light on. This will reduce the stress on the fish and they won't go from a dark tank to a bright tank instantly.

At night turn the room light on and then turn the tank light off. Wait at least 30 minutes (or more) before turning the room light out. This allows the fish to settle down for the night instead of going from a brightly lit tank to complete darkness instantly.
Try to have the lights on at the same time each day.

There's a bit of a problem, just talked to my folks and they gave a flat no on keeping the 55 running after the fish have fully moved out of it so, yeah... Also one of the Australian rainbows is already looking on its way out (constantly swimming always vertically) so I don't think they could/should be rehomed.

It'd be nice to keep the severum at least but I'll have to watch it closely when it's introduced to live plants.

Get rid of the ones that you said you'd get rid of, the severum might be ok but I'm not an expert on cichlids. You might want to keep an eye on the schooling fish and maybe pick out some more of them. Probably the reason why the rainbow is swimming like that is that is stressed. Maybe picking up some friends for it will help. I'm not sure, I'm no expert, I'm just sharing ideas

Fish don't swim weirdly if they are stressed. If you can post a short video and some pictures of the rainbowfish, I will have a look at it.

Monitor the rainbowfish and see if it sinks or floats when it stops swimming.

How long has it been swimming on an angle?
Does it still eat well?
What does its poop look like?

Colin_T said:

Fish don't swim weirdly if they are stressed. If you can post a short video and some pictures of the rainbowfish, I will have a look at it.

Monitor the rainbowfish and see if it sinks or floats when it stops swimming.

How long has it been swimming on an angle?
Does it still eat well?
What does its poop look like?

Click to expand...

Tried to get a video but I'm having trouble uploading it. But I've got some pics though.

Another one showing how tilted his angle is compared to my other rainbow.

Seems to eat fine but haven't seen him poop. The movement is a constant jerking of the body from side to side, and he seems to have trouble maintaining position (i.e. stay up and not sink down). Been almost a month since he started acting like this.

Out of the cichlids you mentioned the blood parrot may be ok to keep as long as the other fish aren't small enough to eat. They usually get along with variety of fish... but only issue is they do have their own personality....some will get along with anything but others may take a dislike to a certain fish... and they all seem to love food...well at least mine do. That's when i notice the cichlid aggression comes out or if they breeding.... Also because of their mouth they don't seem to be able to do much damage if they do get into a fight with other fish... I have 2 blood parrots and as a 1st cichlid owner (not counting the angel fish from my past) im happy with them. They greet me whenever I come into the room. They eat out of my hands (and seems to prefer that over food just floating in the water) from my research they can hold their own with the aggressive cichlids but also can be good roommates with community fish (that's bigger then their mouth) like tiger barbs...giant rainbows.

Ladykelly said:

Out of the cichlids you mentioned the blood parrot may be ok to keep as long as the other fish aren't small enough to eat. They usually get along with variety of fish... but only issue is they do have their own personality....some will get along with anything but others may take a dislike to a certain fish... and they all seem to love food...well at least mine do. That's when i notice the cichlid aggression comes out or if they breeding.... Also because of their mouth they don't seem to be able to do much damage if they do get into a fight with other fish... I have 2 blood parrots and as a 1st cichlid owner (not counting the angel fish from my past) im happy with them. They greet me whenever I come into the room. They eat out of my hands (and seems to prefer that over food just floating in the water) from my research they can hold their own with the aggressive cichlids but also can be good roommates with community fish (that's bigger then their mouth) like tiger barbs...giant rainbows.

Click to expand...

A rainbowfish I'd suggest would be the bosemani. Such vibrant colours will come to life given the right conditions.

Ladykelly said:

Out of the cichlids you mentioned the blood parrot may be ok to keep as long as the other fish aren't small enough to eat. They usually get along with variety of fish... but only issue is they do have their own personality....some will get along with anything but others may take a dislike to a certain fish... and they all seem to love food...well at least mine do. That's when i notice the cichlid aggression comes out or if they breeding.... Also because of their mouth they don't seem to be able to do much damage if they do get into a fight with other fish... I have 2 blood parrots and as a 1st cichlid owner (not counting the angel fish from my past) im happy with them. They greet me whenever I come into the room. They eat out of my hands (and seems to prefer that over food just floating in the water) from my research they can hold their own with the aggressive cichlids but also can be good roommates with community fish (that's bigger then their mouth) like tiger barbs...giant rainbows.

Click to expand...

Severely doubt the 55 gal fish are small enough to be threatened (everything's giant danio sized and up), but the issue is more about how disruptive they'd potentially be to live plants. Already know that substrate-planted species will probably be a disaster with the clown loaches alone unless I try to get crafty with rock placements.

It's also a similar reason to why I don't think I can keep the aceis. Even without the water parameter thing I've read that they are obligate herbivores and will potentially munch through conventionally unappetizing specimens like Java fern. It's a shame though because out of the fish that came with this tank they're the ones I'd wish to keep the most.

I'm still dead certain on the red devils (one of them has already taken over from the move and the other's left cowering in the corner) and green terrors though. No way either of them will work out for a multitude of reasons.

Bringing back this thread instead of making a new one, but what would you folks say is the value of the cichlids between the red devils, green terrors, severum and YTAs? As a last resort I'll drop them off at Aquarium Adventure, but if possible I'd like to see if I could get a little cash for them seeing as they're full-grown fish and I'm going to be spending a lot of money renovating the tank as it is.