Any Suggestions?

[Jason213]

Ok, so i have a 29g long aquarium with a penguin 330 dual bio-wheel filter. I have one Geophagus Cichlid which is about 4.5 in, 1 mother marble molly, 3 (approx 4 months old) baby mollies, 3 Serepe Tetras and 1 common pleco. I would like to try and breed some fish in my tank, but the Chichlid goes after anything else besides what is in the tank! I do not want to get rid of my Cichlid, and i need some advice!
Thanks

 

[yvez9]

it's going to be hard breeding anything with the cichlid, except maybe the cichlid. They care for there fry.

Any fish that can fit in his mouth he will most likely eat. He's probably the dominant fish in the tank so if he decides heM's hungry for fry, i doubt the other fish will have a chance

 

[sylvia]

Once the mollies are old enough, they will breed. Whether the fry make it or not is another matter. However, I'm more concerned with the fact that your pleco's going to end up longer than your tank and that the geo will probably kill all the mollies as it matures.

 

[Jason213]

it's going to be hard breeding anything with the cichlid, except maybe the cichlid. They care for there fry

Ok, but that would mean having to put in at least 2 more geo's, I do not think my tank is large enough, is it? Any Breeders Out There?

 

[Mollybreeder]

I breed mollies and if you want them to survive get rid of that cichlid!!! Like some of the other people said he will eventually eat your other fish. If you really want your fry to live get a breeding net and get rid of that cichlid!!!

 

[Jason213]

Well the thing is, he is very gentile with the mollies, i could have sworn i saw him and the molly family working together to make a hill in the aquarium. When the Baby Mollies were smaller, he would chew up frozen brine shrimp and "toss" them to the babies so that they could eat the smaller pieces . It is only any NEW tank mates he is hostile to. This behavior intrigues me up to no end, it is very strange!

 

[Mollybreeder]

Well it sounds like he is protecting your tank mates from any new strangers you put into the tank. Maybe you will just have to leave them how they are and not add any more fish.

 

[sylvia]

I think he's going to one day turn around and decide mollies are lunch. Don't kid yourself, this fish isn't trying to protect its tankmates, its just territorial and is currently tolerant of its tankmates because it has grown up with them. How long this truce lasts is a different matter and I seriously doubt the mollies will still be alive in a few months time. If you want all your fish to live, you're going to have to decide between them and make some choices. I know how hard it can be but I don't think it's fair to play with lives like that if you can't be certain of the outcome.

 

[Jason213]

Well, despite what others have said, i have observed the cichlid with the other community fish... I have come to the conclusion that because these other fish do not claim terretory, the cichlid's terretory is not threatened, so he has nothing to complain about. I put 4 black mollies in the tank, which now 2 are getting a bigger, rounder belly! so let this be an example of another post i read, you can keep a cichlid in a community tank, just as long as there are no other cichlids to fight over terrertory... Thank you all for comments and suggestions, and soon i will be up to my ears in mollies!!!

 

[Raechal]

Well, despite what others have said, i have observed the cichlid with the other community fish... I have come to the conclusion that because these other fish do not claim terretory, the cichlid's terretory is not threatened, so he has nothing to complain about. I put 4 black mollies in the tank, which now 2 are getting a bigger, rounder belly! so let this be an example of another post i read, you can keep a cichlid in a community tank, just as long as there are no other cichlids to fight over terrertory... Thank you all for comments and suggestions, and soon i will be up to my ears in mollies!!!

Once your molly has fry the cichlid will eat them up. I have a 29 gallon and a dalmation molly. I figured I could leave her in the tank while she gave birth because all of my fish were peaceful community fish. I went off to work and came back and there was 7 fry. The rest had been eaten. I don't know how many she had because I was at work when she gave birth, but I know she had more than 7. Then my bumblebee catfish swam out with a fully rounded belly! He looked more pregnant than the molly. He had come out (which was rare in the daytime) to suck up all of the fry that he could catch (which was a whole bunch) Now I keep the 7 in a breeding net and just waiting another week or two to release them into the 29 gallon.

I think your cichlid will eat the adult mollies once he grows to an adult himself. IMO the best thing would be re-homing the cichlid to it's own tank or get rid of him. Or get rid of the mollies or get another tank for them.

 

[Jason213]

OK OK!!! Ive given in to all you who have instructed me to seperate the cichlid!, i baught a tank divider, and put both pregnant mollies on the smaller side, and the other fish on the larger side, this way when the fry are born, almost ALL of them have a chance to make it to adulthood.

 

[NinjaSmurf]

God, what are you going to do with all the molly fry when they're grown?

 

[lilfishie]

bewear common plec ca grow very large