Aquired Firemouths, And I Would Love Advice

[never-hadfish]

hey everyone, i have never had fish of any kind before so dont laugh at my question. So i was givin a Pleco, male firemouth, and a smaller female firemouth. (I figured this out from online research) anyway they were being kept in a ten gallon. The female FM is around 1 1/2 yrs old and is small. Only about 2". My questions are, is this normal? Is it because of the limited space she had? And now that she is in a bigger tank, will she get bigger or no?

 

[Munroco]

What size of tank are you planning on keeping them in?

 

[DrRob]

Can be normal, they're a fair bit smaller than the males, although there's still a fair amount of growing time for her.
 
They're relatively easy to breed if they're in good water with good room, but they're very protective. A good sized pleco would be a major culprit for an egg thief as well, which is a potential source for trouble if they do.
 
What set up have got upgraded them to? A good male will get quite large and if it's a common pleco then they're monsters.

 

[never-hadfish]

Hi, im keepin them in a 30 gallon long now. Ive made rock hideouts and caves for them, and they seem happy. The pleco is a bristlenose of some sort. The male cichlid chases and bites the female and pleco. The female bites and chases the pleco, so now the pleco is in the ten gal, and the cichlids are in the 30gal with a divider. I did not expect all this...

 

[the_lock_man]

Firemouths aren't usually aggressive unless they are breeding - which is quite a common thing for them to do.