Dither Fish

[b0668099]

Ok you seem to be leaning towards these green tiger barbs.

from personal experience (regretably) this doesnt work. (three got eaten before they were moved to a new home......this was in the space of about 20 mins.) I dont own a salvini but from what i understand they are hard ween off live food in the first place so putting small fish in a tank with one is not really going to work.

i think sometime some people are a bit touchy about keeping american cichlids together, but in this case a salvini is probably not a good idea. But i am sure there is someone out there who has made a similar set up work, but remember each fish is different. My GT is harmless, but the GT at my LFS is so aggressive you cant go near the tank without it attacking the glass.

 

[Confish]

Ok you seem to be leaning towards these green tiger barbs.

from personal experience (regretably) this doesnt work. (three got eaten before they were moved to a new home......this was in the space of about 20 mins.) I dont own a salvini but from what i understand they are hard ween off live food in the first place so putting small fish in a tank with one is not really going to work.

i think sometime some people are a bit touchy about keeping american cichlids together, but in this case a salvini is probably not a good idea. But i am sure there is someone out there who has made a similar set up work, but remember each fish is different. My GT is harmless, but the GT at my LFS is so aggressive you cant go near the tank without it attacking the glass.

ye i think i wont go with green barbs then what fish did you keep them with?

 

[b0668099]

Ok you seem to be leaning towards these green tiger barbs.

from personal experience (regretably) this doesnt work. (three got eaten before they were moved to a new home......this was in the space of about 20 mins.) I dont own a salvini but from what i understand they are hard ween off live food in the first place so putting small fish in a tank with one is not really going to work.

i think sometime some people are a bit touchy about keeping american cichlids together, but in this case a salvini is probably not a good idea. But i am sure there is someone out there who has made a similar set up work, but remember each fish is different. My GT is harmless, but the GT at my LFS is so aggressive you cant go near the tank without it attacking the glass.

ye i think i wont go with green barbs then what fish did you keep them with?

Gt, Jd and a convict did the damage. You could go the other way and stock around the tiger barbs. rainbow cichlids and barbs seem to be ok in my experience.

 

[Confish]

Ok you seem to be leaning towards these green tiger barbs.

from personal experience (regretably) this doesnt work. (three got eaten before they were moved to a new home......this was in the space of about 20 mins.) I dont own a salvini but from what i understand they are hard ween off live food in the first place so putting small fish in a tank with one is not really going to work.

i think sometime some people are a bit touchy about keeping american cichlids together, but in this case a salvini is probably not a good idea. But i am sure there is someone out there who has made a similar set up work, but remember each fish is different. My GT is harmless, but the GT at my LFS is so aggressive you cant go near the tank without it attacking the glass.

ye i think i wont go with green barbs then what fish did you keep them with?

Gt, Jd and a convict did the damage. You could go the other way and stock around the tiger barbs. rainbow cichlids and barbs seem to be ok in my experience.

how big was your tank when you had gt, jd and cons? and nah i want to stock around my convicts. really like any aggressive cichlid like firemouth jewel salvini jd gt texas what would go well together in a 55 uk g ?

 

[River Dog]

You cannot dismiss out of hand that you can't use swordtails or Tiger barbs as dithers. I know a lot of people who have used green swordtails as dithers for a lot of Central American Cichlids very successfully. Salvini are pretty aggressive, but it can be done. There is a chance that they could be eaten, but this is not always the case. But I will stress that this is in a much bigger tank than a 55 gallon. Rainbows are also used by C/A owners too, as they are well suited to the harder water required for C/A's.

 

[M.R Otter]

why not silver dollars......... if not there is a lot more fishes out there that are more suitable as dithers than green tiger barbs or swordtails, these fishes might get eatin.

 

[Confish]

why not silver dollars......... if not there is a lot more fishes out there that are more suitable as dithers than green tiger barbs or swordtails, these fishes might get eatin.

ye i like the look of silver dollars but they are quite big and what type of rainbow would you suggest?

 

[~T~]

You cannot dismiss out of hand that you can't use swordtails or Tiger barbs as dithers. I know a lot of people who have used green swordtails as dithers for a lot of Central American Cichlids very successfully. Salvini are pretty aggressive, but it can be done. There is a chance that they could be eaten, but this is not always the case. But I will stress that this is in a much bigger tank than a 55 gallon. Rainbows are also used by C/A owners too, as they are well suited to the harder water required for C/A's.

Actually once salvini get to a decent size if they have not bullied the swords to death then they will eat them. Even larger schoolers like siler dollars are not safe.

 

[River Dog]

I don't necessarily agree. It could happen yes. But very often cichlids like Salvini do not see the small dithers as a threat, and if they have all grown up together they often don't see them as food either. I have used Rainbows as dithers in the past and they have been too quick for the cichlids to get hold of. I am not saying this should be done, I am just giving my answers from my experience. Plus I have a community tank that the Rainbows could have been moved to if needed.

 

[b0668099]

Ok you seem to be leaning towards these green tiger barbs.

from personal experience (regretably) this doesnt work. (three got eaten before they were moved to a new home......this was in the space of about 20 mins.) I dont own a salvini but from what i understand they are hard ween off live food in the first place so putting small fish in a tank with one is not really going to work.

i think sometime some people are a bit touchy about keeping american cichlids together, but in this case a salvini is probably not a good idea. But i am sure there is someone out there who has made a similar set up work, but remember each fish is different. My GT is harmless, but the GT at my LFS is so aggressive you cant go near the tank without it attacking the glass.

ye i think i wont go with green barbs then what fish did you keep them with?

Gt, Jd and a convict did the damage. You could go the other way and stock around the tiger barbs. rainbow cichlids and barbs seem to be ok in my experience.

how big was your tank when you had gt, jd and cons? and nah i want to stock around my convicts. really like any aggressive cichlid like firemouth jewel salvini jd gt texas what would go well together in a 55 uk g ?

My tank is as follows, 6 inch firemouth, 5 inch male convict 5 inch male jd, 4 inch rainbow cichlid, 4 inch GT, 3 inch female jd, (will have to get rid soon). 4x pakistani loach, 4 X clown loach. and a 6 inch plec. I have a 5 ft by 2ft X 1.5ft tank. and to be honest i am looking for a new home for my Jds and possibly the rainbow as its a little crowded in there. ( i love all the others too much)

Now dont let me fool you into thinking they all get along fine. They are hard work and will only get worse and i now cant add new fish to the tank as they just get bullied relentlessly and i end up taking them back.
How big is uk 55g (inch wise) as i recon its best to be long and fat rather than tall as they all need some territory. Also its difficult to say what beed go with which as its more down to the individual fish. What i do when i buy new fish is ask if its ok if i take it back for refund if it isnt doing well, most places seem to be ok with this.

 

[Confish]

I don't necessarily agree. It could happen yes. But very often cichlids like Salvini do not see the small dithers as a threat, and if they have all grown up together they often don't see them as food either. I have used Rainbows as dithers in the past and they have been too quick for the cichlids to get hold of. I am not saying this should be done, I am just giving my answers from my experience. Plus I have a community tank that the Rainbows could have been moved to if needed.

what type of rainbow fish do you use? a sengal birch would be ok with a salvini also are hte female ones more colourful and less aggressive ?

 

[River Dog]

I have used blue rainbows, but you can use red or bosemans rainbow. The female Salvini has a red belly and is quiet colourful, but I have not found females any less aggressive than the males. A lot of the aggression depends on territory, in a large enough tank a Salvini isn't that much more aggressive than a lot of other C/A cichlids. You will have to take advice off of somebody else concerning the bircher, as I have never kept one, so therefore never had the need to compare compatibility.

 

[Confish]

I have used blue rainbows, but you can use red or bosemans rainbow. The female Salvini has a red belly and is quiet colourful, but I have not found females any less aggressive than the males. A lot of the aggression depends on territory, in a large enough tank a Salvini isn't that much more aggressive than a lot of other C/A cichlids. You will have to take advice off of somebody else concerning the bircher, as I have never kept one, so therefore never had the need to compare compatibility.

so would this stocking sound good to you

salvini
jewel
convict
senegal
bluecray
shoal of rainbows ( how many ) ?

cheers for all your help in my threads

 

[~T~]

I have used blue rainbows, but you can use red or bosemans rainbow. The female Salvini has a red belly and is quiet colourful, but I have not found females any less aggressive than the males. A lot of the aggression depends on territory, in a large enough tank a Salvini isn't that much more aggressive than a lot of other C/A cichlids. You will have to take advice off of somebody else concerning the bircher, as I have never kept one, so therefore never had the need to compare compatibility.

so would this stocking sound good to you

salvini
jewel
convict
senegal
bluecray
shoal of rainbows ( how many ) ?

cheers for all your help in my threads

I think you will have trouble trying to keep 3 very aggressive cichlids together nevermind having them attack the rainbows. The cray probably wont last long as it will be seen as food by the salvini and/or bichir.

 

[Confish]

I have used blue rainbows, but you can use red or bosemans rainbow. The female Salvini has a red belly and is quiet colourful, but I have not found females any less aggressive than the males. A lot of the aggression depends on territory, in a large enough tank a Salvini isn't that much more aggressive than a lot of other C/A cichlids. You will have to take advice off of somebody else concerning the bircher, as I have never kept one, so therefore never had the need to compare compatibility.

so would this stocking sound good to you

salvini
jewel
convict
senegal
bluecray
shoal of rainbows ( how many ) ?

cheers for all your help in my threads

I think you will have trouble trying to keep 3 very aggressive cichlids together nevermind having them attack the rainbows. The cray probably wont last long as it will be seen as food by the salvini and/or bichir.

river dog said it could work id have them at a young age together and get the cray as an adult as ive had him with convicts before and river dog also said rainbows why what dither would you suggest?