Larger Fish For Community Tank

[jspen26]

they are some great pics of the bn's how large do they grow?
 
wish i had some tips on the clowns but im a novice at this point haha

 

[NickAu]

 
they are some great pics of the bn's how large do they grow?

5 or so inches.
 

 
wish i had some tips on the clowns but im a novice at this point haha

You need at least a 100 gallon tank,  Bigger is better, and you need to keep the water pristine with excellent filtration I have 2 3 tray canister filters or they get things like ICH.

 

[jspen26]

sounds like both are too big for my tank

 

[Zante]

 

It was mostly the other tankmates I think. Maybe discus being larger were more intimidating and the tank was well fed, so the predators had less of an incentive. Quite a few little discus were eaten though.
 
You should be fine with a single keyhole, but I still would advocate for getting a pair. You'd loose out on a lot of interaction and the fish would be a lot happier as a pair. Cichlids are social fish, and fare a lot better when they have company.

 
i would love to get a pair, im just worried about potentially being overrun with their fry as i dont think my tetras would be able to control the population and i only have the 1 tank to keep them in

 
I wouldn't worry too much about that, tetras are excellent predators, and if any fry should survive you shouldn't have difficulty giving them away. I'm sure shops will be more than willing to take a few off your hands.

 

[jspen26]

do you have any experience with keyholes in a similar setting (tank mates, size etc.)?
do i need to get them a cave to potentially breed in to make them feel comfortable to stop aggression or will they just find their own territory? just worried because my tetras and corys are so small compared to these

 

[Zante]

do you have any experience with keyholes in a similar setting (tank mates, size etc.)?
do i need to get them a cave to potentially breed in to make them feel comfortable to stop aggression or will they just find their own territory? just worried because my tetras and corys are so small compared to these

 
I had a pair with sterbai corys, rummynose tetras, bristlenoses, two pairs of discus and a few blue rams. They spawned a few times, on an amazon sword leaf usually, and never created any problems, except maybe trying a swipe at any tetra that got too close to the eggs. The fry never got to free swimming, but I wasn't too bothered, I wasn't actively trying to breed them, or I would have given them a place of their own.
 
I gave them away to a friend when I moved house and dismantled the tank because I decided the tank had become a bit too crowded. He successfully bred them in their own setup.
 
They were very peaceful, very much keeping to themselves and never competing with the rams or the discus. They tended to keep on the right side of the tank, but I doubt it was a question of territory, there simply was more plant cover on that side, the left side was more open. Had there been more than one pair they probably would have been more territorial, but they aren't squabblers like so many other cichlids.

 

[jspen26]

sounds like they should be good then ill have to do a bit if research and see if anywhere local has them. thanks alot for all the advice and answers zante. i know ive asked alot of questions haha

 

[Byron]

Just to pick up on the question you asked about cichlid fry surviving.  This largely depends upon the other fish species in the tank.  Cichlid parents are generally good (there are as always going to be exceptions), but they can only do so much.  During daylight they are active, and protection of the eggs and then the fry is generally successful.  If there are a lot of other species, this can overwhelm the cichlids; I saw this once when my female ram was shepherding her fry around the tank, and suddenly a group of 3-4 corys came upon them.  The fry were gone in seconds, as the ram had no chance of defending her offspring on more than one or two fronts simultaneously.
 
But it is during the darkness of night that most cichlids eggs or fry disappear, due to nocturnal fish.  The corys again are nocturnal, as are most loricariids, so they easily come upon a clutch of eggs or a shoal of "sleeping" fry, and it is game over within seconds.
 
On another point, I agree with Nick that substrate fish are best not mixed, like corys and loaches.
 
Byron.