Looking For A Calm Medium/large Sized Cichlid

[RipSlider]

Hello,

I'm setting up a large community tank of 600l, and it's going to be am "amazon" type set up, with soft water, lots of plants, bogwood etc.

I'm wondering what my centre-piece fish should be, and am wondering if there are any medium/large cichlids that I could keep a pair of that would be calm enough to keep safely in a mixed community tank, with fish ranging from neon tetra's all the way to congo tetra's in size.

I was thinking of altum angels, but was wondering if there were any other options available to me?

Does anyone have any ideas?
Steve

 

[Nix]

Well, I'd say altum angels are more likley to eat neons, however you could have success keeping other kinds of angels with neons, this can vary though, some will, some won't. Really seems to depend on the angels themselves.

 

[SamUK]

id go with angel fish.


get the angels quite small and you should be fine.


plus with all that space the neons have plents of place to hide.

 

[Katchan]

a 600L tank is a lot of room you could also try instead of or with angels, festivums and/or keyholes

Festivum - goes well with angels
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=68502


Keyholes
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=65964

see here for good keyhole pic


HTH

KC

 

[saboy]

I would go with festivums and keyholes, they should also readily breed for you.

 

[jayjay]

btw you said amazon fish correct? then you said congo tetra? which are african fish?

anyway i wouldn't go with angels there is a good chance when the are fully grown they will eat neons. but if you didn't have anything to small like neon size you could try discus (well that's what i would do)

 

[BRANDX]

Man, Sounds like a spectacular tank!!! But, the advice usually seems to stem around all the cool looking fish...angels, things with really bright colors, or decent size, can't usually go with well, uh, anything else interesting.
But, Katchan, and JayJay have given me great advice before. I'd listen to 'em. But, although I can't recommend anything to you. Just want you to know somebody out here is rooting for your tank. Good Luck!!

Ciao,

 

[wesleydnunder]

I've found Uaru's and severums to be pretty mellow and I think they'd look good in that big ol' tank.

Mark

 

[jayjay]

yeah i'd back severum's on the fact that they are really peaceful but doubt they can be kept with neons, i think a severum may eat a neon just look at the size difference.

 

[basia]

I've got keyholes and would recommend them. They are not the most colourful of fish but they have real character and are peaceful with their tank mates.

 

[vancouver]

Festivums are awesome. Mine can get a little aggressive towards each other at times, fighting for dominance, but they don't bother my smaller fish. Keyholes stay pretty small, and are really neat fish. Good tankmates with festivum too. I just set up a tank for my festivum, keyholes, and silver dollars

Severums can be iffy.. 1 of my 3'' severums decided to eat one of my 1.5'' giant danios, so I wouldn't try severums with small tetras. Severums might also want to eat and dig up your plants.

Angels are even more iffy.. their personality varies soo much from fish to fish it's really hard to say if they will or wont be ok.


When you're talking about a pair, are you talking about a male/female breeding pair, or just 2 of the same species?

 

[someguy]

Uaru's are peaceful and vegetarian but eat plants. We had a planted tank before our uaru . Keyholes are great but need cover to feel safe and by themselves they can be a little withdrawn. Both the uaru and the keyholes are in a tank with tetras and haven't eaten them so far. The uaru isn't fully grown however and I don't entirely trust the keyholes.

Have you considered a Geophagus? We have I think a s . jurupari and it is a beautiful placid fish. The only thing is it needs to be kept on very fine gravel, preferably sand. They take mouthfuls of sand swoosh it round their mouths and spit it out through or behind their gills, not sure precisely. Very impressive to watch. They don't bother plants.

Geophagus surinamensis are also reportedly calm, we're planning to get one soon . They look dull when juveniles but are one of the most truly beautiful cichlids I've ever seen. They also need sand though.

 

[vancouver]

Jurupari are quite cool yea.. I have gravel, and they still suck up the gravel and spit it out.

 

[Rust]

Jurupari are quite cool yea.. I have gravel, and they still suck up the gravel and spit it out.

id stay away from severums and uarus as i have both, and they REALLY like to eat my small plants. my severums are 7" and eat platies with no problem. so i would say no as they will hit 12" in size and eat every thing people have said. but if you were to go with say cardinal tetras rather than neons, cardinals get bigger but look the sameish, and are ok with angles, discus, keyhole cichlids and rams. hope this helps.

Rust

 

[diburning]

cross off the word cichlid and you have your answer lol.

Severums may be "gentle" giants, but mine eat feeders...