Mis-identified Cichlids

[CaraC]

Hi. Ive been on this site for many months and just recently joined. I am very familiar with cycling tanks, and different diseases and have some years of fish keeping experience. However we are just now getting into cichlids and after much research deceided Africans our best choice for the water we have (hard, well water and 8.0 PH out of tap).
So we went to the store about 3 months ago and purchased all juvinlie(sp) cichlids we thought we all Africans as the store indicated. Now after researching for several months we have found that we may have 2 convicts (male female) and also 6 firemouths (cannot sex). In addition to; 2 Johanni, 3 aurautus, and 4 kennyi. I origianlly thought the convicts were johannis but since growing and the color changes Im positive its convicts.
#1 im pissed the store even mixed them...And mad that i didnt catch it faster.
#2 they have all been living together in a 65g tank soon to be housed in a 85g. Now after realizing what we have its in the best intrest of the fish to get them separated, however since still very young there hasnt been any deaths/disases/or stress...yet.
My Q is Can the firemouths and convicts live together? I have a 29g that will soon be empty as all the residents are moving to the 65g and the cichlids are moving to the 85g. We will put them there temporarily untill we can get another 55 or 75g. I just think they should be seperated. The convicts are always in the corner cuz the africans chase them out, and the firemouths are the most agressive b/c of their size, however they do not disturb the convicts (from what i can see). Any suggestions would be great, and experiences.

 

[parker313]

It would be dicey - if the cons decided to spawn, they could decimate the firemouths. However, it sounds like they are currently all in a worse situation. *I* would go ahead and move them into the 29g and be working hard to get the 55 or 75g. To me, the 29g, while not ideal, sounds like a better idea than their current setup.

 

[CaraC]

Thanks and yes i agree 29g way tooooo small. We plan on getting it within next couple months. As it stands now the firemouths are about 2 inches wide and 3-4" long. The convicts are about 2' long and starting to get their colors. Thanks for opinion.

 

[ox5477]

the 29 is the best option for now Though you are correct and knowing that they need a bigger tank to stay with the fm's.

Its not suprising that the cons are getting their butt kicked by the africans as africans tend to be much more aggressive than any new world cichlids, but it is kind of suprising that the fms arn't being harrassed as fms are usually pretty docile as cichlids go.

good luck getting them the new tank and for future, don't go back to that lfs for fish.... apparanetly like a lot of lfs' (which is a shame) they don't know how to tell fish apart