New Tank

[noop]

Hi

I've got a well-established 110 litre (30 gal) community tank, and I've just bought a new 180 litre (50 gal) tank.

My initial plan was to move my community into the larger tank, mainly because my clown loaches are outgrowing the smaller tank. I was going to sell the old tank but then realised that - obviously - I should hang onto it and put more fish in it...

Having never kept cichlids I got excited about getting some in. I prefer the look of the new world cichlids to the africans but with a 110 litre tank I'd be a bit limited as to what I could get. Was thinking about maybe a coupla firemouths and a catfish/pleco.

But then I thought maybe my clown loaches could share the bigger tank with some cichlids. I have 3 clowns - biggest is 5-6", smallest is about 4".

My clown loaches are very dear to me, I'd hate for anything bad to happen to them, so I was wondering if you guys could advise me as to how safe they'd be with new world cichlids (eg firemouths, or an oscar). I'm thinking my smallest clown might make a tasty snack for an oscar after the oscar has had a year's growth or so...

cheers
noop

 

[shelaghfishface]

hia, i have both oscars and clown loaches, but i wouldnt put them in the same tank, the clowns are way too inquisitive and would pee the oscars right off

i may be wrong tho ,but from what i see of my clown loaches they bother anything they can,and as they are very easilly stressed and very gentile fish and i dont think they would be able to notice when they are really pushing their luck,so would IMO get battered
and also your tank isnt big enough for an oscar anyway,i have a 250 litre and they will need an upgrade from that in the not to distant future, tho im not sure about the firemouths,having never kept them..

there is a user called nelly on here, keeping both oscars and cichlids, maybe you should pm him/her before you make any decisions, he/she helped me out no end, and im sure will be only too happy to do the same for you

but im my opinion i would defo keep the clowns with your community fish, after all, if it aint broke dont fix it

shelagh xxx

 

[emmsy]

Hiya mate,
I also have 3 clown loaches in a tank full of all different cichlids, and have had no problems at all.

All should be good.

 

[shroob]

Yeah, I've seen CL with NW cichlids before and nothing seemed wrong. Though what I would do is avoid pairs if you wan't your CL to be safer.
How many cichlids do you want in the new tank? I would personally go with 2, say a firemouth and a blue acara they are normally peaceful, though every fish is different, but I would have thought they are pretty safe bets.

 

[noop]

thanks people for the (conflicting) advice

shelagh - you're right about the oscar of course. i'd love to get one but i know they need a bigger tank (even though the guy at the lfs insisted one would be just fine in my smaller tank). and you're probably right about not taking a risk with fish i've grown attached to...

emmsy - how big are your clown loaches? and do you have any breeding pairs of cichlids in there?

shroob - not too bothered about numbers of cichlids, but i guess i want them to be as big and 'interesting' as possible for my tank size

i'm still unsure whether to put the cichlids in the 50g or the 30g... i think i'd be quite happy putting them in the 30g - i'd love to have a breeding pair and it looks like that might be a bad idea if my clown loaches are around. howabout a pair of firemouths, plus a catfish and/or a plecostamus, in the 30g? would that be ok? is there anything else that would go in there without problems?

cheers
noop

 

[shroob]

Tankmates depend on the dimensions of the tank, which would vary quite abit between the 30 and 50 gallon, so suggestions would be based upon which tank you go with.

If you go with the 30 then I would suggest only 1 breeding pair of fish (though this has its problems, what to do with the fry? The aggression issues?). If you do have a breeding pair, I wouldn't have tankmates simply because the parents will be protecting the fry and beat on other fish in the tank, also the pictus would most likely eat most of them. If you are wanting fry, then you have to think about what you are going to do with them, to raise them you will need another tank to grow them on until they are a suitable size for a petshop or person will want to buy them.

 

[noop]

...what to do with the fry? ...the pictus would most likely eat most of them

heh heh, you answered your own question

i have read that catfish (eg synodontis) can look after themselves as far as cichlids are concerned. and there would be bogwood for the pleco to hide under

if the lfs was interested in taking the fry i'd sell them, else hopefully the catfish would eat them. i understand firemouth fry are not too hard to sell. i'll have to check it out

...i'd like a breeding pair purely for the breeding behaviour, not for the fry. i do feel bad about it though... are single cichlids still interesting if they're not coupled up? if so, what kind of interesting combos could i have in my 30g? (it's 30x18x14 inches)

 

[shroob]

Ah ok, well if you don't mind that then that would be fine I would have thought. Though I would change your choice of catfish, pictus like to be in groups, maybe a spotted raphael catfish (grows to about 5" so should be fine).

Be prepared for the 'one that got away' though, but I would have thought that the catfish would take care of them, sometimes the parents will eat the fry if they are ready to spawn again.

EDIT: Whats the dimensions for the 30g just out of interest?

EDIT Again: I see you put more info on your post, I'm assuming the tank is 14" wide, which is pretty deep for a 30" long tank, I suppose you could do 2 individual medium sized cichlids, there's quite abit to choose from and you don't have to be restricted to the 'normal' fish if you want something different, you could do some not so common fish if you could find them, like T. ellioti if you like FM.
Cichlids are interesting even if they arn't paired, they still interact with each other, and if you don't have a pair you can go for 2 different species , you could even do a biotope tank if you wanted.

 

[noop]

...you could do 2 individual medium sized cichlids, there's quite abit to choose from and you don't have to be restricted to the 'normal' fish if you want something different, you could do some not so common fish if you could find them, like T. ellioti if you like FM

ellioti looks interesting, less aggressive than the firemouth and smaller territory, so the catfish and pleco would be at less of a risk

i did really like the look of the electric blue hab but then i read that they would outgrow the tank. something colourful would be nice

 

[shelaghfishface]

yeah noop, i would be devastaded( understatment) if anything happened to my clown loaches, mine are about the 5inch mark and 2 slightly smaller, but i wouldnt do anything to risk them, they are a firm fave of mine

 

[noop]

yeah noop, i would be devastaded( understatment) if anything happened to my clown loaches, mine are about the 5inch mark and 2 slightly smaller, but i wouldnt do anything to risk them, they are a firm fave of mine

yesterday i was looking at the big clown loach in my tank and wishing i could take him out and play with him. so cute

so shroob do you think i could get away with a firemouth and a blue acara in a 30g tank? i thought blue acaras got a bit too big

 

[ox5477]

I think we should point out the fact that they clown loaches are going to grow double their current size as well... So you will need a bigger tank than 50G when they are full grown....

They should be fine with the cichlids. I actually have 6 khuli loaches in with an adult male JD (~8") and 2 juve green sevs (~2") and none of the fish pay them any attention. I thought that when I put the JD in with the loaches, they would be gone after one night, but I think my JD is actually afraid of the loaches as when they come near, he flairs up and backs up to allow them to pass through. The only tank inhabitant who I think finds them annoying is my pleco because they are always trying to burron under her for protection and I'm sure feeling 6 wrigglers underneath you has got be a weird feeling

 

[shroob]

yeah noop, i would be devastaded( understatment) if anything happened to my clown loaches, mine are about the 5inch mark and 2 slightly smaller, but i wouldnt do anything to risk them, they are a firm fave of mine

yesterday i was looking at the big clown loach in my tank and wishing i could take him out and play with him. so cute

so shroob do you think i could get away with a firemouth and a blue acara in a 30g tank? i thought blue acaras got a bit too big

I think you could, the tank has a reasonable footprint. Most blue acara's max out at 6", I personally havn't seen one over this size (but please correct me if I'm wrong someone). One thing to make sure of is that you do actually get a blue acara. Green terrors (the gold saum type) are often mis-sold as blue acaras and are hard to tell apart as juvi's. These have a totally different attitude and maximum size.