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Ok all you Cichlid experts!! I picked up 3 Firemouth Cichlids for my 20g community. Yes I know, the stockage is at max, or even a bit beyond. They are all under 2", more like 1" or so. Awesome looking fish, full of colour, very calm, peaceful, hanging near the bottom of my tank mainly...

My questions are with regard to care and feeding. They have eaten flakes that settle down past the Tiger Barbs and WCMMs.

I bought some Cichlid pellets, and these guys don't seem to notice them floating up above,a nd the TB's poke at em a bit but dont eat them that I have seen.

How can I get the Cichlids to eat them? Should I mess with that? Is it ok if they just eat on flakes, algae wafers and sinking shrimp pellets?

Thanks!

Firemouths are bottom feeders, primarily sand and gravel sifters, just like the geophagus, and they are supposed to feed from the bottom. They also appreciate the wormy foods associated with that feeding style, bloodworm, freeze dried tubifex, chopped shellfish like cockle and mussel.

Methinks you might have made a purchasing error, firemouths will be too big for a 20 gallon even without the other fish, and they dont stay peaceful for long. My experience of them, and I have four , and two related species, is that they are quarrelsome, and you cant trust them around small fish. One of my firemouths in particular is a born fighter, and he aggravates cichlids even bigger than he is with suicidal bravery. Sorry to have to tell you bud, they may be cichlid community, but theyre not general community, they bite the crap out of things that annoy them, and...well you have tiger barbs. Peaceful is only the young fish, when bigger they will rule that tank with a rod of iron. When you posted that someone else should try them, I thought then that perhaps you will have underestimated their abilities. Mine get into tussles with acaras, and my acaras are a hair away from being like convicts. In your tank thats like the angel of death. To put it into context I had to move a batch of fully adult (6 inch) SAE's away from them becuause they were biting patches off them.

As for balancing the diet, just try sinking pellets like hikari carnivore pellets and the hikari cichlid gold mini pellet, they sink and the firemouths will probably just swallow them down in one.

good thing I have the resources for more tankage then... It sounds like as they age, will need to watch closely and be prepared to move them into a larger more suitable environment...

I have read where they do well in a community tank, but I have learned to trust your judgement sir git... I have a 55g in the garage, looking for a place to be set up in my home. So, in the coming months I will be prepared....

Would they do well with Bolivian rams??

Might be a tad unfair to inflict them on rams, rams dont do well if hassled. Better off with smallish synos, plecs that hide for much of the day, doradids, sedentary things that dont set them off, or have a compatible cichlid community with even pairs of cichlasoma robertsi, and thoricthys passionis, with whom they congregate naturally.

I've also kept firemouths and would agree with Longhairedgits points. They can be REAL bullies and even to larger cichlids due to their cleverness and speed.

They go nuts for shrimp pellets as well.



The Amazon Nut...

Hey Scott, you forgot photos.

Here's some pics of the newbies!

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a new firemouth and one of albino tigers

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Aren't they little cuties?
They look quite a nice style of fish. Thanks Scott.

hiding in the wisteria... only one fish, one reflection from the side of the tank

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fm and a greenie! so far they are getting along... I am told that wont last!

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eyeballin' a snowflake!

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I didn't realise the green tiger barb was so nicely colored. Only a couple of things missing. Khuli loaches and corydoras. /:'

Youve been putting christmas snowflake stickers on your tanks havent you ? LOL

Aww cute little things arent they? No wonder you thought they were harmless, I guess you could be forgiven for that.LOL

ETA 2.5 months.. can someone do scot a ticker countdown?

lol, the snowflakes are my wife's idea, and YES the fm's are adorable... for now lol

You should've seen the Tiger Barbs shoaling around the snowflakes the first couple days they were on the glass... very entertaining!

ok, I took the firemouths back and got three beautiful dwarf neon rainbows... peace can be had by all!

Good goin Scott!

Well now you will just have to post more photos.