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For a while now I have had problems of trying to get my fish out of hiding and after many atempts of adding other fish to encourage them out It backfires and my ditherfish start hiding as well.

So what works best for you?

The Dither fish I need must be above 7cm long so they don't become lunch to my Reclusive Cichlids.

I'm thinking about the same thing too.
I have a breeding pair of convict in my 55G, and I don't want any aggression between the pair.
At the moment, I have a large Blue acara (twice the size of the cons) and 3 bronze cory cat with them.
Not sure if this is the best idea. Any other suggestions?

Heard people suggest tiger barbs, but they might nip away the babies. BABIES

Are these Central American Cichlids?

Premier choices of dither fish for these are:

[1] Astyanax mexicanus - they live alongside CA Cichlids in the wild. They also grow too big for Convicts and Dempseys to eat, and are even tough enough to survive alongside big Guapotes and Green Terrors. Only trouble is they are piratical egg thieves in the wild, using sheer force of numbers to attack Cichlid fry if the parents drop their guard. A group of 6 however won't pose much threat, but will still be sufficiently effective dither fish to keep the Cichlids from beating each other up;

[2] Buenos Aires Tetras. Again, tough enough to stand life alongside Convicts and Dempseys. Might be a tad too small to live with big Guapotes, but certainly capable of looking after themselves with all but the most psychotic of big CA Cichlids;

[3] Belonesox belizanus livebearers. Pike Livebearers also live alongside CA Cichlids in the wild, and again are tough enough to live with the bad tempers and fractiousness of the nastier Cichlids. Again, too big to be food for anything short of a dovii, but have the disasdvantage that they need live food themselves, and bigger ones need live fishes;

[4] Leporinus species. These characoids are tough bruisers, and at a foot long fully grown will be well capable of living alongside Guapotes (the big Leporinus frederci, which hits 20 inches, will even survive alongside dovii). Capable of biting back if the Cichlids cut up rough with them! Remember to feed these fishes celery tops or other vegetable matter as part of their diet. Also, keep them covered, because Leporinus are basically ICBMs with fins, and will launch themselves skywards with frightening speed and agility!

Hope this little selection proves useful!


Last edited by Calilasseia at 23-Oct-2005 21:13

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002