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Would is everyone's opinion on the perfect cichlid, south or central american, for a 3 foot (38 gallon) tank?

I would go with either Rams or Angels.

Would a pair of blue acaras work in that tank, I think they are cool but don't know much about them.

I think Acaras MIGHT be too big for a 38. I would recommend a pair of Rams or a single Angelfish.

starts chanting *keyholes* *keyholes* *keyholes!*

Or, how about a convict?

Blue acaras, firemouths, or convicts. I take it your just looking for a pair?/ species tank?

cfd

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Billy was a scientist, Billy is no more. For what he thought was H20, was H2SO4

Yeah, I want a pair of cichlids and maybe a small school of some hardy fish like danios or something.

Well I would get a pair of firemouths or a pair of angels.

I'd like to know a little bit more about keyholes if anyone is familiar with them and wants to share some info about them and maybe share some pictures.

My avatar is a pic of one of my keyholes...here are some pics I've taken of my keyholes (and there are some of my gourami):

http://fishprofiles.com/interactive/forums/thread.asp?id=43216

Keyholes are a South American cichlid, reach about four inches, eat flakes, pellets, freeze dried, frozen and live food. Mine LOVE frozen blood worms and shrimp pellets. Good peaceful community tank fish. It is a good idea to keep more than one together. Here is the profile of the keyhole:

http://fishprofiles.com/profiles/fw/profile.asp?id=Cleithracara+maronii


[span class="edited"][Edited by solublefish 2004-07-22 17:17][/span]

Thanks for the pics and info on your keyholes. They really are awesome. I think I might just give them a try, but I've only every seen them in a petstore on time a while ago. Do you usually have to order keyholes or should they be commonly available?

They are commonly avaliable at my LFS all the time. However, I have never seen them at a chain store. It all depends on the store near you. I'm sure they should be in stock or you will be able to order them.

keyholes aren't as pretty as rams, and they're shaped allmost identicaly. In my 33 gal. i have 3 male rams, one is harassing the other 2 right now, but if you add them at the same time its not a problem. You could even do say 4 females and 2 males, giving caves of some sort at either end and creating visual barriers. Throw in a school of top swimming fish and you've got yourself a very nice tank. Only downside is that rams don't live too long, the other option though would be to do kribs; 1 male, and a few females.

[span class="edited"][Edited by 2004-07-22 22:27][/span]

Thorichthys spp. are the best all around genus imo. This genus includes firemouths and 10 other closely related species. All grow to max. size of ~4-7" though you may see a jumbo male of a couple different species hit 8". These fish are typically not overly aggressive though they are territorial when spawning.

As juveniles they are best kept in large groups as they will feel more secure with their own company. Also, this will get them used to being around others and will allow you to slightly overstock as they get bigger. 40 gallon tanks are perfect for a small group of these as they get larger. They are also best kept with livebearers such as mollies, swordtails or platys depending on tank size. Livebearers are found naturally in the rivers and lakes that all Thorichthys spp. are found. In nature, a large portion of the diet of any Thorichthys spp. is made up of livebearer fry. The presence of the livebearers around the top of the tank also inform these cichlids that there is no danger (ie. large predators) around.

One final thing...few freshwater fish will rival the beauty of a mature Thorichthys spp. Only problem here is that this genus takes a bit longer to mature and color up than most other species. It may be 2 years before you see their true beauty come out. I have been priveleged to see every species at adulthood at the home of Rusty Wessel (a well respected cichlid expert/importer/collector) and they are a remarkably beautiful group of cichlids.

Jason

Thanks everyone for the suggestions, but now i'm even more uncertain as to what i want to do, i'm going to have to think about this for a while.