Rainbow Shark & placid Chiclids

[Crystal Aquaria]

I'm in the process of converting my tank. I had Gouramis before with my Rainbow shark & no problems. The LFS managed to sell me a Blue Ram & a Krib, convincing me they would get along fine in my set up. I've never kept Cichlids & previously only knew u can generally only keep them with their own kind. However, since I have read that these are more "community Cichlids." Unfortunately I did not know that they too were bottom dwellers >.< My Shark has never been very aggressive even though my Gouramis & cat spend a lot of time on the substrate. My 2 Gouramis hate the Cichlids & wouldn't stop chasing them so I took the Gouramis out thinking this would calm the shark down. I even rearranged the tank & reintroduced him, the problem still persists. Perhaps he may be outgrowing my set up? Anyone else keep these together successfully?

 

[toddnbecka]

Blue ram's really should be kept at higher temps than most other fish, not the best choice for a mixed tank. Cichlids, sharks, and gourami's are all territorial fish. What size tank? How is it set up? Any plastic plants or rock piles to provide sight breaks or separate potential territories? Minimum tank size for red-tail or rainbow sharks is about 55 gallons because they claim a rather large territory. Rearranging and/or adding more cover to the setup may help.

 

[Crystal Aquaria]

My tank is very heavily planted & decorated. When I rearranged it I turned my giant castle sideways to break the tank in half. When I bought my shark the tag said 30+ so I figured it'd be fine in my 30. He's done amazingly well for the last 6 months but now that he is bigger I'm thinking he is ready for a larger territory. I already posted an ad on Craigslist & someone with a 150 Gal set up is going to adopt both my fishes today. :')