will this be a disaster? -- mixing big cichlids

[mellawson]

Hello everyone I'm new here so first I want to say hello. Second I need some advice, I started my "obsession" with a 29 gal my husband drug in about 4 years ago long story short I killed a few fish and most of my nerves before I figured out what I was doing. I settled in with 2 blood red parrot fish and a common pleco (I had no idea at the time how huge they get) we were doing great until about a year ago when my husband woke me up one morning and told me there was something wrong with my tank. That something wrong turn out to be a leak about half of the water had found its way to my living room floor! As a result I lost both of my brp fish but I gained a new 75 gal! I couldn't make up my mind how I wanted to stock it and on an impulse I bought a Jack Dempsey so it was just him and my pleco for a while until I came home from work to find not only thoose two but a tiger Oscar, a ruby Oscar, and a fire mouth cichlid! I dealt with the shock that my husband actually bought me something fairly well but the next morning I thought there was a piece of candy corn floating in my tank turns out it was a Clown Loach! So this is my question are these fish gonna kill each other? I know they will all wind up huge I have a 100 gal in the works but its gonna be a good while before its up and going, right now Jack is about 6 inches long and my pleco is near 8 all the others are small maybe just over an inch. Sorry to ramble on and thanks in advance for the advice.

 

[jsoong]

Welcome to AA!!!

I don't know enough about cichlids to really give advice, but I would suspect problems with your fish mix.

I have changed your thread title to get some of the cichlid experts to chime in.

 

[JustOneMore20]

Welcome to AA.

Besides the fish possibly killing each other, another problem to worry about is that many of those fish produce alot of waste and together could pollute the tank....which could kill any of them if that happens.

If it were me, I'd try to return some of the fish if your lfs will give you credit/refund. If it will be a year or more before you can get the 100g going, then I definitely would get rid of some of the fish. They are small now, but won't be for long. 1 Oscar would stock a 75g tank if that tells you how large and wasteful those guys get. Oscars and JD's are both pretty aggressive, so when the Oscars get bigger I would definitely expect some issues with aggression, especially with the tank being smaller than recommended for keeping all 3 of those together.

Keep an eye on the Clown Loach...if its small, it could end up in one of their stomachs. :/

 

[CA_BroncoFan]

Welcome to AA!!

I would def. get rid (i hate to use that word) of all but one of the fish. They are all pretty wasteful fish as far as how much waste they put out and with that load unless your changing every day your water quality just cannot be what it should.

The second thing is like the above poster stated ALL except the pleco (and i couldnt tell if that clown you said was dead or not) are very aggressive and territorial. I would just take them to your local fish store and get a credit and youll be able to use it on future needs. This way you know theyll be ok and youll get something for them.

Finally, if you cannot bring yourself to get rid of them then i would def. start adding driftwood where you can create natural barriers that they can establish their territory in.

 

[mellawson]

Okay so I went to the LFS to see about "exchanging" some of my mini-monsters and let me tell you that was no easy task he is a super nice guy but I couldn't understand a word he was saying, imagine Korean with a southern accent. I managed to find a nice "safe" tank for my Oscars and the fire mouth so now I have my Jack Dempsey who is definitely staying he is just an awesome fish. The pleco and the little clown loach (nope not dead) so far all seems ok my JD isn't aggressive at all do they turn that way at a certain age?

 

[GlennJ]

Jack Dempsey

At 6" its personality is probably established,although if that Clown Loach is still 1"-2" it may dissapear.Had a very "strong" male JD that would smash glass glass tube heaters if feeder fish were trying to hide behind them.The Pleco is probably safe because of the size and tough hide.