Can you have only male cichlids in a community tank?

[FishNewbee]

My pair of jewels has just hatched their first batch of fry. I think it's wonderful and cute, however, I don't want my 55g community tank to turn into a baby factory. I'm considering giving away the female to stop this, but was wondering, will the jewel do alright by himself in the tank, as the only jewel? Since my jewels have paired up, will it cause him stress to suddenly be the only jewel in the tank now? I have 6 barbs, a rainbow shark, 2 peacock cichlids and a raphael cat also. I just got the peacocks and it turns out I have a male and a female. The male chases her into a corner of the tank where she spends all of her time, so I'm returning her to the store this morning to prevent them from possibly making babies in the future, too. Also, I'd like to get some kribs. I guess, I'm asking, is it okay to just have male cichlids in a community tank? If so, can I get 2 male kribs or would they fight?

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

I'm not sure about cichlids but many fry dont survive in community tanks anyway. You could just wait it out and see if they get eaten or survive then make the decision. By that time you should have gotten great advice from members here.

 

[FishNewbee]

That's what I was thinking, but meanwhile, they are chewing up my other fish pretty badly. No fatal injuries yet, but from what I've read the aggression increases once the fry are free-swimming. I really don't want any of my other fish killed for nothing, esp. when these fry probably won't survive any way. So, I feel like I have to make a decision in the next day or so before the fry are moving around the tank.

 

[JustOneMore20]

You can definitely have all male Cichlids. I think more than one male of each type would be fine. Males probably fight more when there are females present....so 2 males with no females should be ok. I would still take territories into consideration and not have too many types of Cichlids in the tank. I think the plan you have now is fine though (male Jewel, male Peacock, and 1-2 male Kribs).

 

[FishNewbee]

Thanks so much for helping me! I can't believe how hard it is to get advice, sound advice anyways! Unfortunately, I think a lot of fish die because of lack of information. I feel like my lfs should have told me all of this in the beginning. So, should I take the female jewel out of the tank now as well, with the babies there?

 

[JustOneMore20]

I haven't kept Jewels...so I'm not sure who guards the babies (or if either does)...if you wanted to raise them....maybe someone else can give some input on that question.

 

[Acer]

if your not interested in keeping any to breed you can just take the female out without any problem, the male will probably still do a pretty good job at trying to keep them together... the "worst" that will happen will be that the male will not be able to keep all the fry together and they will end up lunch for the rest of your fish which wouldnt be a bad thing, also its not far fetched to say you might end up with more than a few survivors. just my 2cents..