Dwarf Cichlid Help-Curiveceps & Rams

[cyberkat]

I need some input from members who have or have had dwarf Cichlids; please!! Sorry this is so long!!

Current tanks & fish are:
40g breeder with: 3 GBR (1male & 2 female), 4 Long fin Danio & 4 Peppered Cory. Tank is well planted with plastic plants (will be adding live plants in several months) along with 4 different caves/slate/river rock pieces as well.

20g: 2 Betta (male & female-who are co-exsisting well!!) and 4 Kuhli Loach (plan to have 6-8 total eventually.
Have larger HOB's on both tanks to cover times when over stocked!

One fish I have looked for locally for about a year now is a Dwarf Flag Cichlid (Laetacara Curviceps) and I actually found some this week!! Got excited and had instant impulse buy without thinking things through!! I only got one and I have this sweet little guy in a quarantine tank for now. I'm not sure where to put the Curviceps, I plan to go back very soon and get another (once I find out the difference between the sexes!!). Am compounding the situation, I know; a year is a long time to be looking though!!

Questions:
Can Rams and Laetcara Curviceps peacefully co-exsist in a well planted 40g breeder along with my Corries? If not, would it work any better if I had only female Rams along with the Curvicep pair?

Or should I maybe consider putting the Curviceps in my 20g? If so, does anyone know if Betta's and Curviceps can co-exsist peacefully. If this is the case I would need to move my Kuhli's to the 40g!

Last question: How do you tell the difference between the males & female Curviceps?

I have found but a few people who actually have experience and are knowlegable in regards to Curviceps and even less regarding their tank mates. Any and all information you can provice me with is appreciated.

 

[HUKIT]

They are extremely docile fish so I think they would make great additions to your 40B.

Sexing them is tough, even mature fish it's tough. There are some small traits common with new worlds such as males dorsal and ventral fins will be longer, the black blotch on the females will be larger, and usually the males will be larger but I've seen females with flowing fins as well so keep that in mind.

Nice pick up they're a good find.

 

[Freakgecko91]

I have L. araguaiae in my 39 column with a number of other south american cichlids and I don't have many problems. The laetacara give chase *occasionally*, but no real issues, they aren't hounding anybody to the point that the other fish gets stressed, and there's definitely no fin nipping

 

[Borderlesscott]

I have 2 Laetacara dorsigera, very similar to yours in with my Rams and if anything these little guys push the Rams around, could be I have wimpy Rams. Lovely little fish, good choice - always passed over in my LFS for Rams. Really peaceful but will occasionally nudge someone out of there area, can be very shy at times, mine love to hang out below the cover my Vallisneria gives overhead.

 

[absolutangel04]

I kept curvis with rams in my 40g tall, is was flawless. Since you said the tank is planted, I am sure it will be fine. Like HUKIT said, telling the genders apart is tricky. I suggest PMing a member named Shay who breeds them. She helped me figure out the gender of mine.
Of course, fish are individuals so you always need to keep an eye on them, but I would have no qualms about keeping curvis with rams again.

 

[Freakgecko91]

I forgot to include that my L. araguaiae are in the same tank as my bolivian rams, they tend to be the more dominate species over my rams though, but nothing bad by any means

 

[cyberkat]

Thanks so much for your comments & help!!! Was really worried that I had too many bottom level fish. There is info on Laetacara Curviceps out there but because they aren't as well known as say a "Ram" it's hard to find info about tank mates for these guys and when you do its pretty limited.

Hukit- I can't wait to go back to the store for my other Curvicep, just hope I actually end up with a pair!!

Freakgecko91-I had to look up pic's of L. Araguaiae because I wasn't familiar with these guys. I had only heard of the Dorsigera before; is the Araguaiae a rare variety? Really nice looking fish.

Borderlesscott-your Laetacara Dorsigera is beautiful, hopefully my Curviceps will be happy and show off their color as nicely as yours does.

 

[Freakgecko91]

I don't think they are all that rare, the L. thayeri are the rarest of the commonly kept laetacara (if i remember right) and I have adult male of that species, but he's really nothing spectacular to look at. As for the araguaiae, I'm not 100% that's what they are, but they don't look like curviceps and for sure are not dorsigera. They were sold to me as curviceps initially.





All three of my laetacara HATE getting their picture taken, so this is after lights went off, so the color is a bit flushed, but you get the idea

 

[cyberkat]

Absolutangel04- Thanks for the heads up on "Shay", I'll have to pm her like you suggested. I'm so happy to hear the Rams and Curviceps get along, hopefully my set up will go as well as yours did.

 

[cyberkat]

Freakgecko91-Just how many species of Laetcara are there anyway? I'm thinking that it would be really cool to have a large set up just for these Laetcara species!! I'll try to post a pic of the one I got, she/he is being shy and peeking at me some from around some plants but also seems curious as to what I'm doing when I stick a camera up to the aquarium. The store I got mine at has them listed as "Curviceps" the owner said that was what they were listed as from the listing he ordered them from as well. So he could not really tell me for sure, I think it's a Curvicep because I saw a some of a bluish sheen on the body.

 

[Freakgecko91]

Curviceps, thayeri, flavilabris, dorsigera, araguaiae, and fulvipinnis.

I'm no longer sure if I have a thayeri or a flavilabris! This genus confuses me to no end, because they all seem to resemble one of the other species! Oy vey!

I'm almost positive I have a flavilabris instead of a thayeri, but you get the point lol