dither fish and south americans

[SquishyFish]

I am setting up a 175gal S.A. Tank. I dont like the usual "nothing but display cichlids" look. I would like it to look more natural. In a lake or river you have smaller fish such as Tin Foil barbs, Danio's..that kind of thing. I know there is a risk that the S.A.'s will eat them, but to me thats no different than feeding an oscar a gold fish. So my question is, has this been done with any kind of success and how voracious are they going to be in picking off the smaller fish?

 

[DeFeKt]

unfortunatly they WILL get eaten mate, if not out of hunger it will be for "sport" or instinct rather.
It's just the way things go.

 

[Jchillin]

If you are speaking of Oscars, Green Terrors or Jack Dempseys. DeFekt is correct. If we are talking about apistos and Rams, then that is an entirely different matter.

 

[SquishyFish]

Well, here is what we plan to get.

Apistogramma
Cockatoo Cichlid
Double Full Red Agassizi Cichlid
Double Full Red Cockatoo Cichlid
Red Star Flower Horn Cichlid
Geophagus Pellegrini
German Blue Ram
German Ram
Gold German Ram
Gold Severum
Green Dwarf Pike Cichlid
Hi Fin Banded Shark
Orange Cockatoo Cichlid

 

[Jchillin]

I can't vouch for the flowerhorn or shark, but all the others are fine. BTW, all the the rams you listed are the same fish.

 

[RoK]

I've heard flower horn's to be pretty aggressive and get rather large. I'm not sure they'd be compatible with the others.

 

[Apocalypse_Gold]

The hi fin banded shark gets big--up to 18 inches. It also gets ugly. Maybe a medium sized pleco instead?

 

[severum mama]

Sorry to bring bad news, but there's no way a flowerhorn will tolerate dwarf cichlids. The severum will probably be ok, but again there's a chance that your dwarfs will be in trouble. My severum can be pretty aggressive. If you're looking for dithers, a big school of rummynose tetras would look amazing IMO. Gold pristella tetras are pretty too, and very peaceful. Pretty much any of the tetra species will do fine with your stock list, other than the flowerhorn, and maybe the severum.

 

[RoK]

It could be that my severums aren't that big yet but I haven't had any problems with them so far. The pearl gourami in my 75g is actually the most aggressive fish in the tank, for now anyway.

 

[severum mama]

My severum lived with 4 Bolivian rams for a while and it worked out fine, but apistos and rams are smaller than Bolivians. If there came a point where a severum was large enough to fit apistos or rams into its mouth, then it might happen IMO. Then again, it may be fine. My severum is generally only aggressive with cichlids of similar size, I'm just not sure I'd chance it with delicate fish like apistos and rams. Plus, the apistos that I've seen are pretty expensive, should worst come to worst.