Nicaraguen Cichlid

[KP]

Hey Folks, anyone know anything about this Cichlid? I started to stock my 50gal Central American Cichlid tank. I added 1- Blue Dempsey, 1 Fire Mouth ( aureus blue ) and 1 Nicaraguen (copora nicaraguense). They are all about 2" and where added all at once. That was one week ago and everything was fine for the first 2 days. Then the Firemouth started after the Nic. to the point that for the past 4 days the Nic. has been hiding behind the water discharge flange on one of the two Emperor 280's filtering the tank. The tank has 8 Buenes Aries Tetras as dither fish and I have left the lights off for the last day and one half ( just using the room lights) to no avail. Anyone know if this is the normal sorting out and will change over time or should I move him soon? The problem with moving him now is the only tank ready now is my 55gal community tank with 24 Tetras, 2 Corys, 1 Angelfish and two SAE's. If I move him in there what is he going to do to those fish? Any advice would be appreciated. Keith

 

[Somethingfishy]

From what I have just read the firemouth is not one of the most ideal tank mates for the Nic. Must admit first time I heard of the Nic cichlid, looks like a nice fish. Not able to find a lot of info on the fish, but it is a very timid fish and would give in to the firemouth if it shows any form of aggression. Firemouths get aggressive when they have set up territories. My recommendation is to get him out ASAP, this is not a good sign and will stress the poor fish until it dies. The second tank seems to be OK they are all fairly low level aggressors and he should fit in quite nicely.

Make sure there are hiding places for it and them to hide should they feel the need.

 

[robertmarda]

I have a 55 gallon community tank with 3 cichlids in it (1 convict, 1 firemouth, and 1 rainbow). The rainbow is the most timid of the three and the firemouth chases him some times but not enough that he hides. I have various tetras (including a neon black and a lemon tetra) as well as mollies and sword tails in this tank. All the cichlids basically act like community fish.

My point is to support what somethingfishy said that you should be able to move the nic cichlid to your community tank and they should be fine. I don't know how large the nic can grow to but if he doesn't grow more than 5 or 6 inches he can become a permanent resident in your community tank if you can't ever get that firemouth to leave him alone.