Comments for Cichlid Care

Comment on Oscar Fish, Pleco Fish, and Salvini Cichlid? by The Jam

The Jam — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:38:51 +0000

I already answered this on your other question about what should you feed an oscar and other fishes, cichlid pellets are fine for a cichlid staple diet, and no a 29 gallon tank is too small for all these fishes, unless you get the tank IN LESS than a month and this also means cycling it, because that salvini, no matter what size it is, it’s gonna try to beat up the oscar, as oscars are peaceful fish when young, and in a tank that small, the small 3″ terrorized oscar wont have too much space to run away from the fast territorial salvini cichlid, oscars are also slower moving cichlids. About the african clawed frog, the pet store owner kept them all together in a crowded tank because his fishes were still SMALL; babies, wait until that oscar hits the 12″ it should AT LEAST get in a stunted tank, there is absolutely no doubt that oscar can eat a 4″ African clawed frog, maybe he cant eat it whole but will take huge bites at it. Just so you know, in the wild oscars grows up to 18″, I wouldn’t buy any fish from that shop, as the owner doesnt know anything about fishes compatibility, and doesnt really care what he is giving out as long as he gets the money.
Lets review:

1. The frog will get eaten in the future by that giant 12″ oscar, or vice versa if the oscar is like 3″ and the “7 year old frog” is 6″, the frog will have a good time with the oscar(as a snack). Watch for the salvini, if it starts doing its ” fish magic tricks” with the other fish, as the internet says. You may want to give it back until you get the 60 gallon tank, and buy an that oscar is twice its size so maybe he can fight it back without losing. Some adult oscars can be lame, and even lose to a territorial male convict cichlid.

2. Feeder fish can contain tuberculosis and many other weird diseases, especially if you buy them from a chain store, and theres no cure for fish TB, I would stick to freeze dried food instead. If you raise your own feeder fish, just feed them once a month so the fishes dont get too much protein. Goldfish are worst than guppys, they contain more fat than guppys.

3. At the end these fishes will need a bigger tank than 60 gallons, Oscars need at least a 75 for it self, and a pleco will be pushing it, and an aggressive salvini cichlid is just asking for more trouble and will kill the african clawed frog.

Comment on Black specks on African Cichlids? by Eve

Eve — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:36:03 +0000

hmm, i’m kinda wondering what the name of this cichlid is

because there is a good possibity that it’s one of these cichlids where a male changes his color when growing into juvenile stage

as exampley a blue kenyii will change into yellowish
or an auratus will change from yellow into blackish/blueish

i’m experiencing that myself right now, that’s how i can tell you that that is a possibility

as for the white spot, it’s called a false eggspot

here are example cichlids

hope that helps
Good luck

Comment on do cichlids like blood worms? by Cheyanne

Cheyanne — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:45:16 +0000

its just food. it’ll give them lots of protein. if you want you can treat them by putting little goldfish in your tank. it may sound cruel, but keepping a fish which only eats other fish isn’t really a good idea. i want to get 4 fairy cichlids.

Comment on American or African Cichlids? by izaak l

izaak l — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:01:32 +0000

The African Cichlids are DEFINATELY the easiest to spawn, They mate like jackrabbits.!
&& the 5 ft tank would be best, these fish can grow up to 7 in.

Comment on my fish is digging why? by rayna

rayna — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 10:35:51 +0000

My beta does this too, and I took him to a fish doc and the doc say hes looking for food and sometimes fishes hide there own food sometimes in those rocks. These fishes are real smart.

Comment on can a zebra danio be a feeder fish? by Emily

Emily — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 07:30:41 +0000

You can but they can be quite fast and sometimes expensive. I would reccommend buying baby fish, obviously smaller and it doesnt really matter about price as they will always be cheaper

Comment on Will my parrot fish have babies? by Bunnyboo

Bunnyboo — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 05:43:04 +0000

What the hell is a parrott fish?

Comment on Will my parrot fish have babies? by djhaze007

djhaze007 — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:41:20 +0000

Breeding: If you keep the two sexes together, you’ll likely see typical cichlid spawning behavior. They’ll clean a rock or piece of wood or dig a pit. Some prefer caves. We’ve had eggs on the driftwood but no fry yet. Some feel they are mules (sterile). Others report successful spawnings. (Probably, much depends upon the actual species crossed. If any convict cichlid blood exists in your strain, they will spawn and survive in a bait bucket.).
African cichlids are capable but i do not suggest due to they are more aggresive than american cichlids

Comment on Black specks on African Cichlids? by Monster Fish Keeper

Monster Fish Keeper — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 07:45:40 +0000

Jon is right like usual, he wouldn’t steer you wrong. The white spots are egg spots and I too am not sure if this is a sign of gender, but I know that many of mine have them, along with many that I see in the pet stores. It is nothing to worry about.

The black spots are probably something to worry about. It would help with pictures of this, it is very hard to diagnose a fish just by description.

Comment on Oscar Fish, Pleco Fish, and Salvini Cichlid? by Nigel W

Nigel W — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 01:29:15 +0000

If you are getting a larger tank in 3-4 months you will still have to cycle it before putting the fish in so you are realistically looking at 5-6 months. So even if I were to agree that the new tank is big enough for any of those fish my advice would be don’t buy them until the new tank is up and running.

That said, a 55 gallon would be the minimum for even one of those fish, and when I say minimum I’m talking about the salvini, the oscar would be better in at least 70 gallons and the pleco fully grown would really need the space of a 70 gallon.

Tank size isn’t just swimming room. Keep large fish in small tanks and it becomes harder to maintain water quality and you will be treating totally preventable illnesses. Both the oscar and salvini are high polluters so you would be inviting trouble.

Then you have social issues. There are no guarantees in life but your oscar and salvini may not get along. salvinis are territorial, not good community fish and are far more likely to get aggressive in a cramped tank.

My advice- wait until you have your new tank set up, pick which fish you like best and have just that one……but really your only option is one salvini