# for lemmy and some of the other cichlids pros



## lightning2004 (Jun 25, 2005)

id like to do a cichlid tank some where around 200galons.but i dont want any agressive predator type ones.are they any that get to be at least 10'' and bigger but still peaceful and able to live with other fish of same size?


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## benJii (Feb 17, 2005)

well i dont consider myself a cichlid pro

but uaru, chocolate cichlids, blue acuras, and discus all get around 8"(chocolates like 12") and are peaceful, but i dont think they would be the kinda fish you would wanna dedicate a 200g to......


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## lightning2004 (Jun 25, 2005)

well i know mostly when your talking big tanks people want mean nasty aggressive fish..for a change i wana go a different route i just want big beautiful fish..


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## benJii (Feb 17, 2005)

lightning2004 said:


> well i know mostly when your talking big tanks people want mean nasty aggressive fish..for a change i wana go a different route i just want big beautiful fish..
> [snapback]1186572[/snapback]​


well with cichlids peaceful usually doeznt come with em

but that doeznt mean that you have to do big nasty fish

try peacock bass(im not sure of the dimensions, might not work)


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## lightning2004 (Jun 25, 2005)

dont like those..lol


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## benJii (Feb 17, 2005)

lightning2004 said:


> dont like those..lol
> [snapback]1186593[/snapback]​


why in the hell not?

lol IMO there like one of the coolest fish ever, i f*cking love those things, they are both big and beautiful

and you know, if you want big and beautiful, you dont always need to look into cichlids, there are many other fish out there


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## lightning2004 (Jun 25, 2005)

because they get to big.and i just never hads a interest in them..i was just sitting here thinking its time for another tank and i just deicded this time nothing aggresivs.i just want some big beuaitufl fish and i thought chiclids..catfish out of the question no peacock bass..and no piranhas..


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## stonecoldsteveostin (Nov 15, 2003)

im not positive, but i think viejas are more of a passive cichlid


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## Tinkerbelle (Oct 14, 2004)

we used to have super friendly oscars... one was 12" and one was 8"... this was back when i was like 4 though. they always got along and i remember you could pet the 12" and he'd eat right out of your hand.


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## midass (Jul 9, 2005)

lightning2004 said:


> because they get to big.and i just never hads a interest in them..i was just sitting here thinking its time for another tank and i just deicded this time nothing aggresivs.i just want some big beuaitufl fish and i thought chiclids..catfish out of the question no peacock bass..and no piranhas..
> [snapback]1186600[/snapback]​


Peaceful is relative. But....

Severum
Oscar
Veija(sp?) species
Any of the geophagus (eartheaters)
Discus

Hope that helps a bit.


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## lightning2004 (Jun 25, 2005)

Tinkerbelle said:


> we used to have super friendly oscars... one was 12" and one was 8"... this was back when i was like 4 though. they always got along and i remember you could pet the 12" and he'd eat right out of your hand.
> [snapback]1186624[/snapback]​


lol ya i do that right now with my 5'' oscar


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## Tinkerbelle (Oct 14, 2004)

lightning2004 said:


> Tinkerbelle said:
> 
> 
> > we used to have super friendly oscars... one was 12" and one was 8"... this was back when i was like 4 though. they always got along and i remember you could pet the 12" and he'd eat right out of your hand.
> ...


the only problem was, the 12" hated my dad. he'd ram the glass whenever my dad went by and if he tried to hand feed him he'd try to bite my dad. really odd fish. the 8" got along with everyone tho. they were in a 100+ gallon freshwater tank with a ginormous pleco and some other big fish.


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## piranha_guy_dan (Oct 4, 2004)

well believe it or not i have a pair of jags 9 and 12 inches and an 8 inch female midas and a 7 inch female flowerhorn all in a 75 gallon and they all get along fine  so its possible to keep large aggressive ones together when the agression balances itself out. i didnt think my combo was gonna work but they suprised the sh*t outta me! its nice having that many big fish in 1 tank


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## polomax24 (Jun 14, 2005)

The only peaceful vieja sp. is the synspilum., even with them you cannot predict their temper. Geophagus complex and santanoperca compex grow rather large and they are peaceful.


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## air*force*one (Mar 5, 2004)

i think a large group of frontosas would be a cool thing for a 200g like 10 of them 4 males 6 females


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## lightning2004 (Jun 25, 2005)

air*force*one said:


> i think a large group of frontosas would be a cool thing for a 200g like 10 of them 4 males 6 females
> [snapback]1186810[/snapback]​


will defnitly think about those..also can members of the LAMPROLOGUS AND RELATED familes be mixed together? those and a few select mbuna's looks nice..but i know they dont grow to much..


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## Judazzz (Jan 13, 2003)

Geophagus are colorful, mid-sized Cichlids that are relatively peaceful.



























Not my fish, btw!

Fill that tank with sand, add some large pieces of drift wood and some large plants (Swords), add a group of Geophagus (6-8), some Dwarf Cichlids, some Tetra's/Hatchetfish/Pencilfish, and some Amazonian Catfish (fancy Pleco's, Cories, Otocinclus), and you'll have a superb and rather peaceful Amazon showcase tank









I heard that for Cichlid standards, Mesonauta's are relatively peaceful as well:


























Not my fish either...


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## UK calvus (Aug 11, 2005)

I have a Severum (8" so far) as the lead fish in my community tank, along with Rainbow Cichlids and Angels, I have just got rid of 5 adult Malawis (Afra, Zebra, Interruptus), that lived in there reasonably happily.

I now have a pair of wild caught adult Lamprologus Compressiceps (6"M, 3"F) that are magnificent in their poise and predatory nature, but show no aggression to their tank mates.
View attachment 75844
View attachment 75845


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## lightning2004 (Jun 25, 2005)

this is what jeff raps recomend to do with a 250 gallon

Cichla are perfect candidates as they are non-aggressive to fish they can't 
swallow and grow 20"+. The C. temensis I have are 4-5" now. Also have 
Petenia splendida orange morph that would also be perfect to keep there. I 
have many up to 3.5-4" size. They are mellow, eat pellets, bright color, 
and grow to about 15".
Other possibilities include Uaru fernandezyepezi (the rare 'panda uaru'). I 
have up to about 2.5" size. They are quite unique in pattern and very tall 
dorsal/anal fins. They will be very round-bodied and reach 10-12".
You could also keep a Geophagus species in there. The G. abalios I have at 
4 or 5" sizes would be very showy. They grow to about 10-12" and develop 
tremendous streamers on fins.
Large growing catfish make very impressive tank fish also. I am not 
recommending redtail tail cats to everyone, but the Callophyses and Leiarius 
are manageable.
Tell you what, the redhook silver dollars I have make excellent tank mates 
for the above mentioned fish. They school, remain ever-active, grow big 
enough, and have great color/fins.
So one Cichla, one Petenia, one Uaru, one Geo for cichlids. Those are all 
very different from each other and yet should be perfectly compatible.
A couple cats and 4 red hooks would add another dimension and more activity 
to the tank.
Wish I had a tank to do this with. I would set it up much like I list here

what do you think?

after i posted this i did a search on some of the fish he mentioned and almost all grow to at least 18-20'' somee ven 30'' does he even know what hes talking about?


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## jamesdelanoche (Dec 15, 2004)

ever thought of rays? I know you asked cichlids but they are certainly beautiful and not exactly aggressive, plus you could keep them with other, higher swimming peaceful fish. Need good water quality but a nice ray is one of the tops on my list of fish i would like to own in my lifetime.


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## lemmywinks (Jan 25, 2004)

1) Veija are for the most part a very agressive type of cichlid, unless you get into some of the smaller growing ones, they do best in a single specimen tank.

2) Oscars are far from a community fish. They might get along with 2-3 other fish in that tank, but if I were you, I'd go for a much more diverse setup.

3) Do not go with cichla!! They will outgrow any other fish you want to put in that tank and will make a meal out of it once it can fit the fish in it's mouth. Cichla may not be agressive, but they are highly predatory and will eat anything that fits in their mouths if they are hungry enough!

4) I would not recomend Uaru fernandezyepezi to a cichlid novice.. They can be very touchy, especially at the small size Jeff has them in. I have 3 that are 4-4.5" and they seem to be doing alright with some Uaru amphiacanthoides and 3 Satanoperca daemon that are similar sized. They need perfect water and weekly water changes (perhaps even more often) will be a must!

I plan on doing a South American tank once I get my 300g set up with

3 _Uaru fernandezyepezi_
4 Uaru Amphicanthoides
3 Satanoperca Daemon
2-3 more geo/satanoperca species
3-4 redhook silver dollars
a bunch of large tetras
and a few fancy plecos

A tank like that is very high maintenance (which im gonna hate). But, if you want it, go for it









I'd recomend 2 species of geos with 3-4 fish in each specie, some wild angelfish, a few festivum (as Judas suggested), and if you wanted you could keep misc tetra, barbs, and small scavenger cats in there as well









Good luck with whatever you do. And if you do an order with Jeff Rapps, let me know. He has a few things that I want


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## lemmywinks (Jan 25, 2004)

Tibs said:


> well i dont consider myself a cichlid pro
> 
> but uaru, chocolate cichlids, blue acuras, and discus all get around 8"(chocolates like 12") and are peaceful, but i dont think they would be the kinda fish you would wanna dedicate a 200g to......
> [snapback]1186566[/snapback]​


Are you recomending that he keeps temporalis and discus together?










midass said:


> Veija(sp?) species
> Any of the geophagus (eartheaters)
> [snapback]1186626[/snapback]​


Many vieja species are close to a labiatus/citrinellus as far as agression goes, so I definaty wouldn't recomend them with smaller less agressive fish, even in a 200g+ tank.

And there are a few geophagus species that I wouldnt stick into any old communty tank. My 6" brasiliensis spars with my 13"+ oscar regularly... and wins sometimes


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## mauls (Mar 25, 2004)

Tibs said:


> lightning2004 said:
> 
> 
> > well i know mostly when your talking big tanks people want mean nasty aggressive fish..for a change i wana go a different route i just want big beautiful fish..
> ...


my peacocks are pretty mean man, especially when it comes to feeding. None of the fish get any food until there completly full. And there not the biggest fish in my tank


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## oojit (Feb 24, 2005)

air*force*one said:


> i think a large group of frontosas would be a cool thing for a 200g like 10 of them 4 males 6 females
> [snapback]1186810[/snapback]​










If you got the money, do it.


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## lemmywinks (Jan 25, 2004)

oojit said:


> air*force*one said:
> 
> 
> > i think a large group of frontosas would be a cool thing for a 200g like 10 of them 4 males 6 females
> ...


Rapps is selling large Uaru fernandezyepezi for 175$ (which is actually a pretty good price for them at 7-8"). So if he does fronts, it's going to be cheap compared to the Uarus


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## benJii (Feb 17, 2005)

lemmywinks said:


> Tibs said:
> 
> 
> > well i dont consider myself a cichlid pro
> ...


not by any means

none of the cichlids i listed could be kept with discus, the only cichlids you can keep with discus IMO would be small dwarf acuras like rams, and apistos


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## lemmywinks (Jan 25, 2004)

rams genus are micro*geophagus*....









and Apistogramma are not dwarf acar*a*s either, they have their own catagory


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## piranha_guy_dan (Oct 4, 2004)

get frontosa and as air force one said.......... i would go with 2 males and 8 females if u wanna lower the agression and highten the breeding


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## lightning2004 (Jun 25, 2005)

angel fish
blood parrot cichlid
blue acara
chunky hap
cuban cichlids
discus
earth eater
frontosa
Livingstoni's Nimbochromis 
Malawi Blue Dolphin 
Nicaragua Cichlid 
AKA: Mogo Cichlid 
parrot chiclid
Pearl Cichlid
Severum 
AKA: Banded Cichlid
Uaru

ok i found these..all of them are between 8'' and 12'' when fully grown and all are listed peaceful except frontosa and i think 1 more..what do you think?of this list which would you choose?


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## benJii (Feb 17, 2005)

lightning2004 said:


> *angel fish*
> blood parrot cichlid
> blue acara
> chunky hap
> ...


all of those there do not meet your requirements

angels stay like 5"

cubans are highly aggressive, simlilar to hatians

and the "malawi blue dolphin" you listed i believe would be the moorei cichlid, which is also highly aggressive

geos depending on species are 3" and peaceful, or 14" and aggressive, i do not believe there is any over 6" that are too peaceful, although some that are larger may be semi-peacefulish


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## RRice (Feb 16, 2005)

piranha_guy_dan said:


> well believe it or not i have a pair of jags 9 and 12 inches and an 8 inch female midas and a 7 inch female flowerhorn all in a 75 gallon and they all get along fine  so its possible to keep large aggressive ones together when the agression balances itself out. i didnt think my combo was gonna work but they suprised the sh*t outta me! its nice having that many big fish in 1 tank
> 
> 
> 
> ...


i totally agree, i have seen this work too


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## lightning2004 (Jun 25, 2005)

Tibs said:


> lightning2004 said:
> 
> 
> > *angel fish*
> ...


not listed has aggresive they where just listed has beware need extra space..also i know angels dont get that big..ive seen them at 6''


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## Puff (Feb 14, 2005)

go with Frontosas...i love my fronts, even tho they're just little ones right now. it's hilarious to see them all hanging out in a huge group. there's the one alpha male who is quite aggressive, but not in the 'im gonna rip a chunk out of your side" kind of way, but more a "get away from my cave entrance" way.

very funny.

and they get beautiful blue in them. which, mixed with the black and white...is amazing.


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