# firemouth



## Punisher (Aug 4, 2010)

just wondering if anyone has any suggestions as to what fish would fit in with my 2 firemouths and a brisltenose pleco without getting eaten..?


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## AWW (Apr 22, 2010)

how big are the firemouths? And how large is the tank?


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## Punisher (Aug 4, 2010)

3 inches each and I own a 14 gal bio-cube


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## turtlez (Jun 15, 2010)

Um dude, your tank is overstocked majorly. Your Firemouths are going to get a lot bigger and will need much much much more room (as in a 40-50 gallon tank). Unless you are planning to upgrade in the near future, you shouldnt be adding any more fish, you should be getting rid of some...


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## Punisher (Aug 4, 2010)

um dude... i have 2 cichlids that are practically full grown, they wont be bigger then 4 in. And a bristlenose that is fully matured but w.e guess ill leave them be.


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## turtlez (Jun 15, 2010)

um dude... firemouths grow to be around 6 inches. If you are planning on keeping 2 fully grown firemouths in that size tank, then good luck to you.


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## Punisher (Aug 4, 2010)

i took your advice turtlez and got my self a 40 gal. now do u have any suggestions that would fit with my firemouth? like a cockatoo, red-hump, butterfly ram, zebra. something in that size range?


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## AWW (Apr 22, 2010)

I would stick to american cichlids. severums and angels and convicts could be great additions.


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## Punisher (Aug 4, 2010)

what about any sharks such as red-tail or rainbow..?


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## Smiladon (Apr 23, 2010)

Punisher said:


> what about any sharks such as red-tail or rainbow..?


You "could" try the sharks as long as they are adults or almost adults, but no guarantees (90% chance that they will be fine).

Do you have a list of fish that you would like to have? If you do, then post it and we can help pick the best ones for you


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## Punisher (Aug 4, 2010)

I would like something along the lines cockatoo dwarf, red-hump, convict, butterfly ram


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## donjuan_corn (May 6, 2010)

My convicts always fought with my firemouths because they are very territorial. I had a jeweled chiclid that got along fine and the firemouths swam with them all the time and followed each other around.


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## Punisher (Aug 4, 2010)

does anyone have a firemouth/red-hump combo set up in their tank? if so how do they behave with eachother etc...


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## Hammer (Apr 22, 2010)

In my own limited experience, firemouth aggression is more intraspecific (towards it's own/similar species) than interspecific (other species). This looks like a dominant fish beating the tar out of subordinate fish.

That being said, they can be aggressive, but not nearly as much as other South/Central American cichlids. You may want to try the smallest geophagus, blue acara etc. 


You may want other medium central american cichlids, but as for someone saying put a "such and such" in it's a guess at best, depending upon a bunch of factors (size sex, "personality", water temp etc.). When I was a teenager, I had firemouths with fast moving fish like tiger barbs and found they had didn't bug eachother at all. I know that diverges from a pure cichlid theme. With stocking cichlids, other than giving them a lot of room, I have heard of many strange combinations working.

Just my ramblings and probably putting you back where you started.


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## turtlez (Jun 15, 2010)

Im glad to see you took the advice  some of the people on this forum are just so ignorant. Anyways, I would probably stock it with a couple nice severums. They have some really nice vivdly colored ones (Bright red with orange specles) at King Eds Pet Center on Kingsway. I would stay away from anymore firemouths unless you are going to have 5-6 of them in the tank to spread out the agression (but then it would be really squished space-wise). So, maybe one red severum, and one green severum or even a few Kribensis Cichlids, they are strong, and very colorful and stay quiete small. Great fun to watch and will probably have babies.


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## turtlez (Jun 15, 2010)

Just read the other post, above me. I would say no geophagus. I had 6 geophagus heckelii and red head tapajos mixes and then I added a firemouth and it started nipping. Barbs can nip too if there arent alot of them to spread agression and loaches tend to get sick fast (I keep valued fish and care for them well


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## Daryl (Jun 1, 2010)

I've kept red-humped eartheaters (G. Steindachneri) with JD's and Severums (the tanks were 90 & 135 gallins though).

It was actually a good mix.

The Steinie is one of the rowdier geos so they can hang with some of the more docile CA's - like firemouths.

Another good thing is that as mouthbrooders Steinies don't get territorial like the CA cichlids will if they breed. Bad news is that you should have two females for every male and the females can get to 5 or 6 inches (I've seen big males in the 7+" range, but 6" is more common). So a 40g tank may be too small for a trio + FM's.

You never mentioned - or at least I never saw it, are your Firemouths a pair? If they are you may not be able to keep much else with them in the 40g (other than the pleco) as they can be kind of grumpy when they spawn.


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