One really happy Firemouth

[Lady Hobbs]

I ended up with more males than females and have one poor male that was being so abused by the others it's pathetic. He's not been able to eat and has to hide 24/7 and his tail fin was nearly gone completely.

I put him in my community tank last week and did he blossom! He has the whole tank to swim in without any abuse, eats like a darned pig now and is stuttin' his stuff like the tank belongs to only him. I will return him to the firemouth tank when he has a chance to grow up more and can defend himself better but for now, he is one happy camper.

I get a kick out of the way he eats more than anything. Generally my firemouths head for cover at feeding time until they can't see me before coming out of hiding. He was that way, too. But he is in with furious eaters now, the danio's and the silver dollars and tetra's and he acts just like they do now. No more hiding for him. He's right in the middle of the feeding frenzy like the others.

[angelcakes]

yay.............:19: good news

[Lady Hobbs]

I can't stand seeing a fish abused by others. How awful it must be for them to have no means of escape, no where to swim without being attacked and constantly having to hide. It's just not right forcing them to live like that.

[angelcakes]

i agree, i had a plec once that didn't get on with another plec so i moved him into another tank and he florished(spelling!):19: and i also adopted one of my friends fish and he thrived in my tank.......yay(and ive still got it!)

[Lady Hobbs]

Good for you! Cichlids are naturally agressive but to subject them to near torture from others is so not cool. There's a difference between normal cichlid pushing one another around and displaying their aggression to down-right meanness.

I've gotten rid of more than one fish I felt was too aggressive. Too be stuck in a glass box with no where to go can't be a great life for them and I think it's our job to make it the best it can be under those conditions.

[angelcakes]

im one of these people that walk into an lfs and see a fish slightly deformed but healthy,my heart goes out to it and i end up coming out the shop with it quarrentine the fish and ok after a week in he/she goes in im terrible,i cant stand aggression in my fish but i still try to acomadatte for it,if not off it goes to a lfs tell them the problem so it don't happen with a new home,:19:

[Drumachine09]

Don'tcha just love firemouths? Mine used to keep getting picked on by my severum. I saw the severum get its butt kicked once, and now there are no problems. Just two happy little campers.

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[angelcakes]

nice fish and pictures :19:

[jbeining75]

Congrats Hobbs. He'll be happier now...

[Tolley]

Good to hear, and its a good job you had the other tankto give him a chance to be happy!

[nanaglen2001]

Hey those are great news Hobbs. I agree totaly with you. Thats the reason I always preach about roots and rocks as hiding places and lots of plants and so on...and of course tanks as big as possible, and by no menas 2 Oscars in 50 galons or so...

Cichlids can be nasty to each other, but most of the time, given enough space for decent territories and correct tank mates its normaly just showtime (at least with my dominant males)

[Lady Hobbs]

With your tank, it's like being in a lake! LOL

[kitten3326]

I am glad to hear that hobbs, I have been debating on getting a firemouth for my SA tank, but am nervous, I have a severum in there, do you think he will get picked on, and do I need to get two.

[Lady Hobbs]

They should do fine with severums. You figure severums end up getting much larger. If you end up getting 2 and both are males, they will probably fight but with enough room they should do OK.

[tropfish]

I'm glad it all worked out Hobbs!

As for the Severum thing, my Severum and Firemouth get along really well, it should work out fine.