Just joined the South-American Cichlid Community!!!

[fuzionbeanz]

So, yesterday, I went and bought 5 cichlids from Petsmart.

A Turquoise Severum, 2 Green Terrors, a blood parrot, and a tiger oscar.

I'll post pics if anyone is interested. The blood parrot is a pain to get a picture of, definitely afraid of the camera.

Any other information I should be privvy to as to owning and caring for South-Americans like these?

I have them in a 55g tank with a Pleco that is monstrous compared to the Cichlids. :hmm3grin2orange:

[Drumachine09]

You REALLY should have done some research BEFORE getting your fish. Your tank isn't large enough for a few of those individually, let alone all together. You need like, a 100+ gallon tank for all of those.

[fuzionbeanz]

I did do my research before and was told 4 or 5 of the Cichlids would be fine. No more than that. They are still small...and young...so when they do get bigger I do plan to get a second tank and transfer a couple into there. But I do appreciate the heads up.

[goleafs]

I did do my research before and was told 4 or 5 of the Cichlids would be fine. No more than that. They are still small...and young...so when they do get bigger I do plan to get a second tank and transfer a couple into there. But I do appreciate the heads up.

Were you told by petsmart that they would be good? Fish stores in general don't know their stuff let alone petsmart. One Oscar is pushing it for a 55 gallon.

[OscarFan]

A little heads up they will all be over a foot in under a year. But Oscars are really neat. And its fun to watch tham grow.

[fuzionbeanz]

Oh yeah, I know how big they will grow, and am already planning and prepping the second tank, which will be 75g. I'm on Craigslist every day looking for the right tank. They're all barely over an inch or two now, minus the Pleco. Once the little guys get to 3-6 inches, the Oscar, Pleco, and Blood Parrot will be moved to the 75g, and I'll purchase another Peco for the 55g.

[nanaglen2001]

Even the 75 gal. tank will be too small for all those animals, I got a about 115 gal. tank (450 litres) and I consider even that size way too small for those animal you purchased. I wonder wart kind of Pleco you got. I hope you are not keeping a "Glyptorichthys gibbiceps" which can outgrow 40 cm easily....

[fuzionbeanz]

One that looks like this:

[nanaglen2001]

Looks like a BINGO to me.

Great animals, unfortunately very often sold at the LFS, and most of the people in those shops dont know what they are selling. Ignorant LFS staff seems to be a worldwide problem.

Here is a link to show the size such a fish can get:

[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

[Fishguy2727]

If they get along I think a 75 will be good enough if properly maintained (tons of water changes and lots of filtration) for an oscar, parrot, and a pleco. The problem will be them getting along. If they all stay together and you never feed live foods you have much better chances. I hope this doesn't end up like so many other 'I'm going to get a bigger tank...' situations where the bigger tank never comes.

What are you feeding them all?
What filtration do you have?
What water change schedule?

[shalafi04]

all i gotta say is this.
I got 2 baby oscars rescued from a friend who was way in over her head and put 5 cichlids together in a 50g tank. I moved them to a 10g for the time being together. THought I had time to get a suitable tank for them. But in a matter of 2 months they are going on a good 5-6 inches! They dont waste time growing.

They grew so fast that Im now doing daily water changes until the 15th of June when I get there 75g set up. And the 75g is just for the 2 of them. No tankmates. Its just something you really need to think about ya know... whats going to happen with all these fish.... thats all.

And when the oscars pass up their friends in size, they will start eating them!Just fyi. It gets messy and expensive really quick!