Firemouths!

[Ticklemekevin10]

Hey I'm gonna get some firemouth's soon so I thought it would be cool to get a general discussion going about them. Everyones experience with them and any other knowledge you have about them etc...

[skullduggery1]

great species,some can be nasty,but most are mellow.I have one in with some larger livebearers and all is well.Do not feed blood worms to firemouth cichlids as they are prone to illnesses resulting from this.Mexican tetras get along good in the same aquaria.

[Cascade]

I fell victim to poor advice in my first tank many years ago. I had some larger community fish (assorted grown danios and tetras) and wanted to add something new, so the "helpful" guy at the chain pet store told me I should pick out something (ANYTHING) from the "semi-aggressive" section, semi-aggressive meaning that it would be able to hold its own against the larger fish in the tank (remember, these were merely danios and tetras).

Embarrassing to admit, I picked out the cute fish called a "cichlid" with that pretty orange throat.

The Firemouth hid in the fake plants for months until he grew larger, which is when he emerged from hiding and ate every last fish in that tank.

Oops.

I know better now - and would love to try the Firemouths again. They are very cool fish, in the right environment and with the right tankmates!! :hmm3grin2orange:

[skullduggery1]

Have you ever tried Thorichthys ellioti,or aureum?They are very much like a firemouth,but size and disposition differences.

[Ticklemekevin10]

great species,some can be nasty,but most are mellow.I have one in with some larger livebearers and all is well.Do not feed blood worms to firemouth cichlids as they are prone to illnesses resulting from this.Mexican tetras get along good in the same aquaria.

Wow so glad you said something about the bloodworms cause I was probably gonna feed em that! Thanks!

[Ticklemekevin10]

That's horrible, cascade! Ya most of those chain pet store fish really don't know all that much but they pretend that they do and end up giving horrible advice

[Ticklemekevin10]

Oh ya speaking of!!! Last time I went to a certain chain pet store ( ends with a co ) haha they had firemouth convict and African cichlids all in one tank! Not cool!

[Ticklemekevin10]

Maybe I put a different thread up about this. Let's continue about firemouths!

[skullduggery1]

They get 6 inches maybe slightly larger,males are larger with longer fins.water temps 76 -81 degrees.keep a group of six then pairs will form intermittently.feed small crustaceans and high fiber dry foods.They are from rivers in the yucatan in mexico and found in guatemala.Sometimes even in submerged caves.Medium to large barbs,and some larger biosterious tetra species will work with them.Red tailed sharks and some species of catfish also.No three spot gourami's.Kissing and giant gourami's will be okay.

[Cliff]

Do not feed blood worms to firemouth cichlids as they are prone to illnesses resulting from this.Mexican tetras get along good in the same aquaria.


Do you have a referance for this info ?

I've been feeding blood worms about 3 times a week to my firemouths for over a year now with no problems at all. I would like to look into this a little more, just to make sure I haven't been getting lucky over the past year.

[skullduggery1]

here is some pics from the internet.To show why this is such a popular cichlid.

[Ticklemekevin10]

They get 6 inches maybe slightly larger,males are larger with longer fins.water temps 76 -81 degrees.keep a group of six then pairs will form intermittently.feed small crustaceans and high fiber dry foods.They are from rivers in the yucatan in mexico and found in guatemala.Sometimes even in submerged caves.Medium to large barbs,and some larger biosterious tetra species will work with them.Red tailed sharks and some species of catfish also.No three spot gourami's.Kissing and giant gourami's will be okay.

How about pictus catfish? Probably shouldn't have anything else in there though they are spawning though right?

[skullduggery1]

no, not if they are spawning,The info for bloodworms(midge larva)comes from a publication from Barron's compass guides,written by Dr. Ulrich Schliewen.

[Ticklemekevin10]

What specifically do you feed yours?

[skullduggery1]

ghost shrimp,high percent omega 3 and spirulina flake,raw table shrimp,scallops,thawed frozen peas,Live large brine shrimp.Hikari gold floating pellets.

[Ticklemekevin10]

So what did you feed on a regular? And the others as treats?

[skullduggery1]

The pellets and flake,twice a week shrimp or scallops and peas ,then brine and ghost once a week as treats.but some ghost usually get away and populate the tank for a live food source.tend not to live long if there is a nocturnal fish in there.Blood worms and tubifex are from less than desirable waters,even when farmed,murky,sewage area's.okay for rice paddy and ditch fish.but firemouth are from well filtered waters hence the colorful displays.Asia has practices of pumping livestock and even human waste into farmed flooded areas.i suppose if anyone whats proof of this it is the reason for a lot of E coli outbreaks.

[Ticklemekevin10]

Awesome! Good info! What about live feeder fish when they are older? Or earthworms? So you don't recommend frozen blood worms to any tropical fish? I feed them to my ghost knife fish right now. Know anything about bgk? What I should feed him instead?

[skullduggery1]

earthworms are fine.guppies will just make them more aggresive towards other fish.black ghosts are from dark tanin stained waters and are hard to feed.Live black worms are good ,but hard to find.But you might try frozen brine for them.

[Lady Hobbs]

Oh ya speaking of!!! Last time I went to a certain chain pet store ( ends with a co ) haha they had firemouth convict and African cichlids all in one tank! Not cool!

You see all kinds of fish mixed together at fish stores because they are little more than fry and are only in a store for a few days before being sold. That does not mean because the store has them in tanks together, that it's bad. The store is simply a storage area for them for a few days.

Firemouths are only aggressive with their own kind. Mates are good but odd -man- out will be harassed to death. Nothing for firemouths to have 400 fry at a time, either.

[skullduggery1]

I agreed with Lady Hobbs,Also convicts and firemouth are central American' s,so alkaline water is not uncommon.As african lake cichlids have like requirements.

[Ticklemekevin10]

Very true I guess it's an over reaction but if they are still in there next time I go back it might be a different story. I think it bugged me most because this particular store are the ones that bug me most because everytime I've aske them something they've kinda made up an answer because they don't know. I wish they'd just say they didn't know. I'm gonna take everyones advice to just let them know so they have a chance to fix it.

[openbook]

Firemouths are beautiful fish. Mine looks great but likes to hide out in caves and driftwood most of the time. He is super slow to grow.