gold severum, jack depsey, electric yellow?

**splitadams** · 02-06-2009, 01:28 AM

i currently have 2 tanks one of them has a golden severum and some type of cat fish not too sure what one exactly it was a gift, and the other tank has a jack dempsey and an electric yellow, all fish are 2 inces or just under, so
im currently looking for a large tank to put them all together in, but before i do i thought it would be a good idea to find out theyre compatibility

they guy at the pet shop seems pretty clueless to anything i ask him

so does anybody here have any insight for me? will these fish get along in a big enought tank? and how big should the tank be?

**cocoa_pleco** · 02-06-2009, 01:29 AM

nope, not compatible. the jack dempsey, severum, and catfish are fine but the electric yellow is a different biotope

if you get a large tank like a 220g or a 300g you could try them together and luck out. maybe theyre used to eachother

**Red** · 02-06-2009, 01:33 AM

agreed, just a mess waiting to explode..

**splitadams** · 02-06-2009, 02:24 AM

so the severum, jack dempsey and the cat fish would be fine together?

ah, the guy at the aquarium said the electric yellow and the jack dempsey would be fine in the same tank, just trying to make the sale i suspect...
this is the first time ive kept cichlids, so still learning

thanks for that

**cocoa_pleco** · 02-06-2009, 03:21 AM

yep, those 3 are fine no prob.

basics to know on cichlids are the biotopes. you cant mix a south american like a oscar with a tanganyikan lamp. brichardi. you want to stick within the biotopes and keep fish with similar aggressions. the JD and severum are both fairly passive fish and shouldnt bug the catfish

**toddnbecka** · 02-06-2009, 03:32 AM

Aside from the water chemistry and aggression levels, yellow Lab's require a bit of veggie content (even if it's only spirulina flakes) in their diet. If you feed them the same foods suitable for the other fish they'll develop bloat.
A 75 should be fine for the Severum, JD, and catfish. Since they're small/juvies you could also add a few more similar-size cichlids to the mix. As long as they all grow up together they should be fine as adults. I once saw a 55 that was totally overcrowded with nearly a dozen cichlids like those, as well as an albino channel cat that was 8-9" long. I would have expected bloody mayhem, but the owner told me they had all been raised together from 2" juvies, and there wasn't even a split fin among them. Just don't get more than 1 of any species, a breeding pair will disrupt the harmony.

**Jeffbdd** · 02-07-2009, 12:34 AM

Sometimes u get lucky with mismatching, I have the American, African, and south american in 1, They get along great, But also been in same tank since quite a bit smaller.

**bushwhacker** · 02-07-2009, 02:52 AM

toddnbecka mentioned the water chemistry, the jd and sev and probably the cat are south american they like a softer water with a bit lower ph, the yellow lab is african and prefers harder water and a higher ph, for africans i used a crushed coral substrate to buffer the water and whenever i noticed my ph drop a bit toss in some baking soda

**toddnbecka** · 02-07-2009, 07:18 AM

Originally Posted by Jeffbdd

Sometimes u get lucky with mismatching, I have the American, African, and south american in 1, They get along great, But also been in same tank since quite a bit smaller.

Then again, sometimes one fish will unexpectedly go ballistic and damage or even kill one or more others that it had peacefully shared the tank with for months.

**Jeffbdd** · 02-07-2009, 04:32 PM

Havn't had the problem yet, Been with eachother for about 1 1/2. with exception of 1 new fish. Ive found it impossible to add anymore cichlids though. They wont accept any, Almost killed a parrot and did kill a demasoni, So its kinda at ur own risk to u and fish.