From: mattk@cbnewsl.cb.att.com (matthew.kaufman)
Subject: Re: (f) companion fish for jewel cichlids
Organization: AT&T
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1992 13:58:37 GMT
Summary: Some anecdotal observations

In article <1992Oct5.180912.11736@bnr.ca> dbailey@bcarh673.bnr.ca (Douglas Bailey) writes:
>I recently purchased 4 jewel cichlids.  I placed them in my tank with
>a bunch of white clouds.  The jewels weren't mature (largest about
>2.5" long) so I figured the mature white clouds would be fine and the
>fry would be a good source of live food for the cichlids.
>
>As expected, the white cloud fry started disappearing.  Unfortunately,
>I was wrong about the adults.  One night, after I had had the jewels
>for about a week, all of the adults disappeared.  No bodies, no fluff
>balls on the carpet, nothing left.

They were eaten.
>
>The problem: now that the jewels are alone in the tank, they have
>gotten quite reclusive.  They will come out of hiding when I feed
>them, but at no other time.
>
>I need a dither fish or target fish for the cichlids.  Given the speed
>with which the white clouds were dispatched, I don't believe a fast
>target fish will survive.  The alternative is a sturdy dither fish.  I
>don't really have any good ideas, though.

I bought 12 jewel cichlid juveniles in August of 91. Said jewels were
Hemichromis Lifalili, sometimes sold as the "Red Jewel." There're several
varieties of Hemichromis commonly available, including Guttatus, Elongatus
(sold as the '5 star general.') They share one thing in common - they're
among the most aggressive cichlids you can own.

6 of my juveniles survived to adulthood, 3 males, 3 females and yes, there
are 3 reliably spawning pairs. I have them in a 75 gallon tank along with 5
black-chinned Tilapias (Sarotherodon Melanopteron, or something like that,)
and a synodontis angelicus catfish.
The smallest tilapia is almost as big as the largest jewel cichlid.

The jewels hide a lot, spawn very regularly - 2 pairs at least
(each pair sort of has
its own little cave/territory, supply plenty if you want the vicious little
buggers to keep from shredding each other). Once, I siphoned wrigglers
from a pair (in February, I think,) and raised them outside the community
tank - turned out to have raised about 30. Anyway, when the offspring were
4 months old and barely an inch long, 2 of *them* paired off and began
to spawn. At that point I got rid of all the offspring as I didn't want
to be flooded with jewel cichlids.

The jewels keep the tilapias out of their territories, but they seem
cowed by the synodontis, which admittedly is larger than the largest jewel,
not by much.

So, not knowing which jewels you have, if they're 2.5" long they may
very well be of spawning size.

Oh, my tank water is hard (18GH, 8KH), alkaline (pH7.2) kept at 78F. Big
power filter, random prepared foods fed daily (flakes, pellets, home-made paste).

Dithers are pointless - put some other cichlids in of like demeanor or
a big catfish. They'll get used to you. *Maybe*, you can try rainbowfish,
but I've had miserable luck with them as dithers, they end up as feeders, too.

PS - if you have a synodontis in there, you won't get *any* jewel fry to
survive, synodontis are very effective predators.
>
>One alternative which occured to me was to use feeder guppies as
>target fish.  They would provide both a source of food and the
>necessary activity to bring the cichlids out of hiding.  Of course,
>I'd have to replace them regularly...
And risk nasty parasites with them.
>
>Any suggestions welcome.  Please post since my company doesn't allow
>email access unless it's company business.

Gee, like the last guy who posted that he was killing his fish and when
I made some suggestions flamed me in private mail? Probably he's had to
repopulate his tank of incompatible fish by now. But of course, he knows best.
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Newsgroups: alt.aquaria