# Salvini, Firemouths and Convict Cichlids Photos



## sjlchgo (Mar 2, 2008)

Here are some pics of my Cichlid tank.


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## CiChLiD LoVeR128 (Mar 22, 2006)

They all look great but the Salvini looks AWESOME! :thumb:

Keep up the great work!


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## gage (Feb 7, 2007)

CiChLiD LoVeR128 said:


> They all look great but the Salvini looks AWESOME! :thumb:
> 
> Keep up the great work!


your so Bias... :lol:

they look great!


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## fajardoacuarista (Jan 16, 2008)

convict are good loking but they are a a plage.

good looking yours fish :thumb:


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## CiChLiD LoVeR128 (Mar 22, 2006)

> your so Bias...


I know......... :lol: :lol:


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## roman_back (May 8, 2007)

just a tip... you fish look great!! but if you was to put darker substrate in your tank you will see a tremendous difference!!


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## Big Vine (Feb 26, 2007)

Very nice---I really like the rockwork and all those little cave areas you've got in there for them.
What size is the tank? How many of each species do you have in there? Are you aiming for an all-male setup, or do you plan on getting pairs (I'm not really able to distinguish any females in there)?

Either way, it oughta be interesting to witness the dynamics of this setup as the fish mature and sort out pecking order and so forth. Keep us posted! :thumb: 
BV


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## pugwash (Sep 11, 2006)

Looks great :thumb: Makes me miss my CA setup, but my young lad does love my current mbuna setup (even if the Mrs doesn't!). If I ever do another CA setup, it would be similar to this.

Echoing BV's comments, what's the full stocklist - I see 5 convicts, 3 firemouths and a sal. Assumming, they're juvenile's, I guess there's more in there...?

Have you got a full tank shot?

Would be good if this turned into a log, as the tank dynamics change (as I'm sure they will).

Enjoy and good luck.


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## sjlchgo (Mar 2, 2008)

Thanks for all the comments. I am currently "converting" the tank from an all convict tank to a community tank. It's a 55 gal. I have re-homed all of the adults and kept the babies. I am still thinning out the tank to get rid of some of the convicts. There are about 15 in there now, 3 Salvini's and 3 Firemouths. Hoping to get some pairs established. Thinking of getting 2 more Sals and 2 more FM's and keeping 5 of the convicts until they pair up. Here are full shots of the tank.


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## CiChLiD LoVeR128 (Mar 22, 2006)

> Thanks for all the comments. I am currently "converting" the tank from an all convict tank to a community tank. It's a 55 gal. I have re-homed all of the adults and kept the babies. I am still thinning out the tank to get rid of some of the convicts. There are about 15 in there now, 3 Salvini's and 3 Firemouths. Hoping to get some pairs established. Thinking of getting 2 more Sals and 2 more FM's and keeping 5 of the convicts until they pair up. Here are full shots of the tank.


WOW!  That's A LOT of cichlids in a 55 gal! You are going to move them to seperate tanks right? Because the Salvini wil be ready to spawn around the 2.5-3 in mark and the Firemouths will be ready to spawn around the 3-3.5 in mark. My advice would be to just move them to seperate tanks now and wait for pairs that way because that's too much aggression and the 55 gal will not be able to support that! Just giving a heads up!


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## sjlchgo (Mar 2, 2008)

WOW!  That's A LOT of cichlids in a 55 gal! You are going to move them to seperate tanks right? Because the Salvini wil be ready to spawn around the 2.5-3 in mark and the Firemouths will be ready to spawn around the 3-3.5 in mark. My advice would be to just move them to seperate tanks now and wait for pairs that way because that's too much aggression and the 55 gal will not be able to support that! Just giving a heads up! [/quote]

So you don't think the Salvini's and the Firemouths can co-exist? I do plan to get most of the convicts out...I want to get down to a pair of them also. When fry appear(I've done this witht he convicts) I put a divider in the tank to allow the parents to have their own end until the fry are free swimming. I've done this through 5 spawnings and haven't had any problems. However, there were only convicts in at the time.


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## CiChLiD LoVeR128 (Mar 22, 2006)

> So you don't think the Salvini's and the Firemouths can co-exist?


Not in a 55 gal. In a 125 gal they could but if you want two pairs in a 55 gal and Salvini as one of the pairs the trusted combination would be a pair of Convicts and a pair of Salvini which is located in the cookie cutters section under 55 gal. But even then I feel it wouldn't work. The Salvini* WILL *need the 55 gal to themselves! IMO I think that cookie cutter option is WWIII ready to happen!


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## BigJagLover (Oct 25, 2006)

I agree with cichlidlover. My sals topped out at 5and 4" respectivly in a year. and at this size just getting ready to breed in a 125 was hard for my other cichlids. the sals took 3 ft of the tank and let no one cross the invisable line. Beleve it or not the female was more aggro durring this time then the malee. She hit much harder then the male and would go full speed into the intruding fish without even batting an eyelash.

in short if you get your pairs and you keep your pairs keep the divider handy and in place.


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## pugwash (Sep 11, 2006)

What about reviewing this a little, such that there is 1 pair of convicts, 1 pair of firemouths, and a lone salvini? I personally prefer the female sals, which could possibly act as fry control ... although I'm not sure there's enough from for this too?

Just throwing a different idea out there.


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## BigJagLover (Oct 25, 2006)

It would work a little bit better this way as you are getting rid of the male but in saying that a 55 is hjust going to be too small for this mix long term and the firemouths will end up getting ejected from the tank. as soon as the cons hit the 5" mark. It will tak a long time for this to happen , Possily a year or 2 max. I say try it and just be mindful of aggression so you don't end up in a blood bath.


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## sjlchgo (Mar 2, 2008)

Thanks for the comments. I'm just looking for an excuse to get a larger tank...lol. I have some Clown loaches in another 55 so I already had plans to get at least a 90 for them. I think I'll follow the adives and get a 55 for the Sals alone. I do love the Sals...but the firemouths are quite entertaining as well. Maybe I'll just start our by taking the convicts out of the picture completely. I've been dealing with them for a while and am ready for a change.


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## BigJagLover (Oct 25, 2006)

Now your talking. Put the firemouths in with the clowns and give the 55 to your sals. That way when you get the 90 gal you just move the Clowns. Now that's using your head. But just to throw a monkey wrench in on you. I think if you had the 90 gal you could have the sals and maybe on lager fish of minimal aggression. Say a chochlote cichlid or a bourcuti or a syniphlum.

Just a thought . Good luck.


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## SinÃ¤lukiinsuomenttoikÃ¤Ã¤ (May 31, 2008)

i had juwels, spirilus , convicts, and more about 3 or 4 pairs spawning at 1 time in a 55g years ago.
overcrowding kills aggression. aslong as you have a great filter its no problem. the fish keep to their individual territorys and its peacefull

maybe i just got lucky but nobody killed nobody and they all raised the fry til i syphoned them out.

may i also add that im loving the tank set up and that salvini!


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## sjlchgo (Mar 2, 2008)

Well, first of all, thanks! Secondly, I have rehomed about 15 of the Cons leaving me with 5 cons, 3 Firemouths and 3 Sals. Going to a swap meet next week so I hope to find a nice 75-90g to bring home.


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## sjlchgo (Mar 2, 2008)

Well, here's the latest....I got a 125 gal tank yesterday! I can't wait to get it up and running. Going to move my Clown Loaches to the big tank and separate the FM's and Sals to their own 55 gal. Will post pics as soon as I get set up.


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## pugwash (Sep 11, 2006)

sjlchgo said:


> Will post pics as soon as I get set up.


Great stuff :thumb: If only I had room for something similar.


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## sjlchgo (Mar 2, 2008)

I still have the canopy and lighting to do as well as the facing of the stands. 1 is going to be black and the other 2 are going to have an Oak finish. Stay tuned....


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## phishes (May 17, 2005)

CiChLiD LoVeR128 said:


> > So you don't think the Salvini's and the Firemouths can co-exist?
> 
> 
> Not in a 55 gal. In a 125 gal they could but if you want two pairs in a 55 gal and Salvini as one of the pairs the trusted combination would be a pair of Convicts and a pair of Salvini which is located in the cookie cutters section under 55 gal. But even then I feel it wouldn't work. The Salvini* WILL *need the 55 gal to themselves! IMO I think that cookie cutter option is WWIII ready to happen!


I agree that breeding sals could cause problems in this tank. A single sal would be ok. I have a male con, female sal, and a male FM in a 55g and have no problems at all. I also have 5 large swordtails, which the cichlids ignore. The cichlids have clearly established a pecking order. The male con is 6'' , the sal is 5'' and the FM is 4.5''. The con is the dominate fish. 
Some people have been finding that over stocking CA cichlids works like over stocking Africans. This helps with aggression, but doesn't help with the water params. Too many fish=lots of waste. Lots of waste can lead to HITH for the sals.


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## mallic9381 (Oct 7, 2008)

hi everyone im new to this forum, can anyone help me identify if my firemouths r female or male pls


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