# Will Firemouth cichlids and Blue Acaras make good tankmates?



## MonsterCichlids (Jan 25, 2012)

In a 75 gallon can i have a male and female pair of blue acaras with a group of firemouths? What would be the best combo? I wanted it to be a community of firemouths so I'd go out and buy maybe 6 juveniles and if they pair up and spawn then yay even better! But should i then mix a pair of acaras or add just a single acara with the FM's?


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## oldcatfish (May 27, 2009)

They do make good tankmates. A pair of each will squabble quite a bit, so you'll need to have clear territorial boundaries.


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## mattmean (Feb 9, 2012)

Actually great question.

Some BA's are very passive, in fact most are able to be kept with discus or angels even at times. However, the pair might get feisty, luckily neither firemouths/ba's are noted killers. BUT of course with any fish there is a dominance structure. Its certainly do-able in a well aqua-scaped setup. But if you know 1 or the other is overly aggressive I would hold off. Only you know your fish. If you wanted a community you could try a few geo's in the there, or something from the Astatheros line.


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## aggriffin3 (Aug 15, 2009)

I will only speak from my experience and my setup. I had a 4" male Blue Acara that was quite aggressive, and was the boss over 5 other Blue Acara's (mixture of males and females) and anything smaller I would add to the tank (so I removed all the others and sold them leaving me with the one Blue Acara thinking he was the lone fish I wanted to build around). I added a male 4" Firemouth in the tank thinking the BA needed a friend, well was I wrong about adding the Firemouth. He quickly took control of the tank (40 gallon breeder) and hunted down the BA no matter what. Not sure if it was the FM, or if it was smaller size aquarium, but with that experience and that setup, I wouldnt do it again.

Hope things work out, as both are beautiful fish.

Art


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## oldcatfish (May 27, 2009)

Quote "Not sure if it was the FM, or if it was smaller size aquarium, but with that experience and that setup, I wouldnt do it again."

Small aquarium and only 2 fish almost never works. Had your aquarium been larger and you had kept all of the other Acaras, you'd have had better luck. In fact, you'd probably have had better luck than you did.


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## aggriffin3 (Aug 15, 2009)

I agree, I probably would have had better luck. That's why I made sure to say from my experience and my setup. I will admit, as large as a 40 breeder might look, it is still only a 3 footer, and not enough space between the two ides of the aquarium for two semi aggressive species. I also think a heavily planted tank to block vision would have helped.
With that said, I loved the Blue Acara, not so much the Firemouth based on their personalities. I could feed the BA by hand, and he always came out and greeted me.

Art


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