blackbelt tankmates?

F

fshkpr

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Mar 19, 2004
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calntisa.com
well i have a 125g tank that has been set up for over two years. i recently decided to sell the fish i had in there and go back to some africans. well the tank was empty except for a couple crayfish. and my son came over and saw it empty. well he had a small oscar( 31/2 inches) in his 10g tank and asked me if i would take it. so i did. so there goes my african tank. anyway looking for some thing else to put in it, i came across a beautiful black belt cichlid. the thing is huge (121/2 inches long 51/2 inches wide and 1/1/2 inches thick) and will have no problems cohabitating with the oscar. i am thinking i would like to add a medium size jack. and maybe a couple nice size firemouths. maybe a gold severum or two. just wondering if anybody has any other suggestions as to what other combinations would go with these two fish? I usually like to keep my tanks a little on the under populated side. but like to keep nice color balance. any suggestions appreciated. thank you
a pic of the black belt.
bbcichlid3.jpg
 
Here's the deal. If your Oscar is still only 3.5 inches, that Blackbelt is going to skin it alive. Blackbelt's are highly aggressive, if the Oscar was at least as big I would say give it a shot.

As far as the other fish goes, you are going to have to make a decision as to what kind of aggression you want to keep in your tank. Fish like JD's, firemouths and Severums are in a lower agression class than Black Belt's, Red Devil's and Managuense, etc. You will also be able to keep less of these larger, more aggressive fish in your 6 foot tank than the milder fish.

I would suggest adding a couple of Severums, six or so Silver Dollars, a Pimeloid cat or two, a large Pleco, maybe a Blue Acara. Get them all about the same size as the Oscar. Oscars are not very aggressive, they just like to eat anything that will fit in their mouths.

If you add that Black Belt, chances are that will be the only fish that you can keep in your tank ( it will kill off anything you add). Your chances of aggressive cichlids co-habitating in the same tank increase dramatically if you grow them out from a small size. Just plopping three 12 inch monsters in your tank is going to yield injured/possibly dead fish with the sole victor left standing.
 
no blue acara. it will be eaten in a matter of days.
 
well i have had the tank running since march, i did add the black belt. and also a 4 inch green terror and 3 roughly 3 inch gold severums. have and abosolutly no problems what so ever. every one seems to be getting along fine.
 
just some extra input. i have a black belt in a 55 along with some other s. americans. besides the fact of the tank being over stocked the fish get along pretty well. now and then you see some aggresion but nothing major like ive read on here. my reason for this post is to agree with what was previously said. ive had all my cichlids since about 2 inches long. and they were all purchased at the same time and i guess grew with one another so they kinda accept each others presence. i have the black belt in with a jd, a red devil, a flowerhorn, red tilapia. they get along fine, however thyre all only about 6 inches long. not a foot each yet. i plan on getting a bigger tank when i make room for it just some food for thought. good luck hope that helps
 
cnote, your fishes aggression haven't kick in yet. When they realize they need more space, one another will fight to the death to get enough space for themselves. The strongest will get rid of the weakest first. Never ever assume grew them from young and will accept each other. SA big bruiser doesn't play nice. That many fishes, I think you will need at least 250g tank to house them comfortably.

fshkpr, if you want tankmate for your black belt, you can get away with RD, midas, or another vieja specie. If you don't want cichlid, try some dither fishes like silver dollars, tinfoil barbs, and etc. Maybe add some clown loaches to make the tank more lively and interesting.
 
I have the same problem in that I have a big 12" Blackbelt cichlid and I'm looking to add some other fish to my 55 gallon tank. I currently have a 3" savani, a 3" convict cichlid and two 1.5" convicts. The Blackbelt chases them once in a while, but they seem to be ok. If I add some 2 to 3" yellow labs with plenty of rock caves for hiding, do you think they will be ok?
 
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