How many Kribs for a 55 gallon tank.?

Question

I was thinking of getting kribenisis fish. I have a heavially planted 55 gal tank for them. How many do you think I can fit in there?

Also, how many firemouth cichlids do you think I could fit in there?

I was considering german blue rams, but i'm afraid the ph may go too low for them (6.7).

I have a pair of green terrors in the tank that I will be selling this week. The tank will only have a few queen loaches in it.

Answer 1

kribs do get a bit rowdy at spawning time ... big surprise from a cichlid eh? I wouldn't go over 5-6 and maybe thin that to 4 once they are full grown.

Firemouths get a bit larger but are actually a little less aggressive so about the same numbers on those I would say.

Rams should really like a pH around 6.7. It's kind of to the low end of their range, but certainly not out of it. There ar other apistos that like that range of pH even better though so you might consider them or evn 2-3 colonys of apistogramma. That would be a very nice looking planted tank IMO.

Answer 2

Both the kribs & firemouths are highly territorial. This means that when a couple form a pairbond & begin to breed, they will attack any other fish visible to them. This problem can be eased a bit by using plants to divide up the tank to break up the lines of sight. Also, provide some partially buried flowerpots, or arrange rocks to form caves. The kribs will lay their eggs on the underside of a cave/pot. The firemouths lay their eggs in the open on a rock.

Answer 3

I would say about 7 fire mouths would fair nicely.