Suggestions for 50gal?
 

Hello!! So I recently added a Blue Acara to my 50 gallon planted tank, which was also housing a few Rummynose tetras and some neons. Within a week the Acara had eaten them all!
Are there any attractive schooling/shoaling fish that I can keep in my tank with the Blue Acara?Any suggestions would be much appreciated :)

I fear you will need to decide either schooling fishes or..cichlids. Any shoaling, schooling fishes, would be a gamble with the Acara and they would be under constant stress from fear of being eaten:shock:.

This certainly illustrates the necessity of always researching a fish before acquiring it. Fish are the way they are because that's how they were made.;-)

Hmmm true that, I should have done some research first. It was more of an impulse buy.
Well I finally found a food that the Acara loves (sinking goldfish pellets) and supplement its diet regularly with garden worms, so I added just a few rummynoses and neons to the tank again to see how things go. it hasn't eaten any of them for 3 days!

I do not understand you. You know the Acara attains 8 inches and will eat anything smaller, and you had it eat your existing fish, yet you buy more of them. Do you enjoy watching fish suffer? The stress on these small characins from having a predator with them is immense. Even if the Acara does not physically attack them, it is sending out chemical signals as a predator and the other fish can read it.

Aside from that, a 50g is not suitable for a fish that attains 8 inches.

I'm sorry to be blunt, but this is simply not responsible fishkeeping.

No, do not imply that I enjoy watching fish suffer. I simply do not have as much knowledge about tropical fish as you do, I am relatively new to the hobby. I bought the new tetras with the belief that because the Acara is now well fed it will no longer eat my other fish. And this has proven true. But if you truly believe that "chemical signals" may be stressing the tetras, I will return the Cichlid ASAP

Think of it this way..

You weigh 90 lbs and someone that weighs 300lbs wants your lunch money. You dont have a choice but to give it to him. He does this for several days until one day he comes across $100 dollars on the sidewalk. He may leave you alone for a couple days but he will eventually come back.

Much is the same of your cichlid. The pellets will be fine for a couple of days(weeks, months even possibly.) He will return to eating the other fish at some point though. Maybe the one day you work late, or sleep in depending on when you feed. In the meantime it's mere presence will be very stressful.