Avoid a cichlid mix!

Resist the temptation to combine Firemouths with other cichlids. Firemouths are sand-sifters, and their mouths and throats are specially modified to do this sort of foraging. As a result, the bones are delicate and easily dislocated, and while this isn’t usually a problem when two male Firemouth cichlids ‘wrestle’ over territory, it does mean they are easily damaged by other, more robustly built cichlids. This is the reason they have those eye-spots on their gill covers — so males can threaten one another before actually coming to blows. Such bluffs don’t work on other cichlids, and should the Firemouth get his jaws damaged, he’ll most likely starve to death. It’s a sad sight to see, but unfortunately, all too common when people make the mistake of keeping them with other cichlids.