Firemouth Cichlid Care Guide & Species Profile

Firemouth cichlids (Thorichthys meeki) are from Central America. These cichlids have some unique coloration, with grey bodies with bright red along the bottom, and their fins get some blue as well. As Firemouth cichlids get older, the grey and reds become darker usually, with the blue in the fins coming in more. 

Males will usually get longer trailers to their dorsal fins, making them fairly easy to identify when they’re mature enough, but it might be a bit difficult to distinguish between juveniles. 

Firemouth cichlids are very common in the hobby today, as they are readily available in most big box stores like petsmart and petco. Usually they’re on sale when they’re only an inch or two in length, but they can grow to up to 6-7 inches for males and 5-6 inches for females.

Tank Parameters

Firemouth cichlids are from Central America, so their ideal water parameters are roughly 75-82 degrees, 6.5 to 8.0 pH and relatively hard water. We usually recommend keeping your normal parameters consistent rather than chasing numbers, as the fluctuations seem to do more harm than good. And besides, most of these cichlids are tank bred and have adapted to your local water parameters. They are relatively hardy cichlids, but just make sure you have consistent water parameters and keep up with your water changes. I aim to keep nitrates below 20 to 40 parts per million, which keeps the firemouth cichlid happy and healthy.

Tank Setup

Because they are from Central America and found in rivers and streams, an ideal tank setup would have some driftwood, rocks and sand. Some plants could also work with them. The firemouth loves to have a territory to have as their own, so plenty of hiding places are recommended. Males will actually flare up their gills when staking their territory, but overall they aren’t super aggressive.
There’s some debate on this, but in our experience Firemouths are not too aggressive if they have a large enough tank and hiding spots.

I’d recommend a 40 gallon tank or larger when it comes to tank size. A 40 breeder with a pair would be a cool setup. But if you have a 55 gallon or larger, they could potentially fit with some other tank mates.

Tank Mates

For cichlid tank mates, I’d recommend similar sized Central or South American cichlids. A few Central American options are the Jack Dempsey, the Convict cichlid, the Nicaraguan cichlid, the Rainbow cichlid, or even the Salvini cichlid if the tank size is large enough. For South Americans, Green Terrors would work well in most cases.

The Severum cichlid would be a great choice, as well as the electric blue acara, and many of the Geophagus species would work. Some larger tetras like the Columbian tetra or Denison barbs would be great tank mates. Silver dollars would be a great dither option to bring a Firemouth cichlid out of its territory more. Plecos make a great choice as well.

For feeding, high quality flakes and pellets will be great for them, but occasionally frozen foods like bloodworms and brine shrimp would round out their diet.

Firemouth cichlids are very easy to breed, which is another reason they are so common. All you need is a male and female, and some flat surfaces for them to lay eggs. The eggs are adhesive and will hatch in a few days if the male fertilizes. 

Firemouth cichlids have a few similar species and color variations that are somewhat rare, like the Lemon or yellow Firemouth, or a similar species: the Elloti cichlid. However, the Firemouth gets more deep red color and less spotting along their bodies, so its usually easy to tell the difference.

Summary

Overall, the Firemouth cichlid is one of my all time favorite fish in the hobby. It’s an awesome choice for a beginner getting into cichlids, they don’t get too aggressive or require a massive tank, and their coloration is incredible. I’d highly recommend them to others, and I think I’ll always have one myself.