Bandit Cichlids

[mike47517]

Anybody know anything about these? Looking in to getting some.

 

[kribensis12]

Never heard of them......

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Well they get up to 5in so they will need atleast a 40G per pair, also if you want to breed them a 40G would be suitable.

 

[kribensis12]

Do they have a different common name?

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Yeah Kribensis12, they are more commonly known as Panda Cichlids, but once you start saying Panda Cichlid, some might mistake you for the more commonly found Panda dwarf cichlid, which is a small apisto cichlid. Very different cichlids.

 

[kribensis12]

Do you have the Scientific Name? I have honestly never heard of them.

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

There scientific name is Guianacara Geayi, a lot of people prob. haven't heard of them yet since they are mostly found in Australia, they are more recently though being brought into the states and are being breed here aswell by fellow aquariumist, I don't know for sure though if they are breed commerical or not yet, my guess is no though.

Hope that helps

 

[kribensis12]

Thanks. I didnt know they existed, so i figuerd if i coudl ahve the Scientific name, i could google it w/o get mixed results

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Your welcome, the bandit cichlids he is talking about i'm guessing are the larger ones that get 5-6in.

 

[kribensis12]

Quite Possible. I don't see the attraction in it though. Not a very pretty fish.

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Yeah, me either, only thing I like about them is that black stripe along the face, but you can easily get that with GBRs and they are way prettier.

 

[kribensis12]

^ Tis true, you speak the truth!

 

[mike47517]

ok thanks guys. thats enough info. If anyone else is curious about bandit chichlids the feel free to use this thread.

 

[confusion]

They are actually quite pretty fish. They have an iridescent shimmer that is quite nice. Depending on their mood, they have bold stripes all over their bodies, or just the stripe through their eye, mentioned before.

I have both BR's, apistos and these bandits (I'm the one looking to give some away). I've had the adults for about 1.5 years, and the brood of fry for about 8 months. They cohabitate with swordtails, dojo loaches, angel fish, blue rams, bolivian rams and apistos, spread across 4 tanks. My largest problem with them is that they are diggers. They will rearrange my substrate and free my rooted plants frequently.

From my experience in a 125G, they only got to about 4" for the male and 3" for the female. I'll post some pictures later.