Blue Eyes

[Cactuspixie]

Here are a couple of photos of some of the Blue Eyes I got at auction the other night:



I don't remember their scientific names.
These are my first cichlids (not counting the highly aggressive new world cichlids that came with my first 6' and which I don't keep)
I've read so much conflicting information on the blue eyes- they were sold at auction as 'peaceful' but I've read that they can be highly aggressive to conspecifics (and I have 5!)

These are alternately curious, skittish and mildly aggressive. If I sit in front of the tank and stay still they become VERY curious- they come quite close, peering intently at me, but the second I move, they are on the other side of the tank peeking out from behind a rock.

I don't know what colour they are really, as it seems to change a lot, but they were extremely washed out when I bought them, and have coloured up nicely since.

What I'm keen to know, is this: is there anything I can do to make them less skittish, and will they be okay with my two brasiliensis and 3 severums (when they arrive)?
The only other occupants are Bristlenoses, kuhlis, and a couple of bumblebee gobies. Oh and two tiny L002 tiger plecs.

If you hung in there till this point thankyou!

 

[bettaowner]

I've never seen those but they look cool

 

[HUKIT]

Archocentrus spilurus or Cryptoheros spilurus depending on which taxonomists you speak to , they are far from peaceful. They are you typical feisty central american cichlid that can dominate a tank, especially with conspecifics.

Great pick up as they are quite rare in the states, I currently own and breed every species currently in Crytptoheros and these are last on my list to complete that genus in my fish room.

I don't know what size tank you have but a pair needs a minimum of 40g(such as a breeder which is 36x18), anything smaller is asking for trouble. Two pairs could exist in a 48" tank as long as the layout is prepared well.

Blue eyes is common in a multiple of genus, especially that one.

 

[Cactuspixie]

Archocentrus spilurus or Cryptoheros spilurus depending on which taxonomists you speak to , they are far from peaceful. They are you typical feisty central american cichlid that can dominate a tank, especially with conspecifics.

Great pick up as they are quite rare in the states, I currently own and breed every species currently in Crytptoheros and these are last on my list to complete that genus in my fish room.

I don't know what size tank you have but a pair needs a minimum of 40g(such as a breeder which is 36x18), anything smaller is asking for trouble. Two pairs could exist in a 48" tank as long as the layout is prepared well.

Blue eyes is common in a multiple of genus, especially that one.

Thanks for your input HUKIT!

They are in a 6'x2'x2' tank with LOTS of bolt holes. They definitely own the whole tank- even the bristlenose logs! So far the aggression has been limited to chasing. No nipping.

Last night I put some live black worms in the tank. My cories (other tanks) love to forage for them in planted pots, so I used a length of PVC pipe to put some worms into two of the planted pots in the cichlids' tank. Once they had almost completely burrowed in, I removed the pipe.

Unlike the cories, who go into a frenzy digging for the worms en masse, the cichlids were very crafty! The 1st blue eyes to discover the worms was very careful to not let on to the others what he'd found. He extracted the worms with minimum disturbance of the substrate, and whenever another cichlid came in sight, he'd casually swim away as though there was nothing of interest there. Then when the coast was clear, he'd zip back and suck a few more worms out.

This continued for a good 20 minutes until someone cottoned on to what he was up to.
The others then went and checked each of the other planted pots for worms! At one point there was a kuhli loach propped up on his pecs peeking over the side of one of the pots that a cichlid was hunting in, but he wasn't brave (stupid) enough to try his luck. Lol.

I'm not going to feed them live worms again though, as I feel that may cause aggression issues by bringing those instincts to the forefront. Besides, I don't want them to go off their NLS pellets. Not when I bought them in 2kg buckets!

I hope when my severums arrive I don't have aggression issues between them and the others. The severums are the cichlids I chose after long consideration, while the others were an impulse buy at auction, but I love the little guys already!
They were certainly a bargain at $1 each! The local pet shop has the same size blue eyes for $15 each.

 

[Cactuspixie]

Darn they are hard to get photos of! This pic shows one of them wearing his darker colours:



I don't know what it means when they change colours like that, but all 5 seem to do it.

 

[HUKIT]

They look great, I'm a little jealous! The colors will change like many cichlids due to mood, whether it's aggression, mating, or stress.

The feeding regime without the worms really is the best bet, occasionally won't hurt to much I would just stick with the NLS and call it a day.