Redhead cichlid question

[Paxus811]

Hi so I just have a couple questions. My red head cichlid (the central American species) started acting odd recently, he is digging a HUGE pit/bunker under the edge of a big piece of driftwood in my tank. He now spends most of his time chilling in his man cave/pit only really leaving to eat or flex his fishy dominance to,trespassers. My experience leads me to see this as breeding behavior but he is in a 180 with a firemoith 2 sajica a female red,tiger moto and 7 silver dollars so unless he is trying to get freaky with another species it seems odd. Never had a single cichlid,act like this so was,curious. Thanks.

 

[V227]

From your description, IMO your red head is just staking his claim to that area of the tank. The digging could certainly show intent to mate, but probably not. Every once in a while one of my big cichlids will rearrange the gravel to his liking. "Don't like that" to remedy the situation, I level out the gravel, then rescape that area. That works for a while. Be sure to post pics of your tank when have time. I keep several large New World cichlids but never have kept a Red Head Cichlid.

 

[Paxus811]

Ah gotcha makes sense and I appreciate the reply. I have kept Dovi, peacock bass, Oscars, "earth eaters", terrors, and several other new world cichlids and never saw this behavior at this level outside of breeding (though I do know central American cichlids have a propensity to hybridize) so I was concerned he was getting overly territorial and was about to claim the whole tank Hahah good to hear its probably nothing more then him being who he is. And will when I clean the algae tomorrow. My breeding projects have left me,slacking in tidiness. Also highly recommend the redheads. Beautiful fish

 

[dalto]

What is a Central American Red Head?

 

[V227]

I'm with you. I keep Red and Green Terrors, Firemouths, EBJD, Red Texas, Green Texas cichlids and Convicts. I have random African Cichlids for dithers, and have actually come to like them too.

 

[Paxus811]

Paraneetroplus synspilus, know as the quetzal or redhead cichlid. Mine is about 7 inches. The reportedly get 16 but my mom had one for 9 years that never got over a foot. Really gorgeous and from my experience decently mild mannered.

 

[Paxus811]

I miss my ebjd those fish are stellar. Wish I had more room in my apartment for some cichlid biotopes.

 

[dalto]

Thanks. Around here I always see them labeled as "Synspilum". I have never seen them called "Red Head" before.

Either way, those are cool fish. Have any pics of yours?

 

[Paxus811]

I just took a picture, the tank is filthy as I have been busy rehoming dwarf seahorses that got put of control as well as my betta breeding project which was more,successful then I expected. How do I post pics on this site?

 

[dalto]

How do I post pics on this site?

Click "Go Advanced" and then "Manage Attachments"

 

[Paxus811]

Best pic I could at the moment

The buddy, got him when he was about 2 inches and has tripled in size so far

 

[dalto]

Nice! Thanks for sharing.