anyone here keep cichlids or other aggressive fish other than AFRICANS?

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

cichlidcasey

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Oct 8, 2012
Messages
138
Don't see many fans of good old Oscars, or dempseys, or flowerhorns, peacock bass, freshwater baracudas, gar, knife fish, aerowannas, ...just curious if anyone out there fancies and of these.
 
I've got an oscar, a german blue ram, a golden ram, and a bolivian ram! Love them, starting to dissagree with the oscar though
 
Actually we have a pretty good following of SA/CA members here.

I myself keep nothing but New world cichlids. All though I'm not a fan of O's or jd's I have kept them both many times in my life.

Check out the SA/CA group we have.
 
I have cichlids that aren't aggressive, like discus and German blue rams, and then I have rope fish which are supposed to be aggressive but mine are all just big ole softies.
 
O yeah, I've got 4 angels also. Keep forgetting they are cichlids also lol
 
Have three oscars, a redhead cichlid, a blackbelt, a red devil, six Amphilophus hybrids that were given to me, a salvini, a pair of firemouths, some convicts, and some angels. Lookin' to pick up some cupid cichlids.

For the record, I am very against intentional hybridization. These six were shipped to me at 3/8" as a gift with a turtle I purchased, and the friend who sent them was sure they were A. zaliosus. Once they hit 3" and 5 outta 6 started turnin' from black to orange, I knew they weren't, but by that time I didn't have the heart to destroy 'em and decided to let them live a (not-so) peaceful (not-so) natural life with my other large CA cichlids.

WYite
 
225 gallons, the cons are actually feeders that escaped gettin' nommed and started reproducin' in the rockwork, so there's actually a constant supply of snacks in the tank.

Almost all these fish were rescues or donations from folks who bought them with no idea what they were gettin' into and then were gonna destroy the fish after their tetras, platies, barbs, (insert any community fish here), etc. got nommed, or who realized that this fish didn't belong in a 20 or 29 gallon tank when it's nose was touchin' the front and it's tail was touchin' the back. I'm always gettin' hit up by people, ya know, "Hey, a buddy of mine has this fish that's killin' everything in his tank. Do ya want it?" Nom, nom, nom...yum. There's a drawback to havin' a reputation as the fish guy. I haven't used my 225 for fish I actually wanted in over 20 years. I actually was gonna make this a Lake Malawi rock reef tank and stay away from rescues when I set up the fish room 3 1/2 years ago. Guess I'm a softie...

The tank is filtered like crazy (2400 gph) and is a bit overstocked, everybody that wasn't already stunted is still growin' and they get along well, for cichlids. I've found over the years that the same strategy for overstocking used for African cichlids to reduce and divert aggression works with large SA/CA cichlids as well; it takes a much bigger tank and a helluva lot of filtration, though.

10041210.jpg


Sorry for the crappy cell phone pic, my camera died a coupla years ago and my plan to get a new one last spring failed to come to fruition.

There's also a banded leporinus and a coupla large plecos, also donations, in there as well.

The three angels are in a planted 40 breeder with some tetras and otocinclus. I'm lookin' for some cupid cichlids to round out the tank.

WYite
 
Wait! You used convicts as feeders?

LOL, yeah. I intentionally started with a pair to breed, with the intention to use the offspring as feeders. Cons make a great feeder source; they don't eat their fry and they reproduce faster than livebearers, faster than just 'bout anything, really, and they grow fast. Ya can't give the fry away once the local market is flooded. Can't think of a better fish to breed for feeders.

WYite
 
i have a 9.5-10 inch Dusky Albino Oscar that ive had a lil over a year. she is currently in a 40b with a 7.5-8 inch pleco. i love her!! the pics are only a few weeks old, but she has black sand now...
 

Attachments

  • phish5.jpg
    phish5.jpg
    123.1 KB · Views: 125
  • phish1.jpg
    phish1.jpg
    152.9 KB · Views: 120
All I keep are new worlds. Jacks(ebjd and reg), salvini, festae, jags, green terrors and carpintis.
 
Back
Top Bottom