I have a 7 foot long, 265 gallon aquarium with many fake plants and driftwood. I initially stocked it with 5 vieja: 2 synspilum, 2 blackbelt, and 1 zonatus. All of these were about 6 inches with one of the synspilum and black belt being the largest
Also in there with them were a group of small clown loaches, other small cichlids such as 2 jack dempsey, 1 oscar, 1 green terror, and one fire mouth (all 1-3 inches)
after about 3 months of them in there fry appeared, from a blackbelt male and the zonatus female, probably over a 100. All seemed fine after a few weeks but suddenly the Dad started getting extremely aggressive and would push every single other fish on one side of the tank. Unfortunately he ended up killing the other 3 vieja, the oscar, and the green terror. Why the JD's and fire mouth were left alone remains a mystery. But as the fry started getting bigger they spread throughout the tank and the numbers slowly decreased until about a month later none were left.
A few months later they bred again, After a few weeks i tried taking some out and putting them into other small tanks with community fish but none of them made it. The same thing happened again where the number of fry slowly decreased until none were left. I never saw any fish eat or act aggressive to the fry. Was it the jack dempseys? Or could it be water quality/feeding. I tried feeding them crushed up cichlid flakes.
The parents always seemed protective. The Dad would even attack my net if i tried taking any fry. By now the Male black belt is about 10 inches and the female Zonatus is around 7 inches. Both are healthy. I'm actually setting up a 20 gallon refugium type tank to load with duckweed that will be separate from the main sump to try and lower nitrates, which are around 40ppm. I do about a 40 percent water change every week or so
I have a 90 gallon sump on it with about 50 gallons of bio balls, water is clear, pump runs almost 2000 gph.
The jack dempseys are a bit larger now (4 inches) so I may get them out of the tank, just don't know what i would do with them. I do have some silver dollars in there now. I keep the temperature at 79 degrees and feed a variety of flakes, NFL pellets and other sinking cichlid pellets.
It has been about 2 months since they last bred and I would really like them to do it again, that mix would probably look really cool.
I am open to any suggestions or questions. Thanks!
Also in there with them were a group of small clown loaches, other small cichlids such as 2 jack dempsey, 1 oscar, 1 green terror, and one fire mouth (all 1-3 inches)
after about 3 months of them in there fry appeared, from a blackbelt male and the zonatus female, probably over a 100. All seemed fine after a few weeks but suddenly the Dad started getting extremely aggressive and would push every single other fish on one side of the tank. Unfortunately he ended up killing the other 3 vieja, the oscar, and the green terror. Why the JD's and fire mouth were left alone remains a mystery. But as the fry started getting bigger they spread throughout the tank and the numbers slowly decreased until about a month later none were left.
A few months later they bred again, After a few weeks i tried taking some out and putting them into other small tanks with community fish but none of them made it. The same thing happened again where the number of fry slowly decreased until none were left. I never saw any fish eat or act aggressive to the fry. Was it the jack dempseys? Or could it be water quality/feeding. I tried feeding them crushed up cichlid flakes.
The parents always seemed protective. The Dad would even attack my net if i tried taking any fry. By now the Male black belt is about 10 inches and the female Zonatus is around 7 inches. Both are healthy. I'm actually setting up a 20 gallon refugium type tank to load with duckweed that will be separate from the main sump to try and lower nitrates, which are around 40ppm. I do about a 40 percent water change every week or so
I have a 90 gallon sump on it with about 50 gallons of bio balls, water is clear, pump runs almost 2000 gph.
The jack dempseys are a bit larger now (4 inches) so I may get them out of the tank, just don't know what i would do with them. I do have some silver dollars in there now. I keep the temperature at 79 degrees and feed a variety of flakes, NFL pellets and other sinking cichlid pellets.
It has been about 2 months since they last bred and I would really like them to do it again, that mix would probably look really cool.
I am open to any suggestions or questions. Thanks!
