Could this work?

I think you need to adjust your mindset a little bit on this, just like I had to do. I came from keeping community tanks of angels, tetras & cats to vieja, trimacs & motas. Once you come to the understanding that a pair of large semi to very aggressive fish in a small(125gal) gallon tank might work out, might work for a short time - maybe a couple of spawns, or might end quickly in the loss of a fish, your options will open up more.

When you keep CAs, you have to learn to be flexible & roll with the punches. Look at a failed situation as a learning experience or an opportunity to try something new. Its hard to flip the switch when going from peaceful SA communities to aggro CAs. Total different fish keeping mindset.

Even South American cichlid pairs will do this, depending on the tank size and the tankmates. Even discus and angels will go psycho occasionally and destroy a mate.

You have to remember that cichlids have evolved with strong parental instincts, which includes the aggression necessary to defend their eggs and fry from predators. All of that is still hard-wired in their brains. When they spawn, that heightened state of energy and aggression is still in there. And sometimes it has to go somewhere. That could mean chasing off tankmates and dithers, or glass-banging, or flaring at fish in an adjacent tank, or, unfortunately, sometimes losing their sh*t on their mate and mutilating it.

It's also worth noting that cichlids are defending a huge area in the wild. Watch any video of spawning cichlids in the wild. I've observed this myself with Mayans in south Florida. They occupy an area much larger than 72" x 18", which is what your tank will be. Spawning large fish in a 125 may seem like it should be enough, but we aren't just talking number of gallons in relation to their size. You also have to take into account that aggressive instinct that comes along with spawning, and ask yourself how that plays out in a confined space. People look at me like I'm insane when I say I spawn all my Heros and acaras in 150 gallon tanks, but anything less than that and I've watched pairs slaughter each other. I've even had fish as small as Laetacara dorsigera slaughter their mates in 20 gallon tanks. It may seem like enough space, but that's underestimating what a spawning pair is capable of.

My best luck with spawning pairs have been to keep them in a community setting in the largest tank possible. This allows them to spawn and then work together warding off all their tankmates. With things like severums, you usually end up with the pair claiming one half of a 6' tank while the other fish all get shoved into the other half. If you had larger, more aggressive cichlids, I'd guess that a pair would probably claim a larger area and maybe defend it more aggressively.

[video=youtube_share;nUTg7A1dXmw]http://youtu.be/nUTg7A1dXmw[/video]

Mythic Figment said:

Okay, so taking all of this info into consideration, it sounds like I should only plan to keep a single pair of something in the 125 and provide a few target cichlids for them to work their issues out on (thinking 2-4 tough Cryptos with plenty of places to hide from the large pair. The 75 can just house a single wet pet then and I won't have to worry about there being enough space to add target fish or spousal abuse.


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You're on the right track now! I would lean toward more fast moving target tetras or danios in the 125 though. A 10-12in vieja/amph/parachromis is going to catch a 4-5in crypto easily in a 125. Its not long before they look pretty shredded & that makes the tank look bad IMO.

& you don't have to settle for a wet pet in the 75 if thats not what you're into. Look into the thoricthys (firemouth) family. You could easily house a pair in a 75, with tetras, cories etc. Several really good looking & underappreciated species in that family.

Tinfoil get too big. Try astyanax or the tetragonopterus or charax that Jeff has available.

As for Thorichthys, I had a pair butcher their 6 siblings in a 220 and then watched as the male killed the female in a 90 to themselves.

Your best bet for the 125 if you are intent on breeding is the divider method or go with smaller fish.