Make other fish more relaxed and less skittish and less likely to hide
In the wild your " dithers " are a sort of early warning alarm system. When they are going about doing their natural things it tells the cichlids there are no bigger predators about. When they scatter and hide, it tells there is danger about and they need to hide as well.
i would personally add seem due to the fact that cichlids, even large and aggressive ones, can become extremely skittish in ponds since they have been kept in aqauriums the entire life, in which they have full view to their surroundings and thus can become quite nervous in ponds, where they have limited view, as mentioned by
jjohnwm
in one of your previous threads. My small oscar thrived and lived like a absolute bully in my old 125 gallon pond, buy only due to the fact that there were dithers including SDs and other smaller fish. As soon as they were removed, he became a wuss, hiding in a cave all day. I am already regretting not buying dithers for my midas, who is still afraid to leave its cave at a size of 10 inches even after a month. Dithers have worked like a charm for me in the past, bringing out the true nature of a plethora of my fish. I would highly recommend buying them.
I guess I’m concerned with my pond being much smaller than yours that the Midas will kill any dithers, but maybe I’ll get some. That’s why the only tankmate is the armored cati would personally add seem due to the fact that cichlids, even large and aggressive ones, can become extremely skittish in ponds since they have been kept in aqauriums the entire life, in which they have full view to their surroundings and thus can become quite nervous in ponds, where they have limited view, as mentioned by
Regular silver dollars can easily reach up to 6 inch in length and at least 4 inch in height, like the ones i had, making it difficult for a midas to eat them. They are extremely fast and whenever chased by a predator, tend to scatter, leaving it confused. I also housed four of them with my buttikoferi(hornet cichlid) which was EXTREMELY aggressive, maybe even more aggressive than a midas or RD cichlid. The butti used to give a good chase at high speeds, but would eventually get confused as which one should it catch, since they used to scatter. Also, the silver dollars would easily outrun it and the butti abandoned the chase after one to two days. I prefer SDs above every other dither, due to suitable size, body shape and excellent speed.
So it’s sounding like I just need to wait until he arrives and see what his personality is like and go from there
