Which is the most aggressive SA/CA cichlid in your experience/opinion?

[Captain tank]

Who is the baddest america cichlid i would say dovi but im tryin to see what everyone thinks

okay of all the fish people are talking about. The one I would have to say is the Umbee. I've worked in my local fish shop for a while. And the most aggressive of them all was a breeding pair of Umbees. Most dirty and mean new world cichlids of them all. I cleaned a jaguar breeding pair tank, a dovi breeding pair tank, a red devil pair, hybrids, and so on. But the ones that stood out, and gave me battle wounds were the damn Umbees. Those little buggers will kill their siblings at only an inch long until there's only one left in the tank. All the other cichlids didn't give me problems when I cleaned their tanks, I showed them who's boss. But those Umbees man, they are beasts with teeth and a attitude that can't be matched by any other cichlid. I thought Dovis were aggressive, but once I got to know the Umbee. Umbees top my list.

 

[DDM4v5]

Ben is the man! I am sure there are hundreds of fish on the site that would shred him, but they better bring their A game. Ben is 12" s of pure aggression. Under 14" need not apply, he would shred my dovii, and jag.

This is Mr Ben after about 15 minutes in his upgrade from a 75.

Nice fish!

 

[Linh Nguyen]

lbs for lbs convicts.... even juveniles are dominant in my 'grow out' tank and boss around anything their size and many 2-3x their size. this is a tank full of just about every 'aggressive' CA/SA/African. Because if it's who would win a fight, I'll take my freshwater bullshark

 

[Skalper666]

Balloon ram. Vicious killers.

 

[convict360]

Buttikoferi

 

[Frank Castle]

mI never kept a Red Terror or a Dovii but I hear they are the worst. Of the fish I have kept, male Midas and Flowerhorns were the only fish I had to give their own tank - I tried keeping a 14-inch Midas w/ a 23-inch channel catfish and I had to take the catfish out after a week because of how beat-up he got. Jaguars are surprisingly not nearly as bad as I read most people made them out to be, even on the spawn, at least mine were not, but I'm sure there is a big difference between my 12-inch males and a full-grown 16-incher or more. Even though they don't get very big, my Convicts and Firemouths always swore they weighed 5lbs each...lol

I recently bought my 1st Pike cichlid, I'm guessing a saxitilis but I really don't know what ssp it is and I hear they are rather nasty, so I guess I'll find out soon. I would imagine the Eye-spot cichlids would be the worst by far - at 3 feet +, they have been known for ripping treble hooks right out of the lure-bodies, but IDK if they could stand up to an angry male Dovii.

agree about the tilapia buttekofferi as well...I had one that was only about half-grown and he was in beast-mode 24-7....he would even jump out of the tank and knock the cover around....I could hear him smacking it from 2 floors up!

 

[Skalper666]

Jaguars are surprisingly not nearly as bad as I read most people made them out to be, even on the spawn, at least mine were not, but I'm sure there is a big difference between my 12-inch males and a full-grown 16-incher or more. [/I]

My male jag is probably around 12+" and he's the most insane big cichlid I have ever had... and I've had a lot. He's always thrashing around, trying to bite me non stop when I clean his tank, and tries to attack anyone including my dogs that pass by his tank. Growing up he would beat up the female jag and a devil twice his size if I tried putting them together. He's been solo for years. On average they are usually crazy. Although I've never seen him back down to another fish, but I'm sure it would happen with an equally crazy dovii. Dovii just get so big.

 

[Frank Castle]

My male jag is probably around 12+" and he's the most insane big cichlid I have ever had... and I've had a lot. He's always thrashing around, trying to bite me non stop when I clean his tank, and tries to attack anyone including my dogs that pass by his tank. Growing up he would beat up the female jag and a devil twice his size if I tried putting them together. He's been solo for years. On average they are usually crazy. Although I've never seen him back down to another fish, but I'm sure it would happen with an equally crazy dovii. Dovii just get so big.

Yea, I think I jut got really lucky with the group I had. I started of with 2 pairs as fingerlings and they were raised in an aggressive community so they kind of "HAD" to get along w/ everyone else, but when the 2 males started combating I had to sell the other male, and eventually the other female, but they really were only intolerable of OTHER Jaguars. They could have cared less about the Jacks and Convicts and FHs, and the other stuff.

The 2 males I have currently are about 2- 2.5 inches and they equally hate each other but still don't bother the other species in my tank. I think they're both males, they both have a concave stomach regardless how much they eat - all the females I ever seen have a big fat belly shaped like a football. Is that 100% accurate for sexing, or can it vary depending on dominance or what?

 

[Linh Nguyen]

Convict in my opinion.

ditto. Most of the others (dovii umbee midevil....) beat up other fish because they're generally bigger. I have a 55g 'grow out' tank full of cichlids 5" or smaller. There are jewels, at least a dozen type of Africans including auratus and chipokae, midevils, festae, mayan, FH etc.... and the convicts rule that tank even though they're among the smallest.

 

[Frank Castle]

ditto. Most of the others (dovii umbee midevil....) beat up other fish because they're generally bigger. I have a 55g 'grow out' tank full of cichlids 5" or smaller. There are jewels, at least a dozen type of Africans including auratus and chipokae, midevils, festae, mayan, FH etc.... and the convicts rule that tank even though they're among the smallest.

LOL....like I said....they swear they weigh 5lbs each. Evil little critters, man.