125 gallon salvini tank mates

[Frank Castle]

I am going to have to disagree with Frank on this one(sorry Frank).
These so called over stocked aggressive tanks are very hit and miss,even in large tanks.
Members on here that have made it work usually have tanks well over 220 gallons.I also believe most of them have had fish get killed or have had to take fish out before they kill or get killed.
I guess it depends on your out look on things.
Personally I'm no tree hugger save the whale hippy or anything.However I do feel a responsibility towards the welfare of the fish i buy.I hate the thought of a fish being bullied to death due to my poor judgement or lack of self control because I want that extra fish.
A lone female salvini,I doubt will cause any trouble in a community of like sized tank mates.
Fish like sajica,spilurums,nicaraguense would be good candidates for a community of central American cichlids in a tank your size.
I would strongly advise you resist the temptation to add more aggressive larger cichlids like carpintis any of the parachromis species and midas cichlids.In a tank your size they are more than likely going to take over and kill off their tank mates one by one.The salvini would have no chance against any of the above in a 125 gallon.
My advice, if you are set on salvini 's is get a pair and scape the tank nicely and enjoy the brilliant breeding colours of these cichlids,observe fascinating courtship and parental care.
I would also add a large group of dithers for the upper layers.Nothing too small as salvini are quite predatory. Giant sailfin mollies (wild type)
Would be my first choice.
I would also avoid fish from the thorichthys family as tank mates.They have weak easily dislocated mouths.Pound for pound a firemouth will fare poorly against a territorial salvini.
If you must do a crowded community, which is like playing Russian roulette with the fishes lives.Stick to fish in the 6inch size bracket.

different strokes for different folks, my experiences are very different from yours. I guess i'm just really GOOD at mixing communities since I had a breeding pair of Jaguars a whole harem of 1; 6 Jack Dempseys, several FHs, Convicts and Firemouths plus catfish in a 120g loaded w/ caves and hide-spaces for several years. Now i'm just getting lucky AGAIN doing an even MORE aggressive mix this time around? I don't think it's just luck...........there must be something I keep doing right time and time again.....

Not being a wise guy seriously asking but how do you guys that have the these overstocked set ups manage good water quality ?

I have 1 cichlid per tank and keeping nitrates down is a serious chore... multple fin level wc's per week and i dont feed heavily.

Double filtration and weekly WCs is all I do

Not being a wise guy seriously asking but how do you guys that have the these overstocked set ups manage good water quality ?

I have 1 cichlid per tank and keeping nitrates down is a serious chore... multple fin level wc's per week and i dont feed heavily.

I totally agree w/ Darren on this.

Salvini are very water quality sensitive and stress easily w/ aggressive tankmates. Overstocking w/ aggressive tankmates will lead to bloat or HITH. Breeding pairs are very aggressive, but that doesn't make anything better.
IMO I would get a female salvini, because they look nicer and slightly less aggressive (personally never noticed a difference though).
Good tank mates for a 125g would be JD, HRP, thorichthys species, nics, convict (no breeding pair), or rainbows.
I have always kept a salvini w/ firemouths and livebarers with success. Even in a smaller tank like a 55g. Even now I keep my salvini w/ more peaceful CA cichlids and have zero aggression issues other than firemouths being firemouths lol. It's a 150g so similar foot print.
I also notice salvini ignore non-cichlid tankmates unless breeding, because they are protecting eggs or fry.

Convicts and Firemouths may be too aggressive for Salvini. My Salvini was killed by "docile" fish - it was in a tank w/ Convicts, Firemouths and an Oscar. I tried 2 w/ a Gymnogeophagus balzanii, and 3 EBJDs, the next 2 I tried w/ JDs, a GT, a Jewel and Convicts.

Salvinis are PUNKS.

 

[jaws7777]

Double filtration and weekly WCs is all I do

.

I do multiple fin level a week for the 150 to keep nitrates below 20ppm just the pearsei and 4 polys... which is going to be worse since i have some polys in qt atm

 

[Frank Castle]

I do multiple fin level a week for the 150 to keep nitrates below 20ppm just the pearsei and 4 polys... which is going to be worse since i have some polys in qt atm

food choices also make a difference.....what do you feed, how much and how often? Also, what's your filtration.

 

[Stanzzzz7]

different strokes for different folks, my experiences are very different from yours. I guess i'm just really GOOD at mixing communities since I had a breeding pair of Jaguars a whole harem of 1; 6 Jack Dempseys, several FHs, Convicts and Firemouths plus catfish in a 120g loaded w/ caves and hide-spaces for several years. Now i'm just getting lucky AGAIN doing an even MORE aggressive mix this time around? I don't think it's just luck...........there must be something I keep doing right time and time again.....

All due respect Frank I don't think your way has worked.
Through your own admissions you have had countless fish die through aggression.

 

[Stanzzzz7]

Convicts and Firemouths may be too aggressive for Salvini. My Salvini was killed by "docile" fish - it was in a tank w/ Convicts, Firemouths and an Oscar. I tried 2 w/ a Gymnogeophagus balzanii, and 3 EBJDs, the next 2 I tried w/ JDs, a GT, a Jewel and Convicts.

You may sometimes come across a salvini that will be submissive to a fish like a firemouth.
Especially if the salvini is smaller or introduced to a tank where the firemouth already lives.
This puts the salvini at a disadvantage from the start.
You may also get the odd laid back fish.I know Steve aka cichlidfish has a easy going one.
In most cases however, a salvini would destroy a firemouth if it chose to do so.
Firemouths rely on bluffing with that display of theirs.Sometimes it works and it's competition will back down and allow the firemouth to bully it.
However if the all show display doesn't work they are in trouble, they just don't have the mouth parts to win physical battles and often end up dying through dislocation of the jaw.

 

[Frank Castle]

All due respect Frank I don't think your way has worked.
Through your own admissions you have had countless fish die through aggression.

I've lost a few, but it was the least likely suspect.....who would expect a little female GT to kill fish 2x it's own size most of which were rated more aggressive than GTs? TBH, I had a seal blowout in the stage 2 growout she was in w/ other similar tempered fish, and I had to move some back to stage 1 (her included), and some ahead to stage 3 before I wanted to. That was a situation that I had to do something to fix almost instantaneously and did NOT even want the GT in that stage 1. Ironically, my other 2 smaller female GTs were killed by Blue Acara, so who actually expects something like that ? It's bass-ackwards - this is why I always tell people Salvinis can be big punks because weird stuff like that happens. Consider all possibilities, prepare for the worst and hope for the best

You may sometimes come across a salvini that will be submissive to a fish like a firemouth.
Especially if the salvini is smaller or introduced to a tank where the firemouth already lives.
This puts the salvini at a disadvantage from the start.
You may also get the odd laid back fish.I know Steve aka cichlidfish has a easy going one.
In most cases however, a salvini would destroy a firemouth if it chose to do so.
Firemouths rely on bluffing with that display of theirs.Sometimes it works and it's competition will back down and allow the firemouth to bully it.
However if the all show display doesn't work they are in trouble, they just don't have the mouth parts to win physical battles and often end up dying through dislocation of the jaw.

The 1st time I tried it, they were all added to an empty tank at the same time. The 2nd time, I added the Salvinis to a tank that had the Gymno and a bunch of Molly, platy, guppys, etc and some bottom-feeders then the EBJDs were later added.

Regardless how good you are, you're ALWAYS gonna lose fish - there's no way to really prevent it 100%. Nature is unpredictable. Why do you think people start w/ 6 of the same species to get a pair and only end up w/ 2-3 left in the end? That's what the community suggests, so why do we do it if that's the end result?

 

[BC in SK]

Now i'm just getting lucky AGAIN doing an even MORE aggressive mix this time around?

What I see are a bunch of small, recently purchased fish, very heavily stocked in small tanks.
Let's see how that plays out over the course of years, not months, before you claim any kind of success ' this time around'.

My Salvini was killed by "docile" fish - it was in a tank w/ Convicts, Firemouths and an Oscar. I tried 2 w/ a Gymnogeophagus balzanii, and 3 EBJDs, the next 2 I tried w/ JDs, a GT, a Jewel and Convicts.

Obviously salvini did not do well in your tanks for what ever reasons. If they are given the opportunity to grow, develop and thrive, there is no doubt that most large male salvini can easily dominate over any of these species listed, regardless of their size.

 

[jaws7777]

food choices also make a difference.....what do you feed, how much and how often? Also, what's your filtration.

I feed lightly everyother day to 3 x per week for the polys and the pearsei gets romaine and a mix of nls. I noticed a drastic drop in waste production when the pearsei was in a time out in another tank and the 150 had double the polys. I feel that the poly's produce less waste... maybe its their inactivity/metabolism who knows but when ever i see community tanks with cichlids 10 to 12 inches or better the first thing i think of is my god either nitrates must be through the roof or what a chore the wc's must be.

Anyway havent measured the pearsei but hes gotta be 12 to 13 inches so for me its a chore

 

[Stanzzzz7]

I guess i'm just really GOOD at mixing communities since I had a breeding pair of Jaguars a whole harem of 1; 6 Jack Dempseys, several FHs, Convicts and Firemouths plus catfish in a 120g loaded w/ caves and hide-spaces for several years.

Did this leave enough room for any water?)

 

[Frank Castle]

Did this leave enough room for any water?)

Honestly, everytime I looked at the tank it felt kind of empty, It had about 30-40 caves however, all natural-looking made of rock and some PVCs for bridging and security purposes. The Jags would breed every 2-4 weeks and never killed anything. Had that tank going for several years B BC in SK - what's good for the goose isn't always good for the gander, things don't work out the same for everyone, i'm just GOOD

I feed lightly everyother day to 3 x per week for the polys and the pearsei gets romaine and a mix of nls. I noticed a drastic drop in waste production when the pearsei was in a time out in another tank and the 150 had double the polys. I feel that the poly's produce less waste... maybe its their inactivity/metabolism who knows but when ever i see community tanks with cichlids 10 to 12 inches or better the first thing i think of is my god either nitrates must be through the roof or what a chore the wc's must be.

Anyway havent measured the pearsei but hes gotta be 12 to 13 inches so for me its a chore

I generally feed veggies the day or 2 before WCs.....decaying vegetation is HORRIBLE on your water quality and screws up the ammonia and nitrate levels big time