Identifying little cichlid

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..puSkar.. said:
Vieja are not as aggressive growers as Oscars pacus pbass .
By my experience they grow in spurts , they'll grow grow grow and then stop and then again start growing .
I fed them heavy while growing from .5-3" .
But now when I feed heavy I see that they get bloated , so I've gone back to normal feedings and let them grow naturally as their growth rate may be
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IMO this is not true.
Given the proper water changes, and space they grow quite rapidly,
And at maturity most Vieja can become very innately aggressive to boot.
I have had Vieja pin larger cichlids like dovii and managuense in the upper corners of a tank, shred and kill them.
They can even shred pussycats like oscars easier.
They are not usually aggressive with non-cichlids, but any other cichlid that gets in the way when they hit maturity is in danger.
When their territorial urge hits, at about 2 or 3 years of age, unless the tank large 200 or more gallons nothing is safe.

One other factor, in nature many Vieja species are primarily vegetarian (especially as they age), and often bloat when fed foods too high in protein and when they don't get enough plant based foods to balance the meat (fish) out.
But don't let vegetarianism fool you, vegetarian cichlids from the new and old world are more innately aggressive and territorial than many predators. Beside their incisor like teeth, used to chopped tough leaves, they have the ability to ram other fish with their ample cranial fore head structure.
 
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duanes said:
IMO this is not true.
Given the proper water changes, and space they grow quite rapidly,
And at maturity most Vieja can become very innately aggressive to boot.
I have had Vieja pin larger cichlids like dovii and managuense in the upper corners of a tank, shred and kill them.
They can even shred pussycats like oscars easier.
They are not usually aggressive with non-cichlids, but any other cichlid that gets in the way when they hit maturity is in danger.
When their territorial urge hits, at about 2 or 3 years of age, unless the tank large 200 or more gallons nothing is safe.

One other factor, in nature many Vieja species are primarily vegetarian (especially as they age), and often bloat when fed foods too high in protein and when they don't get enough plant based foods to balance the meat (fish) out.
But don't let vegetarianism fool you, vegetarian cichlids from the new and old world are more innately aggressive and territorial than many predators. Beside their incisor like teeth, used to chopped tough leaves, they have the ability to ram other fish with their ample cranial fore head structure.
Click to expand...
Yup.. Even at this size, their territorial traits begin to manifest
 
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Al KW Tan said:
Good example is.. He's bossing this guy around
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That's not surprising to me.
I had a Maskaheros (formerly Vieja) regani that killed its mate.
I don't keep single individuals of a species (unless I have access to a potential mate, ) so I gave the regani to a friend with a 220 gal tank.
The regani killed his much large Red Devil, and adult H carpintus.
 
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duanes said:
IMO this is not true.
Given the proper water changes, and space they grow quite rapidly,
And at maturity most Vieja can become very innately aggressive to boot.
I have had Vieja pin larger cichlids like dovii and managuense in the upper corners of a tank, shred and kill them.
They can even shred pussycats like oscars easier.
They are not usually aggressive with non-cichlids, but any other cichlid that gets in the way when they hit maturity is in danger.
When their territorial urge hits, at about 2 or 3 years of age, unless the tank large 200 or more gallons nothing is safe.

One other factor, in nature many Vieja species are primarily vegetarian (especially as they age), and often bloat when fed foods too high in protein and when they don't get enough plant based foods to balance the meat (fish) out.
But don't let vegetarianism fool you, vegetarian cichlids from the new and old world are more innately aggressive and territorial than many predators. Beside their incisor like teeth, used to chopped tough leaves, they have the ability to ram other fish with their ample cranial fore head structure.
Click to expand...

Damn man! Maybe stop worrying about PH and stop letting your fish murder each other??
 
duanes said:
That's not surprising to me.
I had a Maskaheros (formerly Vieja) regani that killed its mate.
I don't keep single individuals of a species (unless I have access to a potential mate, ) so I gave the regani to a friend with a 220 gal tank.
The regani killed his much large Red Devil, and adult H carpintus.
Click to expand...

You sound like you have failed as a fish keeper. Ive read for years now how every fish you have had ended up murdering its tank mates. Over and over you tell the same story. Some how this has earned you a top spot on this forum.
 
You know cichlids kill each other in nature right…
duanes duanes has successfully bred more cichlids and kept more variety than many of us here combined. That is what gave him a top spot.
When growing out a pair, casualties should be expected.
 
Deadeye said:
You know cichlids kill each other in nature right…
duanes duanes has successfully bred more cichlids and kept more variety than many of us here combined. That is what gave him a top spot.
When growing out a pair, casualties should be expected.
Click to expand...

" I have had Vieja pin larger cichlids like dovii and managuense in the upper corners of a tank, shred and kill them. "

Thats ****ed up fish keeping!!
 
duanes said:
IMO this is not true.
Given the proper water changes, and space they grow quite rapidly,
And at maturity most Vieja can become very innately aggressive to boot.
I have had Vieja pin larger cichlids like dovii and managuense in the upper corners of a tank, shred and kill them.
They can even shred pussycats like oscars easier.
They are not usually aggressive with non-cichlids, but any other cichlid that gets in the way when they hit maturity is in danger.
When their territorial urge hits, at about 2 or 3 years of age, unless the tank large 200 or more gallons nothing is safe.

One other factor, in nature many Vieja species are primarily vegetarian (especially as they age), and often bloat when fed foods too high in protein and when they don't get enough plant based foods to balance the meat (fish) out.
But don't let vegetarianism fool you, vegetarian cichlids from the new and old world are more innately aggressive and territorial than many predators. Beside their incisor like teeth, used to chopped tough leaves, they have the ability to ram other fish with their ample cranial fore head structure.
Click to expand...

And your opinion is wrong.

Puskar is absolutely correct here " Vieja are not as aggressive growers as Oscars pacus pbass ".
 
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