Midas cichlid tank mate

[Bbuckley]

I'm still on the hunt for my midas cichlids and will find some eventually but it's killing me having a empty tank ?.

I'm thinking because I'm only keeping one midas it would be nice to give him a friend.

So I'm looking for some suggestions that's non cichlid, non aggressive as in won't challenge for dominance, and gets to a reasonable size.

Current tank size is a 5ft125g and will be upgrading in coming months to a 6ft 200g.

 

[RD.]

IME, no tank mates will be allowed in a tank that size. The vast majority of cits will not welcome friends. lol

 

[A201]

You might try a few Altus Tinfoil Barbs, aka "Red Tails". I keep two of them in my 5 ft. 120 gal. community tank.
My Altus TF's are two years old and have apparently stopped growing. Both are a little over 8" long. Very peaceful hardy fish, consistantly in motion.
A Midas might ignor Tinfoils, but it's a gamble.

 

[RD.]

Single midas, or worse, a bonded pair, will seldom ignore anything, placed with them in a 6ft glass box. It's a recipe for disaster, just waiting to happen.

If someone has an example of this to share, I would love to see it. Long term, as in years, not weeks or months, this type of scenario rarely works out.

 

[RD.]

BTW - the comments made here, are based on my own personal mistakes made over the years, with this genus, and more specifically this species of fish.
Just trying to help someone else avoid the same net results that took place in my tanks, with different midas, midas/lab crosses and different tank mates. Those tank mates all eventually had to either be removed, or were found dead before I had a chance to realize my error in judgement.

A mature midas, can swim the length of a 6ft tank in literally the blink of an eye. A 6ft 200 gallon could work for a bonded pair, but you would still be best to have some pipes/hides etc in place for the female to retreat to. Places that the male could not reach her.

The other scenario, one that I don't personally care for, unless the tank is much larger, is to keep numerous midas together, where out of the necessity of survival they are forced to co-exist. All male tanks like this are impressive for sure. Just make sure that you enjoy water changes, or have an automated system in place. In this scenario, the bigger the tank the better. This type of tank can also be achieved with various other species of large, aggro type species, but power shifts generally take place as the fish all mature (2-3 yrs), and in some cases will be a constant battle for dominance.

Or you can go the far safer wet-pet route, one where your fish will have ample room, and will focus his attention solely on you.
No fighting, no torn up (or dead) tankmates, and no stress for you.

Good luck.

 

[duanes]

On their list, as of today, COA (Cichlids of the America's) have a number of Midas clade cichlids available.
And I agree with RD about what you can do with that tank size.
And that Midas are "friend friendly" is a bit of a delusion
Any cichlid you try to add, unless its a hot to trot female, will be seen as competition to be dealt with with extreme prejudice.
or......the best other way, is to acquire at least half dozen juvies, grow them out together in the tank, and let them work out territories with what's available.
Even in this way you may have some casualties in that minimum space available.
At the moment, your lone Amphilophus is sole owner of every inch of the tank, and I doubt any new comer will be treated as a welcome friend.

 

[Sinister-Kisses]

I'm only going to reinforce what has been said above by RD and duanes. Midas are my heart fish - I've kept more than I can count over the last 25+ years. In a 5ft tank, there IS nothing you can keep with an adult male midas - unless you want to get him a pet rock. 5ft tanks are my personal minimum tank size for an adult male to be kept alone for life (I know most people will tell you 75 or 90gal is fine, but after keeping so many of these fish and seeing how big they get and how much space they occupy, I refuse to keep them in anything less than 5ft long). Even when you upgrade to a 6ft tank, your options are basically the same. I currently have my first breeding pair of midas (I've ALWAYS kept them solo), who aren't full grown. I got them at 1.5" in size, and this pair formed naturally of their own accord from a group of 6. I moved them to their own 6ft tank which is where they currently are with a spawn. They are getting along with no issue, BUT they are only about half grown. I fully expect that to keep them together long term, I will need to throw in a divider with an escape hatch only she can fit through so she can get away from him. Realistically, I expect that eventually I'll just flat out remove her entirely and let him have the 6ft tank all to himself. I won't try tank mates because it really is just cruel for any fish you're trying to force to live with the midas, they're almost guaranteed to be bullied to death or just flat out killed.

Even IF you try to add a "hot to trot" female later, you're probably going to have problems. With most CA cichlids, "forced" pairs - where you choose a male and a female to throw together rather than growing juvies out and letting them pair up naturally as I've done - rarely end well IME.

 

[Bbuckley]

I'm going to stop posting my fish preferences on hear, I'm not allowed to keep nowt ???.

To be honest I fully expected this answer I've seen and delt with full size males befor so I know they can be tanks, I was kinda hoping I might get away with a catfish of sorts.

I've no interest in keeping a group or a pair just a single dog in a tank so to speak ?.

duanes I would love to order from them but to bring fish in to the UK I think i need certificates and all sorts but thanks for the heads up.

Thanks for all the disappointment guys??.

Seriously though thanks for taking the time to reply and stop me doing anything daft ?.

 

[RD.]

LOL, all good Ben. Lack of self control is a common issue in this hobby.

With regards to cats, my current midas grew out for I think a couple of years with an adult BN pleco, as far as I could tell for the most part they completely ignored each other. One day I came home and found the BN nicely split into two parts. No attempt at eating the pleco, just decided one day that he didn't like his company I guess, and bit him in half. Ouch. I have tried other oddball looking fish, such as pike, with other cits, with the same end result. Amphs are by and large an aggro species that don't seem to mellow with age, which is why after close to 10 yrs in my tank, I still wear pond gloves with my current large male midas. It was just a couple months back now that he grabbed my hand, and shook it like a pitbull shaking a toy poodle. Caught me totally off guard, but just goes to show how powerful and aggro these fish can be, even biting the hand that feeds them.

 

[Bbuckley]

LOL, all good Ben. Lack of self control is a common issue in this hobby.

With regards to cats, my current midas grew out for I think a couple of years with an adult BN pleco, as far as I could tell for the most part they completely ignored each other. One day I came home and found the BN nicely split into two parts. No attempt at eating the pleco, just decided one day that he didn't like his company I guess, and bit him in half. Ouch. I have tried other oddball looking fish, such as pike, with other cits, with the same end result. Amphs are by and large an aggro species that don't seem to mellow with age, which is why after close to 10 yrs in my tank, I still wear pond gloves with my current large male midas. It was just a couple months back now that he grabbed my hand, and shook it like a pitbull shaking a toy poodle. Caught me totally off guard, but just goes to show how powerful and aggro these fish can be, even biting the hand that feeds them.

Yeah I don't want to be coming down to half fish ?I'll be happy for him to live alone.

Yeah I have experience ? Eddie drew blood a few times in the end I found if I got my 3 Yr old daughter to stand at one end of the tank he would be more interested in trying to attack her ??.

I can't wait to find some having no trouble finding Amphilophus labiatus
But not citrinellus. Ten years ago they was extremely common around the UK.