Can 2 inches Cichlids be kept with 4 inches Cichlids without being eaten?
- Thread starter Fanatic_Fish_Lunatic
- Start date
If the smaller cichlids didn't get eaten probably would be harassed to the point of death. Also depends on the aquarium size.
I just rearranged the entire pond and put them all together at the same time to make them forget their territories. IDK if it will work. Get beaten to death, I don't mind that(since it's kinda normal for cichlids keepers), I just want to ensure that they won't be eaten. I also added lots of hiding spaces for the little ones.
I nature you hardly ever find 2 species of genus of cichlids in the same small habitat.
As an example blue acaras asnd rivulatus come from two separate countres,
A. rivulates is only found in Peru and Ecuador, A. pulcher in Venezuela, Trinidad and Columbia
Where they have been introduced by man high bred mutts often occur,
Same with Parachromis
managuense is not normally found together with motaguense.
Either aggression, one out competes the other, or hybridization is the result ending up with a generic non-identifyable mutt .
Look at the results of random mixing Vieja
one cannot trust what you are getting when you buy one in a LFS, true species or mutt.
As an example blue acaras asnd rivulatus come from two separate countres,
A. rivulates is only found in Peru and Ecuador, A. pulcher in Venezuela, Trinidad and Columbia
Where they have been introduced by man high bred mutts often occur,
Same with Parachromis
managuense is not normally found together with motaguense.
Either aggression, one out competes the other, or hybridization is the result ending up with a generic non-identifyable mutt .
Look at the results of random mixing Vieja
one cannot trust what you are getting when you buy one in a LFS, true species or mutt.
I don't mind the hybridisation that much tbh. Aggression is kinda normal in my pond, mostly 4 inches blue acara lips locking for 2 minutes for the most parts, or some other lips locking, for the most parts, all of them generally mind their own business in their territories.
I would not trust a managuensis with fish half of it's length. With half the length they often have less than a quarter of the body mass and therefore are in food size range.
It's actually around 3.5 or above, but definitely not 4 inches, cuz now that I look closely, my 4 inches rivulatus is still longer than the jaguar.
I can't speak to the Parachromis, but the Andinoacara aren't likely to eat each other at those sizes. Aggression between them is a different story and will depend on things like tank size and arrangement, other fish in the tank, gender mix, and individual temperament.
This should be read carefully and not misinterpreted or extrapolated into a universal rule. "Small habitat," as in a cenote, is one thing. Rivers and lakes are another. In fact, there's a scientific term, syntopic, for species in the same genus living together. An example of this is Geophagus sveni and Geophagus neambi.
https://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2010/f/z02429p042f.pdf