What cichlid has to worst bite?

[Fanatic_Fish_Lunatic]

Give me the name of some cichlids that have the worst and most painful bite. From personal experiences and opinions. African included.
I bet male dovii will be in the top 3. In my life, I've only ever got bitten by an oscar and (not a cichlid) a 20 inches alligator gar.

 

[PhishMon84]

The only fish that always tried to bite me was one of the smallest I ever kept.
A Tanganyikan Shelly- gold occelatus. They would B-line from their shells to the surface of the tank and bite me every damn time I went in the tank.
Umbee, dovii, jags, midas, Red Devils, carpintis- and non cichlids Hoplias curipara, tropical gar, never even attempted

 

[troublesum]

IMO if we are talking average everyday cichlids that people keep i would say Trimac hits the hardest
If we are talking Africans (No Experience here) but i would say Emperor cichlid (only because its my new envy fish)

 

[Fanatic_Fish_Lunatic]

The only fish that always tried to bite me was one of the smallest I ever kept.
A Tanganyikan Shelly- gold occelatus. They would B-line from their shells to the surface of the tank and bite me every damn time I went in the tank.
Umbee, dovii, jags, midas, Red Devils, carpintis- and non cichlids Hoplias curipara, tropical gar, never even attempted

I have all of those Count my days, the inevitable.

 

[Fanatic_Fish_Lunatic]

IMO if we are talking average everyday cichlids that people keep i would say Trimac hits the hardest
If we are talking Africans (No Experience here) but i would say Emperor cichlid (only because its my new envy fish)

I want the Emperor cichlid so bad, if not for its goddamn price.

 

[troublesum]

The ones i have found go from $30-$150 depending on size. Price is not an issue its size they can reach 30in at least 2 foot in the Aquarium

 

[PhishMon84]

I have all of those Count my days, the inevitable.

I have and have had all those too and none have ever bit me. That’s what I meant when I said they never attempted

 

[Cichlids-r-beasts]

From personal experience:
1. My male Red Devil- At 4-5 inches he was biting harder than my 7-8 inch male Texas cichlid ever did. The only fish in that size range to make me draw blood. At 7 inches he bit harder than my 9 inch male Jaguar cichlid, despite my male Jaguar having larger teeth. He’s around 9 inches now and he hasn’t bit me during water changes (yet) so I can’t judge his bite at that size.

2. My 9 inch male Jaguar Cichlid- He was pretty chill for the most part, did have a nasty little set of chompers though. The Parachromis family being piscivores, they don’t really have incredibly powerful jaws imo, the teeth (being meant to grasp fish) does most of the damage. Still powerful, just not as powerful as I expected it to be.

3. My 8-9 inch male Texas Cichlid- This guy was an anomaly he was incredibly tolerant of other cichlids in my community tank but whenever I had to do water changes he went crazy. Made me bleed a couple times but his bites weren’t incredibly painful.

4. My 4 inch male Convict- bit me harder than I expected for a fish that size. Didn’t break skin or anything, just felt like a strong pinch.

5. My 13 inch female Oscar- her “bites” were more out of curiosity than aggression, kinda tickled more than anything lol.

Unranked:

My 12 inch female Buttikoferi- Didn’t make a mistake when putting my hand in her tank. I wasn’t gonna take that chance after hearing and seeing the damage their jaws in such a short amount of time, especially with her aggression level. I guarantee she would’ve taken 1st spot comfortably if she tagged me. I think when my Red Devil approached 12 inches he’ll be comfortable in that regard.

My male and female Jack Dempseys- both were really docile, shy fish. Never attempted to go after my hand.

If I had to make a list, I think Dovii and Umbees are up there due to size, then comes large cichlids like Buttikoferi, Trimacs, Chanchos, Midas, Red Devils, Jags, Black Nasties, Cubans, Istlanum, Grammodes, RTM’s etc. At equal sizes I think the Amphilophus family probably bites harder than the Parachromis family.

 

[Fanatic_Fish_Lunatic]

I have and have had all those too and none have ever bit me. That’s what I meant when I said they never attempted

Who knows? There's a chance mine would grown up to be psychopath. My 6 inches dovii, a pair of them are actually very chill though(for now).

 

[Fanatic_Fish_Lunatic]

From personal experience:
1. My male Red Devil- At 4-5 inches he was biting harder than my 7-8 inch male Texas cichlid ever did. The only fish in that size range to make me draw blood. At 7 inches he bit harder than my 9 inch male Jaguar cichlid, despite my male Jaguar having larger teeth. He’s around 9 inches now and he hasn’t bit me during water changes (yet) so I can’t judge his bite at that size.

2. My 9 inch male Jaguar Cichlid- He was pretty chill for the most part, did have a nasty little set of chompers though. The Parachromis family being piscivores, they don’t really have incredibly powerful jaws imo, the teeth (being meant to grasp fish) does most of the damage. Still powerful, just not as powerful as I expected it to be.

3. My 8-9 inch male Texas Cichlid- This guy was an anomaly he was incredibly tolerant of other cichlids in my community tank but whenever I had to do water changes he went crazy. Made me bleed a couple times but his bites weren’t incredibly painful.

4. My 4 inch male Convict- bit me harder than I expected for a fish that size. Didn’t break skin or anything, just felt like a strong pinch.

5. My 13 inch female Oscar- her “bites” were more out of curiosity than aggression, kinda tickled more than anything lol.

Unranked:

My 12 inch female Buttikoferi- Didn’t make a mistake when putting my hand in her tank. I wasn’t gonna take that chance after hearing and seeing the damage their jaws in such a short amount of time, especially with her aggression level. I guarantee she would’ve taken 1st spot comfortably if she tagged me. I think when my Red Devil approached 12 inches he’ll be comfortable in that regard.

My male and female Jack Dempseys- both were really docile, shy fish. Never attempted to go after my hand.

If I had to make a list, I think Dovii and Umbees are up there due to size, then comes large cichlids like Buttikoferi, Trimacs, Chanchos, Midas, Red Devils, Jags, Black Nasties, Cubans, Istlanum, Grammodes, RTM’s etc. At equal sizes I think the Amphilophus family probably bites harder than the Parachromis family.

I have almost everything you mentioned, except for Buttikoferi, Trimacs, Chanchos and Istlanum. I wanna get Butti, but they're illegal in my country. So that's sucks.