Vieja Fenustratus Compatibility with Parachromis

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Roger Mcfish

Piranha
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Dec 2, 2023
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Would a single Fenustratus be compatible with female parachromis multi in a 180 gallon?

Only asking because I may have to move some of the female parachromis around. It would be just the vieja and females multis
 
A kept fenestratus back in the 80s and found them to be some of the most aggressive of the Vieja genus.
Can't say whether or not they woud take out a Parachromis in a 180, but what they can do, wih their massive heads at maturity, is ram anything that they don't think belongs in their territory, battering them to death.
I've seen similar battering action with Argentea and V regani, where they have battered manguense and even similar sized dovii into submisstion.
 
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A kept fenestratus back in the 80s and found them to be some of the most aggressive of the Vieja genus.
Can't say whether or not they woud take out a Parachromis in a 180, but what they can do, wih their massive heads at maturity, is ram anything that they don't think belongs in their territory, battering them to death.
I've seen similar battering action with Argentea and V regani, where they have battered manguense and even similar sized dovii into submisstion.
So probably a hit or miss pretty much. Probably not a good idea to mix then. I have seen videos of them mixed but larger than 180 gallons.
 
After my male Vieja regani killed his mate, I gave him to a friend with a 220 gal, that held a similar size Herichthys carpintus, and red devil.
With in a week the Vieja, killed them both.
 
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I’ve never kept multifasciatus but have kept fenestratus a couple of times and they were pretty mellow, much like melanura and showed little interest in other species. With that being said they were the largest species and shared the tank with Amatitlania so there weren’t any fights for dominance.
 
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I’ve never kept multifasciatus but have kept fenestratus a couple of times and they were pretty mellow, much like melanura and showed little interest in other species. With that being said they were the largest species and shared the tank with Amatitlania so there weren’t any fights for dominance.
So pretty much, they "can" be mellow if not kept with others that look like them or smaller.
 
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After my male Vieja regani killed his mate, I gave him to a friend with a 220 gal, that held a similar size Herichthys carpintus, and red devil.
With in a week the Vieja, killed them both.
Jeez. Guess it's all on that individual species.
 
So pretty much, they "can" be mellow if not kept with others that look like them or smaller.
I don’t ever keep different species of large cichlids together since my 3 largest tanks are only 7 footers. I always keep just 1-2 species of cichlids of different sizes. My current 240g tanks are heterospila/nanoluteus, melanura/cutteri, and lyonsi/panamensis. But, yes sir mine were pretty mellow.
 
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I currently have a fenestratus with a jaguar in a purposefully overstocked 180. The fenestratus is what I would consider more piscivorus than other other viejas I have kept. That’s just my experience though. I would say mine is slightly more aggressive than my black belt and Melanurus. My jaguar is probably the most tame cichlid in the tank. I’ll attach a few pics. I’ve recently changed out the substrate from a darker gravel to white pool filter sand so they are a bit washed out at the moment. I’ve attached some pics with the gravel so you can see their colors before. IMG_8575.jpegIMG_8573.jpegIMG_8570.jpegIMG_8389.jpeg

IMG_8391.jpeg
 
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