3 GTs in one tank

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jbnebres

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 3, 2008
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NE of Asian Arowana F
I recently acquired 3 baby gts(almost 2 inches now) and wonder how long can i keep them together? I am unfamiliar with their tank behavior towards other GTs. At the moment they are growing in a 75, plenty of hiding places.
The only real aggression I've seen was earlier on when lfs guy packed them in the same bag and some fin nipping occured between two (I'm assuming he thought I lived right around the corner).
Anyways, I've done some reading, saw some vids with gts in same tank, but I would really like the input of anyone who has kept them. Thank you in advance.:)
 
Ok first thing is first, you can get away with a pair or maybe 2 females in a 75 but not 3 GTs, second if you end up with 2 males thats a big problem later. Eventually one of the 3 is going to become dominant, all mine were like that. Now I have one that 2.5 inches who owns a 75, he chased away the other gt of similiar size until I had to get rid of it. Then he just about killed a firemouth I had to put down because it was past the point of no return. So Ihope I helped you out some.
 
Really depends on your fish, Im guessing my GT WS is dominant in my tank because it is the only one still growing, but the is very little aggression right now. Here and my JD go at it from time to time, but the normally go there seperate ways after lip locking.
 
thanks for the feedback guys. i'm not noticing any real aggression. more like stay away from my part of the tank. i guess i'm basically waiting to separate them if i find one all tore up- which is pretty bad coming from me.
what i would like to know is how to sex them. I've read several methods on sexing them that seem to conflict with other references(longer fin/more colorful/blue fins/humponhead). are they dimorphic or do both sexes look the same?
 
From my experience, GTs tend to dominate anyone they can. Its like they find entertainment value doing this. Even if all you had was a male and a female, the male would be kicking her all around. I would expect someone to be forced to leave at some point in the next few months. You might try getting a convict as a dither (don't get a pair) but 3 GTs versus a convict will require some caves (or pvc pipe) for him to hide in.
 
The only green terror (gold saum) ~7" I've ever had came with a tank full of oscars and when I moved him into a 55gallon with convicts and a jack dempsey he never gave me a problem. He never messed with anybody. It all depends on your fish IMO. I've got a mayan that was raised with africans that I got off of a guy thats 7" now and I've had him plenty of overstocked tanks and never seen him go after anything. It all depends on the personality of the fish.

If I were you.. I'd get my breeding pair and move the extra fish, its that simple.
 
Camphilophus;2051445; said:
The only green terror (gold saum) ~7" I've ever had came with a tank full of oscars and when I moved him into a 55gallon with convicts and a jack dempsey he never gave me a problem. He never messed with anybody. It all depends on your fish IMO. I've got a mayan that was raised with africans that I got off of a guy thats 7" now and I've had him plenty of overstocked tanks and never seen him go after anything. It all depends on the personality of the fish.

If I were you.. I'd get my breeding pair and move the extra fish, its that simple.
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true. they are just still so small. time will tell who will live lol. they are all f1s and i actually took 2 from one group and took one more from a separate group.. around what age/size do they normally pair up?(if i have a girl..)
 
The gt's you all are describing are likely the most aggressive specimens. Most gt's I see under 6" are the weakest in the tank and often fall to parasites. This is not to say a large gt is unaggressive, but certainly not a killer. This goes the same for a pair. Typical cichlid behavior! A pair will defend it's young and for this reason it is best to remove tankmates.

As for maturity, a gold saum breeding at 3-4" is rare and undesirable in my opinion. Gt's have slow growth to begin with, why make it even slower by breeding them so small? I'd say most gt's mature at 5", but the pair should be separated in different tanks until 7-8".
 
thefishguy7;2053423; said:
The gt's you all are describing are likely the most aggressive specimens. Most gt's I see under 6" are the weakest in the tank and often fall to parasites. This is not to say a large gt is unaggressive, but certainly not a killer. This goes the same for a pair. Typical cichlid behavior! A pair will defend it's young and for this reason it is best to remove tankmates.

As for maturity, a gold saum breeding at 3-4" is rare and undesirable in my opinion. Gt's have slow growth to begin with, why make it even slower by breeding them so small? I'd say most gt's mature at 5", but the pair should be separated in different tanks until 7-8".
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when i first got them 2 actually had ich so they were placed in a 10 gal quarantine. after a couple weeks of salt/80+F they were returned. i have no intention on breeding them at the moment and plan to give away 2 especially if they dont pair up in the future. hopefully i can keep them in the 75 gallon together for awhile before they get too aggro on each other. for any new jersey folks, they were bought from Shark Aquarium.
 
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