A pair of Salvini cichlids?

[_SEANC]

Hi I recently finished setting up a 75 gallon and wasn’t planning on adding anything at the moment but I went to get some more water conditioner at a petsmart two days ago when I noticed they had two salvini cichlids in a tank filled with African cichlids. They were both super dark and were being bullied, so I decided to get them cause salvini cichlids are pretty awesome and I felt bad. First I can’t tell what sex they are, ones about 2.5in the other is about 2. I think they might be a pair but i don’t know. I was wondering if a 75 gallon would be good enough to house a pair of them for life and if there is anything I could add with them that wouldn’t cause problems if not that is fine?

 

[_SEANC]

They’ve started to color up slightly, they look a lot better than they did at the store and I’m currently feeding them hikari cichlid pellets and I’m going to get them frozen krill and bloodworms.

 

[_SEANC]

The only aggression I’ve noticed is when I feed them the one that I believe is female chases the other one for a short distance

 

[Deadeye]

Could you get some shots of them colored up - that would make sexing easier. Females will be more colorful and have a dark splotch on the dorsal fin.
In a 75, I don’t think they would play nice with other cichlids. You could feasibly keep them with dithers as well as armored cats like a bn pleco or Raphael (or both).

 

[tlindsey]

Also possibility they may not pair up so you will need a plan B.

 

[_SEANC]

Sounds good I do have a plan b I just couldn’t leave them in that situation it was pretty bad. I like the idea of a striped Raphael I had one in a 90 gallon and it looked amazing, they’ve started to come out more so I’ll try to get a picture tomorrow when the light comes on. One of them has been just sitting under rock structure and the other one has been kind of just hanging out around it is that a sign of breeding? Sorry never kept any cichlids besides my solo julidochromis transcriptus in a 20 gallon long with literally nothing else because he would try to attack anything even me

 

[duanes]

The dark blotch in the dorsa of the one on the leftl, is a pretty good indicator it "may" turn out to be female, as to what the other is, there's not a good enough view to get an indication.
And since they are both juvies, nothing is sure at this stage.

 

[ryansmith83]

Be warned that for their size they are highly aggressive. Even having a male and female won’t guarantee a pair. Mine fought like hell and even in a 150 gallon the 3” male stalked and harassed the female. He was also super aggressive with cichlids that were 3 times his size. In the end I had to leave them in separate tanks, which was a shame because they were beautiful.

 

[newworld]

Pretty fish n highly aggressive one of the most aggressive fish I have owned

 

[_SEANC]

They get along pretty good I haven’t noticed almost any aggression the one that’s larger that “may” be female sometimes chases the smaller one around for probably quarter of the tank before just stopping no nipping anything like that if I do end up having problems I have a spare 40 gallon breeder I could set up until I figure out a permanent situation do plan on adding a striped Raphael and a school of Ctenobrycon Spilurus