Adding more heckellii

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bbortko

Polypterus
MFK Member
Mar 3, 2010
3,167
222
96
Northwest, Indiana
For quite some time I've been trying to find a large center piece fish for my 125 sa tank but everything I liked seemed to be a hair too big or aggressive. This morning a buddy and I hit the gcca swap and were doing good on time so I introduced him to a lfs and while there I saw a tank of heckellii ranging in size from 1.5-2" and showing colors my lone heckellii didn't show until 4". They were 3/$18 so I picked up 3 of them. Normally I quarantine for 2-4 weeks depending on the source and add to the community since aggression is ow I have never needed to grow anything out. I have never kept a group of heckellii but have read conspecific aggression can be high. The new guys are in a 20g tall so I can't grow them out to big but should I try to grow them a bit before introducing them to the main tank? My existing heckellii is 6-7".
 
They are pretty quick so here are some bad pics

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when I got mine from Rapp he said don't get 2 males, they'd probably fight. Reading up on them, spawning aggression can get females killed.
the 2 he sent me have very nice dispositions. not old enough to factor in mating issues, but I didn't get them for breeding purposes anyway. I would not want to let either of mine get injured, they have community behavior/attitudes, & are very personable. Hope I don't have to separate them in future, as they are a chill duo to watch.

I think their conspecific aggression is dependent on having some maturity. but guess what? I'm surmising about male on male things. Lol. I got my m/f last christmas & no problems yet.
 
I've gathered that it can take them 2-3 years before they're ready to breed so there is a lot of time to get attached to them before things turn sideways.
 
i just added 2 small heleckii to my 90 growout with 5 chocolates,2 brasiliensis.i took a chance and just did a tank re-arrangement,they didn't seem to take any abuse
 
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