Aequidens Diadema info

[Stratoquarius]

Hey everyone, been Eyeing these up at the LFS for a long time and there are some really nice ones. I seem to find all conflicting information on them. There used to be a 10" one at my lfs that was in with a red devil and was really aggressive, yet every single site I go on looking for info lists them as 3"-4"... Are people even keeping this fish ? It seems really irisponsible to suggest a 40 gallon comunity tank for one.

I also managed to find out that there is another closely related Aequidens species that looks almost identical to Diadema, but less colourfull and with a white line around the dark spot on the caudal penduncle, So I think maybe I can see where the whole 3"-4" thing came from, its an entirely different fish.

I´ve seen a few members on here have Diadema and I was wondering if you could tell me how to sex them?

If you have any post your pics here so I can see them

Thanks Strato

 

[jonclark96]

I temporarily housed Dogofwar's trio for a few months. They were around the 7-8" mark. They were definitely the most assertive fish in a tank full of other acaras, but would exactly say they were aggressive. I think the minimum size tank I would keep them in would be a 75, but you could probably get away with a pair in a divided 40 breeder.

Can't help much on sexing them. I want to say that males are a bit bigger and have longer fins, but that is just speculation.

 

[Stratoquarius]

Thanks Jon your information was very helpful. they would be going in a 225 with assorted other cichlids, I was just wondering if it would be possible to sex them cause it would be cool to have them pair off and I could move them to another tank and raise the young. cause as far as I know they arent very common and I just though, if I go to buy one, if theres any obvious way to sex them I could try and get a pair, they are all around 3-4" so not exactly tiny.

Think I might just get the biggest best coloured one and have him as a solo fish !

 

[Andrewtfw]

I have a pair of diadema. They are in the 5.5-6.5 range. I thought I had two males until recently. The male is more elongated and torpedo shaped. The female is rounder bellied. Otherwise they look pretty much identical.

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[Stratoquarius]

Andrew thats brilliant, okay so I´ll most likely go to the store tomorrow, I won´t buy any fish I´ll just look because my birthday is coming up in a week or so, and I´ll take a look at whether or not there are many noticeable differences between the males and females. infact I´ll take a pic on my phone of the tank and upload it to MFK app.

 

[moneysink]

I have a male in my 225 gallon, he is around 10 inches and runs the tank.
While not aggressive like a green terror they can definitely handle themselves, mine routinely lays down the law on my synspilum and small spot paratilapia when they try to step up.
He is a great tank boss as he doesn't pick fights but won't back down either.
As for sexing, like the green terror the males have longer fins, my males dorsal fin actually hangs past his tail.
Great fish to have and really wish I had bought a female when I had a chance, at that time I didn't know anything about them and there is almost no internet info out there.