Aggression levels of blue acara, firemouth, sajica, and festivum?

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Most Geos don't get as big as Altifrons. Isn't their max size around 12 inches? I have a Blue Acara pair and the male can be a little aggressive, not too bad though. I've never kept Sajica or Festivum.
 
My acara and salvini, both same size, went at it. At 3.5 inches my acara was aggressive towards other cichlids, and he was the only one too catch and kill one of my buenos aires tetras.

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Will Geos form a group, even if they are not the same species, but look similar?

I think I will maybe try to do a pair of Uaru. Everything I read says they are very peaceful for cichlids. And honestly it's a big enough tank, as long as it's not the kind of fish that turns into a terror overnight, I should be able to remove any that become too much of a problem and sell trade it into my LFS.

My tentative plan for now is:
4-5 Geos, probably orange head tapjos
1 pair blue acara (start with a small group)* (not fully set on the acara yet)
1 pair(?) Festivum (start with a small group)
1 pair Uaru (start with a small group)
 
Quo Vadis said:
Will Geos form a group, even if they are not the same species, but look similar?

I think I will maybe try to do a pair of Uaru. Everything I read says they are very peaceful for cichlids. And honestly it's a big enough tank, as long as it's not the kind of fish that turns into a terror overnight, I should be able to remove any that become too much of a problem and sell trade it into my LFS.

My tentative plan for now is:
4-5 Geos, probably orange head tapjos
1 -2 pair Rainbow Cichlid <----
1 pair(?) Festivum (start with a small group)
1 pair Uaru (start with a small group)
Click to expand...

Good to know on the Geos. Decided I'm going to do rainbows instead of acaras. Some places online said they get to six inches, but other said rarely more than 3. Anyone have any personal experience? Honestly I have probably been overestimating how big of fish a large eel, ropefish or Uarus will eat. I heave read with all of these they often will live with anything over a couple inches no problem.
 
Quo Vadis said:
Will Geos form a group, even if they are not the same species, but look similar?

I think I will maybe try to do a pair of Uaru. Everything I read says they are very peaceful for cichlids. And honestly it's a big enough tank, as long as it's not the kind of fish that turns into a terror overnight, I should be able to remove any that become too much of a problem and sell trade it into my LFS.

My tentative plan for now is:
4-5 Geos, probably orange head tapjos
1 pair blue acara (start with a small group)* (not fully set on the acara yet)
1 pair(?) Festivum (start with a small group)
1 pair Uaru (start with a small group)
Click to expand...

I may ne wrong but you should probably stay away from pairs most cichlids get more aggressive when matting. Let one of the more experienced member comment on thst but if it were me I would not do pairs like that.

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I had a large male sajica with a group of gros and a larger chocolate cichlid once. He regularly fought with the chocolate but not too bad. I then got rid of the chocolate and one of the geos started owning the tank and he just took it, again nothing too bad. I then add a small female and that was it, he no longer took s*** from anyone. Once the male and female had eggs he would go for everyone. It was 50/50 in terms of agg from the geo and sajica but the sajica would come off worse in terms of damage. The thing is that wouldnt stop him, in the end i had to get rid of the pair as his head was getting so damaged but he wouldnt back down.

Out of the fish you have named I would 100% get sajica. Full of character. I kinda wish i never got rid of him but it was in his best interest.

Here is pics of him before i put the female in with him
uploadfromtaptalk1399033964870.jpg
uploadfromtaptalk1399034012491.jpg

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Quo Vadis said:
I am planning my 155g stock list (29g sump), and right now it is going to have a school of Elephantnose fish, some kind of large eel (hopefully a smaller large eel like the favus eel) and a pair of Geophagus altifrons. It needs to be a fairly peaceful tank because of the ENs and eel.

I would like to do a few other peaceful cichlids, but I am hearing mixed things about aggression level, and how many you should keep. I know festivum are fairly peaceful as cichlids go, but I don't know how many I should keep. Some say keep one to avoid breeding aggression, some say keep many to make them more comfortable, some say a pair is not that bad. Suggestions?

I also like blue acaras, and firemouth, but I know they are more aggressive. However some people think they would do fine in this tank. Thoughts? Yes? No? If so how many? Would a singleton be less aggressive?

I also just fell in love with the sajica cichlid, and it sounds like they are fairly peaceful. Would a pair of them be ok in in this tank, or should I only keep one to avoid aggression?

In a tank this size would a few pairs of fairly peaceful cichlids be just fine?

Thanks! I have kept many smaller cichlids (rams, curviceps, kribs, etc.) but am new to the bigger cichlids, because my biggest tank previously was a 72g.
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Festivum seem to be most peaceful when kept alone. In a proper group of 4+, they tend to be bullies.

Pure blue acaras are pretty laid back, but most of what you will find in stores these days are blue acara X green terror hybrids that tend to be pretty aggressive. If you get blue acaras, try to find wild or F1s if possible to ensure purity. If you get pure ones, you could add 2-4 depending on if you are willing to deal with breeding. While they get defensive while breeding like every other cichlid out there, they don't tend to be problematic even while guarding fry.

Firemouths would probably be okay. Most people describe their firemouths as all bark and no bite. They flare their gills at their tankmates more often than anything else, but there are reports of psycho murderer firemouths.

Sajica are along the same lines as firemouths. Usually peaceful, but you get a bad apple every now and then.

I assume your tank is 6', so I would put more than two breeding pairs of cichlids in there unless you were breeding rams or something tiny like that. And two breeding pairs wouldn't leave much room for tankmates. If you want to breed, go for a single breeding pair of something that doesn't go crazy when it breeds (which eliminates most CAs). A single breeding pair of festivum would work well since they would prefer to breed near the top of the water, leaving the lower portion available for almost all the other cichlids. A pair of pure blue acaras would work out too since they tend to be calmer breeders than many other cichlids. A firemouth pair would probably work, but would need to be kept an eye on. Sajica would be far too aggressive to their tankmates to breed.

Overall, I would stick to singles of the fish you are interested in if peaceful and serene are important to you. Breeding cichlids introduce chaos into an aquarium regardless of their breeding temperament. Some just introduce more chaos than others.


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Mythic Figment said:
Festivum seem to be most peaceful when kept alone. In a proper group of 4+, they tend to be bullies.

Pure blue acaras are pretty laid back, but most of what you will find in stores these days are blue acara X green terror hybrids that tend to be pretty aggressive. If you get blue acaras, try to find wild or F1s if possible to ensure purity. If you get pure ones, you could add 2-4 depending on if you are willing to deal with breeding. While they get defensive while breeding like every other cichlid out there, they don't tend to be problematic even while guarding fry.

Firemouths would probably be okay. Most people describe their firemouths as all bark and no bite. They flare their gills at their tankmates more often than anything else, but there are reports of psycho murderer firemouths.

Sajica are along the same lines as firemouths. Usually peaceful, but you get a bad apple every now and then.

I assume your tank is 6', so I would put more than two breeding pairs of cichlids in there unless you were breeding rams or something tiny like that. And two breeding pairs wouldn't leave much room for tankmates. If you want to breed, go for a single breeding pair of something that doesn't go crazy when it breeds (which eliminates most CAs). A single breeding pair of festivum would work well since they would prefer to breed near the top of the water, leaving the lower portion available for almost all the other cichlids. A pair of pure blue acaras would work out too since they tend to be calmer breeders than many other cichlids. A firemouth pair would probably work, but would need to be kept an eye on. Sajica would be far too aggressive to their tankmates to breed.

Overall, I would stick to singles of the fish you are interested in if peaceful and serene are important to you. Breeding cichlids introduce chaos into an aquarium regardless of their breeding temperament. Some just introduce more chaos than others.


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Yup I completely agree w/ this. I had 3 pairs of HRP that caused a lot of problems w/ larger cichlids. This was a 6' 150g. Multiple pairs of any cichlid would be crazy.
If it were me I would do:

4 geos- red heads
1 festum
1 blue acara
Dithers-tetras, barbs etc. maybe Cory cats



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