Amatitlania siquia "rio bagaces"

[coltiger1975]

I have recently got a pair of these and I am looking for fish that come from the same river or fish that can be housed in a more natural environment with them. I'd rather not house them with anything that will boss them around. The tank I will be using will be a standard 75 gallon. I can use an extra canister and if need I have power heads or wave maker. I am not sure what part of the river they are from. Any input would be appreciated

 

[duanes]

There are plenty of live bearers from that area of Costa Rica of the genus Poecilia such as P gilli (molly), and Poeciliopsis that would work as tank mates.
They are generally surface dwellers, so would occupy a different area of tank, and not be a threat.
There are also some Tetras like the Roeboides from the Pacific versant, that I keep with Andinoacara, but may be a bit nippy in that size tank.
They are scale eaters.

Other cichlids of the Guanacaste region are Herotilapia multispinosa, although I probably would hesitate to add another cichlid in that size tank.
They may not be a threat, but once your Amatitlania spawn, the pair would pose a threat to the rainbow cichlids.

https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/i97/dstuer/multispinossa/Intexspinossa/spawn/20galspawn/.highres/IMG_9318_zpshjopu5ez.jpg?width=450&height=278&crop=fill

 

[coltiger1975]

Thanks duanes I think going with the livebearers might be the best option. I think as long as both keep each other's spawns in control then I should not have an issue with tank being overrun. Those tetras are intriguing but might be hard for me to get a hold of some.

 

[dogofwar]

Honestly, the livebearers likely will be toast when they pairs spawn.

 

[coltiger1975]

Thanks for the input, you think with the tank being planted this will be an issue? My HRP don't seem to be overly aggressive in comparison to say convicts when raising their fry. From what I have seen they are similar in behavior to the HRP. Do they develop a meaner streak than the HRP. They're currently housed in a 40b with Rainbow cichlids and don't seem to bother them. I have my HRP with sailfin mollies and a lone male Sajica. They're in a 90, 5 HRP one a male rest female. Male is 4 inches. Sajica is 6 inches and the sailfins range from 2 to 5 inches probably around 6 adults and maybe 10 juvies.

 

[robmcd]

The tetras in that area are identical to buenos aires tetras, so a handful of them would control the spawns of both the cichlids and the livebearers.

 

[robmcd]

I caught these and used them as bait for local Brycon and dovii in the rio agua caliente near Lago Arenal.

 

[Hybridfish7]

Thanks for the input, you think with the tank being planted this will be an issue? My HRP don't seem to be overly aggressive in comparison to say convicts when raising their fry. From what I have seen they are similar in behavior to the HRP. Do they develop a meaner streak than the HRP. They're currently housed in a 40b with Rainbow cichlids and don't seem to bother them. I have my HRP with sailfin mollies and a lone male Sajica. They're in a 90, 5 HRP one a male rest female. Male is 4 inches. Sajica is 6 inches and the sailfins range from 2 to 5 inches probably around 6 adults and maybe 10 juvies.

Yes, the bagaces will get significantly more aggressive and almost twice the size, I had my pair with a school of buenos aires tetras, and the morning of their first spawn I woke up to 3 tetras on the floor. The pair wasn't full sized but was decent, the female at 3 and the male at 4.5. Under ideal circumstances they can mature to 6 or even 8 inches, compared to the pure danli HRP's seemingly absolute max of around 5.
The western Costa Rican siquia(nigrofasciata) locales are more like miniature amphilophus, most of the locales from around the gulf of nicoya have large growing, bulky males, the most well known of the bunch being the ones from cabuya. I haven't seen tempisque, lagarto, or bagaces get as bulky as the cabuya males you see online yet, but I do notice they all mature to be significantly bigger bodied than traditional convicts.

 

[newworld]

i’ve kept and caught a bunch throughout central america, pretty much with time they all get bulky and aggressive, i haven’t seen a difference in aggression from ones from nicaragua, el salvador or honduras…they are convicts haha

 

[coltiger1975]

This is my male HRP, he doesn't have the nuchal hump like other convicts although he is with a bunch of females. The Sajica has one but they typically don't squabble. The Rio Bagaces male is similar shape and acts much like him. So they get bulkier than regular convicts? I suspect if I do what I do with my jade eyes and keep males only then they'll get bulkier.