So i had my pair of dovii and my female red tiger mota in the same tank, a 40 gallon breeder since they were all around 3.5". It appeared my female mota was attacking the dovii as she was the only one with no battle scars and the dovii were both a little battered. Assuming the mota was responsible i took her out and gave her her own 55 gallon tank(she hasnt eaten a thing since) and the dovii pair is no longer a pair. One of them killed the other. So im just having the worst luck with the restart of the fish room. Only thing doing good are my oscars and azuls which will soon be going into a 1018 gallon pond.
Another death in the fish room
- Thread starter jhutch
- Start date
Sorry for the run of bad luck. Try growing out the more aggressive cichlids in larger aquariums. The added space combined with caves should help lower the aggression and fatalities. Some dithers could work also.
all those fish are better off as a solo or a pair , not in a group, thats what they do kill each other sorry for you bad luck,
if you read they didnt kill each other until they were left as a pair. so i would say they are better off left solo.
which speaking of that, i ordered another male mota to go with the female, should i not put them together? lol i mean in all seriousness how in the hell do you get these super aggressive ones to breed if you cant leave them as a pair to grow out? I left the dovii as a pair and the next day one killed the other(as previously stated in the opening post) I dont really like experimenting with 50 and 100 dollar bills as much as i have recently but i guess if thats what it takes to find what works then thats what it takes.
Your not going to have success growing large aggressive CA cichlids in a 40g without them killing each other. You will have much better luck if you start with a group of 6 or more of whatever you like in a 75g or larger. Grow them up and let a pair form on it's own. Once a pair forms move them to a 125g or larger. Sometimes they still will kill each other if you do not use dividers. I think your main problem is tank size and the fact that you only have 2 of each kind. This does not usually lead to stronge bonds forming.
This is very sound advice
. Even a proven pair can turn on one another for various reasons. Many people have dividers or separate tanks handy in case of emergencies. But buying groups of juveniles is the way to go as mentioned by jgentry. Trying to force a pair to bond in a small tank is very difficult and many times fatal for one of the fish.Cool thanks for the advice. Ive mainly bred africans and the only CA/SA cichlid ive bred were freddys which i got as a mated pair. I will definately buy more of these guys when i get them from now on. If there is one thing i dont mind doing its buying a bunch at a time lol.