Blind Cuban Cichlid tankmates?

[CichlidsNCars]

I currently own a 7 inch Cuban cichlid, who as of roughly 2-3 inches has been completely (or very close to) blind. He is able to move around his tank with minimal issues and eats his food without any problems. He is currently in his own 75 gallon and honestly comes off as bored to me. I am wondering if it would be possible to keep him with any tankmates? Not necessarily any cichlids as I would prefer to avoid as many issues as possible, but perhaps some semi aggressive or large community fish?

 

[The Morning]

I am just curious as to how you know that he is nearly blind?

 

[Modest_Man]

I have a couple blind red dovii you can have...

 

[CichlidsNCars]

I know that my Cuban is blind because he bumps into objects in his tank on occasion, it was way worse when he was younger. He sometimes misses the food when trying to eat it, like he literally bites the water and usually just sucks up the pellets. I also remember exactly how it happened because I was in the room when he became blind. Originally he had normal vision. One day at about 2 1/2 or so inches I decided to move him in with my then 5 or so inch f1 female RD to see if she would be okay with him as she had been bullied by most of the other fish that were if her size range and she seemed more mellow than most other devils (which she actually is even as a now adult) she just decided after about a few days, she didn't like him specifically. So, she bit him on the head during a feeding time. She bit him hard enough that immediately it was obvious something was wrong despite her letting him go. He swam top speed around the tank crashing into things and acting berserk. I moved him from that tank and placed him in a tank of his own (the same one he is currently in).

 

[CichlidsNCars]

Now, he is doing really well and has made a full recovery aside from his disability. Other than his unresponsiveness at times, it's actually hard to tell he is blind. His eyes are intact, so I believe that it probably was caused by brain damage, though not enough to make him retarded.

 

[Gourami Swami]

Personally I would worry adding tankmates with a blind fish, that he would be outcompeted for food. I have a nearly blind betta, and getting him to eat can be a PITA. Need to wait until he feels like swimming up to the top, signal to him that I'm going to feed him by tapping the glass, then hope he can hit the flakes. He takes a bite when there is shade above his head from the flakes, so I know he can see a little, but just like your fish he flails around and bumps into things, and most of the day sits on the bottom.
So if you add fish, I would be very careful that they aren't voracious eaters.

 

[CichlidsNCars]

I will say that despite his lack of vision, and him sometimes missing the food when he tries to eat, he still manages to eat like a pig. I guess he has pretty much learned to use his mouth like a vacuum. Instead of just going after the food, he pulls it toward himself. I also believe that because the injury occured so early in his life, he just learned to completely compensate for it. Does anyone think that Geos could possibly work with him? That would be a setup I would like to try.