Not worth getting live plants honestly,the only cichlids that wont bother with at least moss ball plants are Jack Dempseys.As for Salvinis,I have never seen them grow 10 inches,usually 6 inches max is what I have seen so far,as he has stated,they are very slow growers,so that could be the reason why I never seen them grow pass the 6 inch mark.They are great to have honestly.If you wanted to mix it up a bit,you can easily put a male Texas with a female Salvini.I have a male texas and female salvini,which they hang out and tag team against three other fishes that try to beat up on the Texas.
Chocolate Cichlid vs Oscar fish vs piranhas
- Thread starter Iliketurtles
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If you want a pair of salvini I advice you to get a group and let them grow out, eventually a pair will form. Once they start breeding though they become much more aggressive and it's gonna be harder for you to add tankmates, especially cichlids, so you have to decide what you want and go for it. If you want a community setup with a few medium sized cichlids the best thing is to get a single of each.
2 example setups that you could use:
Salvini tank:
- Breeding pair of adult Salvini
- Schooling dithers (tiger barbs or silver dollars and maybe a school of yoyo loaches)
- a couple of Bamboo or vampire shrimp, or a cool crayfish (provide hiding places).
Community tank
- Male Salvini
- Male Sajica
- Male Nicaraguensis
- Male Blue Acara
- School of dithers
You can try different mixes and see what works well for you.
2 example setups that you could use:
Salvini tank:
- Breeding pair of adult Salvini
- Schooling dithers (tiger barbs or silver dollars and maybe a school of yoyo loaches)
- a couple of Bamboo or vampire shrimp, or a cool crayfish (provide hiding places).
Community tank
- Male Salvini
- Male Sajica
- Male Nicaraguensis
- Male Blue Acara
- School of dithers
You can try different mixes and see what works well for you.
What about mixing them with convicts? I found a guy on craiglist who is giving some convicts away for free, but i read about them and it seemed like this could be a bad idea. The salvinis at the store are smalll like 2inches so would there be problems?
Well I tried to suggest uncommon species with lots of color and attitude that you won't find in every other tank.
But convicts will work. The reason why they give them away for free is that convicts breed like rats, and can fill the whole tank with little convicts if given the chance, not many people will pay online for a baby convict (shipping) because you can find them at most petsmart/petco/petland/petsupermarket/whatever over the corner for $1-2.
They also get very aggressive when breeding, so if you want to get a single male or a female that's fine (females are more colorful) but a pair will most likely give you trouble in a 55 gal community setup.
But convicts will work. The reason why they give them away for free is that convicts breed like rats, and can fill the whole tank with little convicts if given the chance, not many people will pay online for a baby convict (shipping) because you can find them at most petsmart/petco/petland/petsupermarket/whatever over the corner for $1-2.
They also get very aggressive when breeding, so if you want to get a single male or a female that's fine (females are more colorful) but a pair will most likely give you trouble in a 55 gal community setup.
burzumaske20;5136573;5136573 said:Not worth getting live plants honestly,the only cichlids that wont bother with at least moss ball plants are Jack Dempseys.As for Salvinis,I have never seen them grow 10 inches,usually 6 inches max is what I have seen so far,as he has stated,they are very slow growers,so that could be the reason why I never seen them grow pass the 6 inch mark.They are great to have honestly.If you wanted to mix it up a bit,you can easily put a male Texas with a female Salvini.I have a male texas and female salvini,which they hang out and tag team against three other fishes that try to beat up on the Texas.
I haven't seen many over 6" either but I do know that it is very possible for them to grow larger. Check out the male Salvini owned by Jgentry:
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=409396&highlight=salvini
Well the last thing i want is the fish breeding ridicuosly, will the babies not get eaten by the salvinis? What if i had only females
Just stick to same sex fish if you want a community. Breeding convicts in that setup wouldn't be worth the drama, unless you want to use them as feeders and don't mind your other fish getting beaten by the convicts every now and then.
They do get that big, they just take long time to do so, especially in small tanks. I put a few 1 inchers in a 120 gal and within 2 months of power feeding NLS/bloodworms/glassworms/raw shrimp and high temp (82-89) (nitrates always 5 ppm) the dominant male has grown to 3.5", and gained a lot of bulk. It's impressive to have seen him as a little colorless fry and now see what he's becoming. I don't think 8" in a year or so would be impossible for him.
Gruff Master;5136801; said:I haven't seen many over 6" either but I do know that it is very possible for them to grow larger. Check out the male Salvini owned by Jgentry:
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=409396&highlight=salvini
They do get that big, they just take long time to do so, especially in small tanks. I put a few 1 inchers in a 120 gal and within 2 months of power feeding NLS/bloodworms/glassworms/raw shrimp and high temp (82-89) (nitrates always 5 ppm) the dominant male has grown to 3.5", and gained a lot of bulk. It's impressive to have seen him as a little colorless fry and now see what he's becoming. I don't think 8" in a year or so would be impossible for him.
Yeah, I was sold on their potential size after I saw Jgentry's thread several weeks ago. I have two now and they're only 2-3". I hope to see mine grow as large as possible.
To be honest convicts are some what cool,but I only have 1 female in the tank,I refuse to get a male,I don't need them breeding and have a world war 3 in my tank,cause it won't turn out pretty for either the convicts or one of the my other cichlids.
Gruff Master;5136859; said:Yeah, I was sold on their potential size after I saw Jgentry's thread several weeks ago. I have two now and they're only 2-3". I hope to see mine grow as large as possible.
When I purchased my salvini,she was 2 inches,now she is bulked up a bit,so I am expecting 3 inches very soon I would say.I have been asked numerous times,if I put my cichlids on steroids.the female Green Terror I bought 1.5 inches that I have not even had in a year yet,already hit the 5 inch mark.Same with my true Texas,I purchased him when he was only 2 inches about 3 in half months ago,now he is close to passing up my GT.
