cichla carpinte

[skinless]

Well mah 75 is cycled and im ready for additions.

Saw a batch of carpintes at the lfs (AKA pearlscale or green texas) and was curious whether they would be compatible with my other cichlids.

Size wise Im assuming one would hit 6-7" max, which is decent as the tankmates are a FM, con pair, and a salvini. What about the temperament of the carpinte though??? In general, are they similar to my other fish, or are they more likely to go pyscho like the larger, texas type????

Just trying to decide between one of these or a Dempsey.

Comments/experiences please.

 

[Fry]

carpintis isn't "cichla", cichla refers to peacock bass species, Herichthys carpintis is the scientific name, i've had one for 9 months and it is currently just over 6" TL, bought him when he was less than an inch, very stunning beauty but nasty temperament, it nearly killed my 9" oscar several times so he is all alone in a tank now, with all cichlids you have to try to see if it will work but judging from my carpintis, they are nasty and mean, jack dempseys in general are less aggressive but get larger and more powerful, i would say the JD has a better chance of working with your FM, cons, and salvini

 

[skinless]

thanks bud...yeah i shoulda put cichlasoma carpinte instead....have also seen it called herichthys carpintis....same thing right????

 

[dovii88]

the texas cichlid a great fish expecially when they get the breeding dress colors i wish they stayed like that....

 

[Fry]

thanks bud...yeah i shoulda put cichlasoma carpinte instead....have also seen it called herichthys carpintis....same thing right????

yeah, they used to group tons of cichlids into the genus cichlasoma but have since separated them into different genus, herichthys is the designated genus for carpintis and some other central and north american cichlids with irridescent spots such as the original texas cichlid Herichthys cyanoguttattus and the "blue cichlid"

 

[Jason_S]

the carpintis actually grows quite large. males can reach up to 14" so that would really be pushing the limits of your tank. 75 gallons is a pretty good sized tank but one thing to remember is that eventually your convict pair will probably take up half of the tank as their territory. I had a pair in my 75 gallon that literally cut the tank in half and wouldn't let other fish on their side of the tank. so if your con pair does the same thing you'll have a firemouth and salvini trying to share the other side. once these fish all reach full grown size this may cause problems. I think you'll have a lot better luck if you remove one of the convicts. this way they won't be breeding (unless the remaining convict pairs up with the salvini or firemouth which is very possible) and won't need such a large territory. if you can try to make sure the cichlids are all the same gender. you'll have a much better chance for success if you don't have any breeding going on.

oh, and I agree with Fry that a Jack dempsey might be better suited for your tank.

 

[scottv]

the texas cichlid a great fish expecially when they get the breeding dress colors i wish they stayed like that....

Mine stays like that! There's no other fish that it can breed with either..it looks awesome!

 

[Fry]

every source i look at tells me differently about the size of the carpintis, i've seen sources claiming max size from 6" to 12", and now Jason_S says males can get up to 14", i'm really not sure anymore, i just assumed they don't get that large because my oscar quickly outgrew my carpintis, i got them at the same time, are carpintis supposed to be slow growers?

 

[Jason_S]

the size of 14" that I gave came from a presentation by Rusty Wessel at the Cincinnati club in January. Rusty has collected a number of fish from Mexico and while collecting he said he saw several carpintis over a foot long. Now, he may have been talking about total length which may be around 12" standard length but they will still get very large. I was a bit surprised as well because I had always thought carpintis grew to around 10" max but I was wrong.

 

[johno27]

Yeah a dempsey or a Gramode if you can find one. Gramodes are the bomb