I would not get less than 6, hoping for a tank big enough for 8-10 kelberi's... pbas are all new to me I have always been into dovii, umbee, trimac kinds of cichlids..
cichla (pbass) in groups..
- Thread starter steenmillinder
- Start date
6-8 Kelberi is good to start but have a spare tank ready just in case some grow faster. Then the bigger one might kill off the smaller one. In addition it's a good idea to provide some leafy plants to divert the aggressions. In my experience orino is the biggest bully so be careful if you decide to keep orino. Most of the bass casualty I've experience are when the bass are under 10".
point taken, thanks, I'm pretty sure I won't have room for orino's, I'd rather use the space for a couple more kelberi's to dilute the aggression(if possible), I always have some big pieces of driftwood/roots in the tank to provide visual barriers.
I've noticed that when the number of fish becomes large enough they begin shoal even sometimes school, I've seen it in cichla, discus and pleuro's and would love some combination of these fishes. Hard to predict the long-term outcome of mixing such fish, for example my snakehead hates my synspila and my trimac only, and sometimes follows my jag around, my trimac is an all-round bully but stops the chase when out of sight, my jag hates all cichlids and synodontis cats in its vicinity, but doesn't mind the snakehead and clown loaches and pleco..
I pretty sure the cichla's will be kelberi's but what number of them do you think are needed for this behaviour to happen? also tank size? and if a mix of some of the mentioned species could stay stable longterm, tank size?...
Cichla group in the wild :
I pretty sure the cichla's will be kelberi's but what number of them do you think are needed for this behaviour to happen? also tank size? and if a mix of some of the mentioned species could stay stable longterm, tank size?...
Cichla group in the wild :
Last thing, could it be an advantage to ha a "police officer fish" in with them? I have a red devil now king of the tank, doesn't even bother showing of his supremacy, but he won't tolerate an ongoing fight, when my two oscars quarrel at some point Erik(Danish king Erik the red 
) stops the fight...
) stops the fight...
2 died, one just never really ate and one because of my stupidity adjusting the pump left a gap big enough to kill one 
,, I bought 6 more so I have 12, already at that size their interaction is SO awesome "to be part of" ,, they are VERY owner responsive(I have parachromis, trimac, oscars, snakeheads, ex(fahaka and all sorts marine)), these cichla are among the top of my list for owner responsiveness(high on my list when researching fish). The 2 groups merged the first day and now form a school that splits up into 2 or 3 smaller ones and rejoin and split up, but it's quite obvious(at least for me to delude my self into believing it) that they find comfort in each others presence despite the internal squabbles.. <3 ' em (the tank is 3 feet tall, they have a nice vertical dynamic to their swimming style, they are perch-like kinda)
,, I bought 6 more so I have 12, already at that size their interaction is SO awesome "to be part of" ,, they are VERY owner responsive(I have parachromis, trimac, oscars, snakeheads, ex(fahaka and all sorts marine)), these cichla are among the top of my list for owner responsiveness(high on my list when researching fish). The 2 groups merged the first day and now form a school that splits up into 2 or 3 smaller ones and rejoin and split up, but it's quite obvious(at least for me to delude my self into believing it) that they find comfort in each others presence despite the internal squabbles.. <3 ' em (the tank is 3 feet tall, they have a nice vertical dynamic to their swimming style, they are perch-like kinda)