cichlid characin compatibility

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nathanzhang

Black Skirt Tetra
MFK Member
Mar 22, 2016
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I currently have a pair of doviis, male is 7 inches female is about 5.5. I have always been into oddball fishes as well as characins and I have enough room for a 4 *4 *10 aquarium I was wondering if I could house the doviis as wells as some other aggressive cichlids with some characins like Dorados Mbu puffer Gatf/Vatf Armatus or Aimara/Curupira as well as the usual peacock bass , datnoid and arowana. not that I want all of them I live in california so gars and malabraicus arent an option

My dream stocklist would be
1-2 dovii
occelarris
temensis
red devil
buttie
armatus
gatf
vatf
curupira
arowana
endlicheri
ornatus
niger cat
pleco
festae
 
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4x4x10, what scale are you referring to? Meters? Feet? I'm assuming you mean 10feet long by 4 ft wide and 4 ft tall and not 10feet tall. (L x w x h) I think you can get away with it if you grow them all from juvenile sizes. I'm sure there will be some aggression but while they are all small, the damage won't be fatal. As they get to sub adult and adult sizes, things can get messy real quick however if they have been tank mates growing up, it could possibly work out. As with any cichlids, tank should be ideally hard scaped with hiding spots caves, rocks and driftwood to provide break away points. Peacock bass are great dithers that look pretty. Some silver dollars and tin foils can never go wrong as well. If you only have aggressive fish in the mix such as dorado, atfs, wolves, you will inevitably end up with some bashing. Best of luck to you!
 
Lol this comes up so often it's actually becoming funny. "What can I comm with a dovii?" The answer is any fish that you don't care if it lives or dies. Anything will comm for an indefinite amount of time. Everything will SOONer or later be killed.
 
however there is no way a dovii could beat an armatus or atf at equal sizes
so wouldn't the dovii avoid the other fish because it knows that if it is not killed, it will be hurt badly?
 
nathanzhang said:
however there is no way a dovii could beat an armatus or atf at equal sizes
so wouldn't the dovii avoid the other fish because it knows that if it is not killed, it will be hurt badly?
Click to expand...
It doesn't work like that with fish lol.
ATF never see Dovii in wild life so does a Dovii.
ATF is a fast moving predator not really a territorial maniac, while Dovii also a predator but extremely territorial behave so In a confined space a Dovii would harass the AFT to death.
A member here kept a Black Aro and GATF and guess what? The GATF got hurt badly lol and Black Aro is nowhere near the Dovii aggression level.
 
It's difficult to say if your combinations will work or not because fish have their own personalities, but they also follow specific behavioral patterns. You will have to constantly watch for any aggression from any of your fish, specifically the large cichlids while the others are still young. Cichlids become bullies if they cant kill a fish instantly so watch out for missing scales and damaged fins. As adults, I suspect the Dovii will dominate most of the tank until the temensis gets over 30" (if you can keep it alive that long). I wouldn't try the curupira though if you want bottom dwelling tankmates. They tend to end up in the curupira stomach at night if they are smaller or the same size as it. Personally I would not keep the Dovii pair in this tank if you want the best chances of making it a monster mash. Best of luck!
 
ok
how about
festae pair
2 vatf
armatus
gatf
curupira
temensis
occelarris
tiger shovelnose
buttie
 
If u got enough room u could probably get away with this in a 20 or 24 ft untextured pool, and would be cheaper than the tank u mentioned, other wise u have little chance of housing these together
 
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