I have read that having a tank with just males will dilute aggression. Will the males still display their bold colors. What if you had a tank with just females, Will they still display their bold colors. I am looking at larger cichlids such as the vieja species. I have a large tank but since the females stay a bit smaller, this may be more desireable. Any stocking advice would be great.
cichlid stocking question
- Thread starter Bode
- Start date
JK47 was gonna try an all female tank. He starte a thread on which species of CAs have good looking females. You should track it down. 
i am trying an all male tank, a little overstocked, from my experience:
- all males do color nicely even with no females
- even overstocking doesn't quell aggression when you are dealing with bruisers like amphilophus, my viejas still fight a little but not too bad, zonatus is very aggressive
- the hierarchy changes weekly with time and size of the fish, i still don't know what my final tank will be and who will have to be rehomed, its definetely an adventrue
- all males do color nicely even with no females
- even overstocking doesn't quell aggression when you are dealing with bruisers like amphilophus, my viejas still fight a little but not too bad, zonatus is very aggressive
- the hierarchy changes weekly with time and size of the fish, i still don't know what my final tank will be and who will have to be rehomed, its definetely an adventrue
It is difficult to pick out all males as well unless you are already grown out fish. If you are starting with smaller fish, many cichlids are difficult to sex unless you vent carefully (which you can't do from a fish store or online dealer unless they have already done it or you buy multiple fish).
I agree with the overstock to dilute aggression theory ,to a point , a bad##s fish is still likely to kill something ,just be carefull with your selection.
I brought a funny looking Syn that turned out to be a Bifa and he gets chased a lot by my red devil but they never actually fight. the devil just likes to assert his dominance, I see the same thing in african cichlids all the time. and TBH I have had overstocked aggressive tanks before and they do really work.
yeah luckily i had both gage and rapps sex mine for me, they said at 4" and above it's easy to tell