Cryptoheros tankmates

[Mythic Figment]

Despite many claims otherwise, I have found all cichlids, be they African or Central American, tend to claim a 4" sq area when spawning.
I have watched JDs in the cenotes of Mexico attack anything that enters their spawning square. In nature the interloper simply quickly leaves the area, but this of course is not possible in any but the largest tanks, so the interloper ends up dead. And to achieve this defense stance, cichlids seem to have an innate heightened sense of readiness to be aggressive while spawning, which puts the female (or sometimes the male if he is smaller)in harms way, in a tank without targets for the male to vent the aggression.
In a tank like a 40 breeder, one must always be ready to remove the smaller partner when that aggression surfaces.
I just had a Lepidiolamprologus male kill his mate in a 75 gal after 3 spawns, it was just not enough space, when the moment came, and it was in 24hours. And he was only about 7"

Yeah. Having be advised of all this, I think I may pass along these guys to a friend of mine who keeps aggressive CAs. He has several very large tanks that these guys would be better suited for. It sucks because they really are very pretty fish, but I would rather them get the space they need. I might keep one of each female in a 40 and let them grow up together.


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[ryansmith83]

If you consider getting rid of the panamensis, let me know. I may try them out. I was going to check out the place you got them since Mike is only about 40 minutes south of me. I haven't had many cryptoheros, but I do want to try them out.

 

[Mythic Figment]

If you consider getting rid of the panamensis, let me know. I may try them out. I was going to check out the place you got them since Mike is only about 40 minutes south of me. I haven't had many cryptoheros, but I do want to try them out.

I am going to rehome them. I am actually heading to Mike's farm on Saturday if that isn't too early.

How do you feel about a breeding pair of Heroina in a 40? Just as bad as the Cryptos or better?


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[ryansmith83]

I had a pair of Heroina in a 40 and things were okay for the first couple spawns, then the male started to harass the female on the third one. I eventually had to put him back in a community tank and leave her alone with the fry.

Before that I had four Heroina in a 55, and when a pair would spawn, they would completely shred the other two -- missing fins, scales, etc. Even with hiding places and flower pots, they'd beat the snot out of the non-paired fish. I thought moving them all to a 210 would be the answer because they'd have plenty of room, but they still seek each other out and beat the crap out of each other. Out of eight adults I've lost two now in the 210 from being bullied to death.

I tend not to keep pairs in breeding tanks for life. First off, I find that more often than not things will inevitably go south and you'll end up with a mauled or dead fish. The only cichlid I haven't had this issue with are discus. But I have had Heros, Laetacara, Cichlasoma, Heroina, Mikrogeophagus, Pterophyllum, Geophagus, Krobia, and Pelvicachromis all turn on their mates at some point and either stress or kill them. That's a large range of cichlids of all types and all aggression levels. Like duanes said, I think cichlids are so geared toward ferociously protecting and defending their fry that all the aggressive/territorial instinct has to be directed somewhere. When pairs aren't defending their brood from outside intruders, they often turn on each other. I have no scientific proof to back any of that up, but it just seems to work that way a lot of times.

Second, when you leave pairs together they will just spawn repeatedly every few weeks (if you remove the fry) or months (if you let them parent-raise) and I find that really takes its toll on the fish. They seem to burn out really quickly that way. I know a lot of people keep all their cichlids as pairs but I tend to give mine resting periods in community tanks. In theory you could just stick a divider in the breeding tank and give them a rest but I kind of feel like I'm looking at a fish prison when I see that in peoples' tanks. Or maybe I'm just too lazy to go through all that effort when tossing them in a community tank works just as well.

 

[cichlidfish]

I've had luck with breeding pairs of HRPs in a 150g. The tank mates were larger cichlids like a. robertsoni, a. rostratus, syn, JD, and a nic. The HRPs did dominate the tank and 3 pairs really became too much for the other fish. Two pairs worked out ok.