One thing that seems to be a common theme with Central and South American cichlids is people say to buy x number and wait for a pair to form then remove the others. I know each species is different, but let's say out of a group of six there was only one male and he paired off with a female, would the other females then be able to live together as a non breeding shoal or pair without aggression? Would they same generally go for males? Maybe this is too general of a question but it's something that intrigues me. I can give examples if this question isn't worded well.
Excess males or females
- Thread starter SCM_2123
- Start date
Depends on what species you're talking about. Central American cichlids, males are more prone to pay waste to any 3rd wheel party females or males (even if they are just trying to mind their business). I've had a male cuban cichlid with 5 females. He killed 2, I was able to re-home 2 and the he paired with, he killed in the later months over night. I've had a dominant male carpintis constantly harass aggressively and attack 3 females he was with. Ive had red terror festae, where I had a very dominant female attack 2 sizeable males in a group of 10. Amongst others I've had, this was all trial and error in 6ft tanks. Tank size definitely plays a role with either a divider or lots of line sight breaks. The only pair I have left is my Trimac pair. Female has her little pit and the male doesn't bother her at all, for now but I have a divider ready in case and this is also a 6ft tank. My parachromis multifaciatus growout group consists of 5. One dominant male and rest females.
At the end of the day, it'll all depend on species, group size and tank size.
At the end of the day, it'll all depend on species, group size and tank size.
