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
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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.
Once a pair forms, I move others to a separate tank, sometimes the tank right next to it, so they are still able to see the others.
This sometimes enables the the pair, something to display at, and may focus the enhanced breeding hormones an aggresion
outlet.
Most of our tanks are just too small to provide adequate space to hold more than just a single pair of Central Americans, even a 6 ft tank is a mere puddle compared to the reality in nature.
In nature females often live in large shoals, sometimes along with with a few subordinate males, that have little chance to establish a reasonable enough territory, to impress a female in season.
This is obvious in the millions of gallons in a Mexican Cenote, where Mayahero uropthalmus females travel in large shoals, and allow beat up males to tag along.
The dominant males, sometimes 15" to 20" alphas hold separate territories in the cenotes middle areas and caves, that only receptive females are allowed to enter.
This sometimes enables the the pair, something to display at, and may focus the enhanced breeding hormones an aggresion
outlet.
Most of our tanks are just too small to provide adequate space to hold more than just a single pair of Central Americans, even a 6 ft tank is a mere puddle compared to the reality in nature.
In nature females often live in large shoals, sometimes along with with a few subordinate males, that have little chance to establish a reasonable enough territory, to impress a female in season.
This is obvious in the millions of gallons in a Mexican Cenote, where Mayahero uropthalmus females travel in large shoals, and allow beat up males to tag along.
The dominant males, sometimes 15" to 20" alphas hold separate territories in the cenotes middle areas and caves, that only receptive females are allowed to enter.
There are numerous fish species I'd be interested in. This is sort of piggybacking off of my discussion I started earlier on a 75 gallon tank stocking ideas. If I went a Central American route I'd be potentially interested in Thorichthys species, rainbow cichlids, Nicaraguan, Honduran red points, or Cryptoheros nanoluteus.
If I went the South American route I'd be interested in angelfish, acaras (especially electric blue or blue) apistos, dwarf species, or Geophagus species. With both the Central or South American options I would be interested in mixing cichlid (from one continent or another) species.
This might just be my ADHD and overthinking taking effect as well.
Yes, unfortunately space is limited as I'd likely not have room for more than a 90 gallon tank max, but more than likely it would be a 75.
nanoluteus I found are pretty laid back in a 4ft tank minimum for a small group of 4. I have 1 male and 3 females and it's pretty calm even with a dominant male and female, no attacking or aggression. It also has tons of rocks, fake plants for hiding.
Nicaraguan would be good for pair only but I've seen a 9 inch male at my lfs and as a pair gets bigger, a 125 would probably be better but could work in a 75 gallon.
Apistogramma are best bet as they stay small with tons of plants, rock and wood. Make the tank like a maze for them to zip through. I have macmasteri with tons of neon tetra in a 75 and it's my most peaceful setup I own lol
Nicaraguan would be good for pair only but I've seen a 9 inch male at my lfs and as a pair gets bigger, a 125 would probably be better but could work in a 75 gallon.
Apistogramma are best bet as they stay small with tons of plants, rock and wood. Make the tank like a maze for them to zip through. I have macmasteri with tons of neon tetra in a 75 and it's my most peaceful setup I own lol
And as I do agree with
duanes
to an extent, we just have to remember what we keep in a glass box may or may not work versus how life works in nature.
This is only my opinion, a 75-90 gallon will work mainly for a pair of anything that doesn't get any bigger than 6-8 inches. Unless you did a group of females only or a male only tank.
duanes
to an extent, we just have to remember what we keep in a glass box may or may not work versus how life works in nature.This is only my opinion, a 75-90 gallon will work mainly for a pair of anything that doesn't get any bigger than 6-8 inches. Unless you did a group of females only or a male only tank.
Primarily depends on species, but also depends on the individual fish/pair/group. So, for example, I used to breed Geophagus pyrocephalus and mine were fine with two pairs in a tank, a pair + extra females, or a pair + unpaired males and females. With my Geophagus sveni, however, I had to move the dominant pair out to settle down the complete chaos between the pair and others in the group, after which the remaining group of 3 got along reasonably well. Some say sveni are the more peaceful of the two, not mine. In each case there's been other tankmates, some combination of severums, wild angelfish, plecos, or similar.