Experiences and advice about Cuban Cichlds

[andrej351]

Hi everyone,

Ive been trying to find some info on Cuban Cichlids on the net and not having a huge amount of luck. Cubans look absolutely awesome and id like to suss out whether it'd be feasible to add a young one to my tank, and also just hear what sort of experiences people have had with them to get a better idea of what sort of fish they are.

A few questions:

Whats their scientific name?? Its always good to know...

What tank mates have been successful, and which ones less so?

Whats the average size of an adult cuban, and what sort of growth rate is typical of them? Im familiar with an oscars growth rate for example, is that the sort of thing you'd expect?

More specifically, i have a ~ 7 inch oscar, 4 inch blue acara, 2.5 inch convict and a 5 inch sailfin pleco all living quite happily together, and that would be the cubans home if i got one. They're currently in a 3ft tank, about 150L, until i set up something bigger.

And, if you've kept them, please just post something about them. My current fish all look rad, dont fight and are full of personality and thats what attracted me to the cubans....plus a lfs down the streets got a bunch.

Thanks!

 

[FSM]

Nandopsis tetracanthus. They may have been put in a different genus, the species is definitely tetracanthus though.

They get about 10-12"

I don't know how aggressive, but most likely not nearly as peaceful as the oscar.

 

[Ryanmahe]

some are agressive, some arent. Mine was very peaceful unless there was a fish that was the same size as it in the tank. Left everything else alone, even when it bred. He was a solid 13" when he died. From what I'm told they grow fairly slow, I bought mine as an adult so I dont have personal experience with that.

 

[lostnight]

some are agressive, some arent. Mine was very peaceful unless there was a fish that was the same size as it in the tank. Left everything else alone, even when it bred. He was a solid 13" when he died. From what I'm told they grow fairly slow, I bought mine as an adult so I dont have personal experience with that.

I agree with that, the aggression levels vary greatly. I bought 5 at the AcA convention. One turned out to be a psycho, killing 3 of them. He also killed a polleni and a Mayan. Now is is alone with a larger Mayan he doesn't take his crap. The LFS has cubans, so I bought 3 more to replace the 3 he killed. I put them with my other surviving cubans, and they get alone fine. There is some aggression and chasing, but nothing out of the ordinary for cichlids, and not to the pyschotic levels of the dominant cuban.

 

[GTS]

Check out this article. http://www.cichlidae.com/article.php?id=215

Cuban cichlids vary greatly when it comes to aggression. I have owned some that could be kept with semi-aggressive cichlids like green terrors and jack Dempsey's and others that were aggressive enough to hang with truly aggressive cichlids such as motaguense. Granted I find that the truly aggressive ones are not very common, but you should know that they do exist.

Generally they are as aggressive as a Texas cichlids.

 

[RedH2O]

Well I can tell you my cuban I bought had the dominant colors when i bought him. My bit of advice is if you want a peaceful cuban, go for the lighter colored on possibley less dominant, there colors will come with time.

My fish is 1.5" and truely hates my baby trimac of a larger size. They are in a 240gal with much larger fish and he is so fast and aggressive i had to make more territories so that my trimac could find a home. The cuban rules almost have of the left side of my tank. Just after the smaller sized fish come a little passed half he shoots out to attack. This is not what I expected at all from a relatively peaceful fish I'm just glad I have a large enough tank.

I could take a video and show you if you would like to see the little black/white devil i have.

 

[Freshwaterpredators]

I love cubans I agree about aggressivness, it depends on the fish but generally cubans have a lil more attitude than most. i have went through about a dozon watching them grow out. I have a great pair that breed about every 45 days. they seem to be growing slow but not as slow as grammodes or beani. I bought my pair in a group as juvies @ 2" in november 08' and now my male is 7" female 5". good luck with yours.