Green Acara/Terror

[Padiwan cichlidiot]

I am planning on getting a 75g tank some time with the mext few months. I didn't have large fish in a long time and I finally decided to get green acaras. I would like to buy a few small ones and rear them to maturity.

What do I need to know before getting them?
What fish would make good tankmates?
How can they be sexed, and at what age?
Is there anything I need to do to stimulate breeding?
Favorite foods?
Any advise would be most welcome.

 

[darth pike]

Green acaras or green terrors? Common names for differant fish around these parts.

 

[Padiwan cichlidiot]

this one

 

[Alexxxxsv14]

yea dont get more than 2 gt in that 75 theyre truly awesome fish

 

[mr72country]

males have nuchal humps and trailers on the dorsal and anal fins females usually dont, my guy loves cichlid gold and massivore delight. in a 75 i would say just get a pair and maybe throw some giant danios or killifish maybe a cat or something to clean

 

[Padiwan cichlidiot]

Thanks for the info, I will try to give them a balanced diet including worms and feeders too.

How big do they get?
Will they survive a pair of convicts?
Would it be a good I idea to buy 4-5 young but then sell the rest when a pair establishes its self?
Would they beat up large plecos?

 

[EdzCatingub]

nice pic...
u should join the POTM contest...
lolz!!!

 

[Sab_Fan]

FWIW, the picture you showed is of a Gold Saum, which is commonly called a Green Terror . . . it is from the "acara" family, but is never called a Green Acara . . . and should not be confused with the Blue Acara (tho' it often is)

no special foods are necessary, just good quality cichlid foods . . . the males will have longer fins and may develop a nuchal hump; the females are short-bodied and have rounded fins

and they are beautiful fish; great choice for a 75G . . .

 

[Padiwan cichlidiot]

Thanks for the clarifacation, What about breeding? Any experiance?

 

[Sab_Fan]

not really . . . I had a really impressive male Gold Saum (no pix, but it looked very much like the photo you posted), but I was keeping a "males-only" tank, with a male JD and male convict . . . eventually the JD started beating on the Saum (even tho' they were about the same size), and I ended up trading him in

I think the recommended approach would to be get a group of them - - maybe 5 or 6 - - at a young age and wait to see if anyone pairs up; at that point you would remove the others and let nature takes its course.

now, my Blue Acara and a female acara (not a BA or a GT, but some other non-specific acara) did breed; she laid the eggs in a flowerpot, but I never got any fry . . . recommend keeping the water clean, maybe doing a few large water changes (and relatively high temps) to encourage breeding . . .