Help with blue Texas and blue acara?
- Thread starter Horsechick
- Start date
The eggs spots are for sexing Africans and you don't have enough caves or Cichlids. More hide-spaces and more cichlids.
To me, 125g = 10-12 Cichlids, 20-36 caves/hideplaces
Definitelly a Mbuna, from Lake Malawi not an Acara
I agree if it is a TRUE Texas, cyannoguttatum, but a carpintis, no. There is a very big difference in both temperament and local aggression between them
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I'm just checking back in. I currently have 3smalls and two larger fish in the 125. All seem to be African except the Tex.
I have 13ish hiding spots, more if you start to consider water space divided by plants ans those formations. The poor Tex currently stays hidden in a rock formation. I'm just trying to figure out how to best change this dinamic.
How the heck do you catch these fast little buggers in such a big tank????
Our closest LFS is 30 mins and doesn't like to take outside fish, especially big cichlids. The other is 45mins and I'm not sure their policy but that's the only two we have out here.
If I add a medium sized Oscar, JD and GT would that help distract the big fish, or would they gang up on the Tex? I'm wondering if I don't have enough fiah to spread the aggression. Right now they act like the little three don't exist but I'm guessing that's because they are small/non breeding age. However if it were just the Texas he would have killed them all by now.
I have 13ish hiding spots, more if you start to consider water space divided by plants ans those formations. The poor Tex currently stays hidden in a rock formation. I'm just trying to figure out how to best change this dinamic.
How the heck do you catch these fast little buggers in such a big tank????
Our closest LFS is 30 mins and doesn't like to take outside fish, especially big cichlids. The other is 45mins and I'm not sure their policy but that's the only two we have out here.
If I add a medium sized Oscar, JD and GT would that help distract the big fish, or would they gang up on the Tex? I'm wondering if I don't have enough fiah to spread the aggression. Right now they act like the little three don't exist but I'm guessing that's because they are small/non breeding age. However if it were just the Texas he would have killed them all by now.
Would a blue acara go well with the blue Texas? If found a fish store that has 3" blue acara. My BTC is not eating so I need to do something fast. Guess I have to catch the big bad today.
Oscars won't mix with a Tex?
I penned up the African in a synthetic mesh laundry bag until I can get a 55 set up in the bedroom. I called around today. Found some green terrors, some blue acara, some Oscars, parrots, fire mouths, peacock bass and some EBJD. But they are all 2-3". So, right now Tex has the run of the tank with the three 1.5-2" Africans, so I want to see if he beats the crap out of them or just chills. His color is already better, so that's good. Just hoping he doesn't go back to being an *******.
So, now I need stocking suggestions. So few carry American cichlids at all, so I'm stuck buying 2-3" fish which may not be ideal when Tex is already 4-5. Oh the drama of a cichlid tank. I was warned but geese they're worse than I thought
I penned up the African in a synthetic mesh laundry bag until I can get a 55 set up in the bedroom. I called around today. Found some green terrors, some blue acara, some Oscars, parrots, fire mouths, peacock bass and some EBJD. But they are all 2-3". So, right now Tex has the run of the tank with the three 1.5-2" Africans, so I want to see if he beats the crap out of them or just chills. His color is already better, so that's good. Just hoping he doesn't go back to being an *******.
So, now I need stocking suggestions. So few carry American cichlids at all, so I'm stuck buying 2-3" fish which may not be ideal when Tex is already 4-5. Oh the drama of a cichlid tank. I was warned but geese they're worse than I thought
Some advice from someone who got the cichlid bug and started mixing them: you will always have a dominant fish.
Every time you add a new cichlid the established ones will try to challenge it to determine where it belongs in the dominance hierarchy. If your texas was much bigger than the africans then it shouldn't be a problem. Also, you can select a more-peaceful cichlid to be your "dominant" fish (depending on species and individual personality). If it is the biggest then few will mess with it and if it's peaceful it won't mess with others on a regular basis. I have also seen people keep africans with large flowerhorns because the flowerhorn will never catch them (dither cichlids).
Now when I first started trying cichlids I stocked a 55g with too many cichlids (all juvenile) including: jewel cichlids, an oscar, a salvini, a mayan, green terror, jack dempsey, and maybe another I'm forgetting. As juveniles they are all pretty okay, but once a cichlid reaches sexual maturity you will see its true temperament. My male salvini was the dominant fish. It was the largest, held the best territory, and would never lose a fight. However, it would never pick a fight. The same was true with my JD after I moved my salvini to another tank (spawned him). Other species and individuals may behave differently. My oscar never picked a fight and would lose to jewel cichlids half his size. Nobody messed with any eel-shaped fish though (e.g. spiny eels, bichirs).
What stops an ***hole cichlid from being so bad is a worse cichlid. You are already seeing this. If your texas is a big, bad, butthead when he isn't being dominated, then your best bet is to find something noticeably larger than him or smaller than him so nobody has to fight to determine who's stronger. it's when cichlids are of similar size and strength that they fight most. I would either select a large, more-peaceful cichlid (but capable in a fight), smaller cichlids, or fish other than cichlids to go with the texas.
I hope some of this information will keep you from having to learn the hard way. This is just my experience, and fishkeeping is an experience-based hobby. I hope others will weigh in on whether they agree with this info or if they have had different experiences. Best of luck and remember: this happens to every cichlid keeper. Many of us have had to use eggcrate to divide our tanks and separate aggressive fish!
Every time you add a new cichlid the established ones will try to challenge it to determine where it belongs in the dominance hierarchy. If your texas was much bigger than the africans then it shouldn't be a problem. Also, you can select a more-peaceful cichlid to be your "dominant" fish (depending on species and individual personality). If it is the biggest then few will mess with it and if it's peaceful it won't mess with others on a regular basis. I have also seen people keep africans with large flowerhorns because the flowerhorn will never catch them (dither cichlids).
Now when I first started trying cichlids I stocked a 55g with too many cichlids (all juvenile) including: jewel cichlids, an oscar, a salvini, a mayan, green terror, jack dempsey, and maybe another I'm forgetting. As juveniles they are all pretty okay, but once a cichlid reaches sexual maturity you will see its true temperament. My male salvini was the dominant fish. It was the largest, held the best territory, and would never lose a fight. However, it would never pick a fight. The same was true with my JD after I moved my salvini to another tank (spawned him). Other species and individuals may behave differently. My oscar never picked a fight and would lose to jewel cichlids half his size. Nobody messed with any eel-shaped fish though (e.g. spiny eels, bichirs).
What stops an ***hole cichlid from being so bad is a worse cichlid. You are already seeing this. If your texas is a big, bad, butthead when he isn't being dominated, then your best bet is to find something noticeably larger than him or smaller than him so nobody has to fight to determine who's stronger. it's when cichlids are of similar size and strength that they fight most. I would either select a large, more-peaceful cichlid (but capable in a fight), smaller cichlids, or fish other than cichlids to go with the texas.
I hope some of this information will keep you from having to learn the hard way. This is just my experience, and fishkeeping is an experience-based hobby. I hope others will weigh in on whether they agree with this info or if they have had different experiences. Best of luck and remember: this happens to every cichlid keeper. Many of us have had to use eggcrate to divide our tanks and separate aggressive fish!
My biggest issue is finding another bigger peaceful fish. I have already tried non cichlids but I'm guessing they weren't good dithers. It was more of a "I ordered the Texas, let's go get a fish or two to start the cycle." My fiancé is newish to fish and picked the max I thought the tank could handle to cycle. So we had 2 angels, a dwarf gourami, some platties, a red tail shark and pleco... Texas killed them all. I also bought some giant sailfins from same guy on aqua bid. I was a bit pissed because they were no bigger than. Pet store sail fins and the one male was TINY. My experience with sailfins is that they don't grow much in a tank. Regardless he killed them too.
I'm not upset about them, I just don't want to chase good money after bad. I want to buy fish that can grow. Fights aren't so bad so long as no one dies.
So far the Tex gives zero thoughts about the small Africans. (They're 1.5" or so). My worry is that if I get 2" Oscar/green Terror/JD/acara then they will eventually grow to a size that will bother the Tex and at that point he will be even bigger. But I guess just try and see. He never killed a fish fast, it took a day or two for him to beat them up (he was 2" then though) so I guess I can take someone out at that point.
We are talking about the converting our garage into living space (smallish house) and if/when we do that I think a "big tank" will be in order. Although I'd love a 300g discus tank, I think cichlids are best suited to our water. So, that's my goal, a massive cichlid tank
Just an update:
So, my fiancé wanted an Oscar, and he already hates my blue Tex because he killed my other fish.
So, we went to a lovely small LFS and bought two Oscars, a blue acara (real one this time
haha) and 4 giant danios, and a big pleco! Plus some more plants and some frozen food. I turned them all loose and Tex turned into a big bully with the acara so I turned the big African loose, and things are under control! I'm so happy! I'd really like to get a EBJD and green Terror, that might happen Wednesday.
We also bought a filter for the 55 and it is currently set up in the 125. The Africans will eventually be booted to the 55. I'm everyone can get along if I have it over stocked and have the dithers. The danios are already 2.5-3" so they should make good targets.
Guess I'm just sharing for opinions. The only fish getting a little heat is the blue acara and I think it is 1 because it is bigger than the Oscars and 2 looks most like the juvenile Texas did. The acara is still eating so I assume it's OK but does have a few tears in its fins.
So, my fiancé wanted an Oscar, and he already hates my blue Tex because he killed my other fish.
So, we went to a lovely small LFS and bought two Oscars, a blue acara (real one this time
haha) and 4 giant danios, and a big pleco! Plus some more plants and some frozen food. I turned them all loose and Tex turned into a big bully with the acara so I turned the big African loose, and things are under control! I'm so happy! I'd really like to get a EBJD and green Terror, that might happen Wednesday.We also bought a filter for the 55 and it is currently set up in the 125. The Africans will eventually be booted to the 55. I'm everyone can get along if I have it over stocked and have the dithers. The danios are already 2.5-3" so they should make good targets.
Guess I'm just sharing for opinions. The only fish getting a little heat is the blue acara and I think it is 1 because it is bigger than the Oscars and 2 looks most like the juvenile Texas did. The acara is still eating so I assume it's OK but does have a few tears in its fins.
