How aggreive are True Red Terrors really?

[AquaticAustin]

I bought an adult the store had as a trade in for my 165g with and oscar who was larger and a jack Dempsey about the same size... Day 1 oscar picked on it day 2 it began seriously chasing the jack ( had it jumping out of the water) day 3 killed a silver dollar, wounded the jack (possibly the jack did it himself from hitting the glass tops so hard) and was going head to head with my full grown oscar. So I brought him back. Definitely the meanest fish I have owned


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[duanes]

here's a couple more where females outshine males (sorry if a derail)
Parachromis motaguense female in foreground

Cryptoheros nanoluteus
female

male

some are just darker
haitiensus female

male

sajica male

female

 

[Jc1119]

Beautiful fish. So the females actually turn out a lot brighter red then the males then, interesting. Female being brighter is rare in cichlids, only other I know of is the convicts. Thanks for sharing the pictures. Looks like he is trying to bite the female in one picture, really shows the size difference.

Females are more intense during spawning/guarding.

Our old pair


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[RD.]

I have heard so many varying opinions on True Red Terrors (festae cichlids), I want to get it straightened out once and for all.

In this hobby, there is no such thing as "once & for all". Every fish is an individual, and while there are general rules that should probably be followed for a best case scenario for long term success, just when you think you have it all figured out something will come along to knock you off of your game.

Some species that are known to be mad crazy aggressive in captivity will end up being wimps, some that as a general rule are known to be fairly peaceful, will end up being hyper aggressive, some even stone cold killers. With cichlids, best advice I can give is hope for the best, but plan for the worst.

In your specific situation, don't even think about festae, male or female.

 

[dogofwar]

+1

With cichlids you always need to be prepared to move fish around (i.e. have extra tanks for separating fish, quarantine, recovery from injury, etc.). The idea that it's possible to somehow predict the behavior of a bunch of big, angry fish like festae is fanciful...

Matt

In this hobby, there is no such thing as "once & for all". Every fish is an individual, and while there are general rules that should probably be followed for a best case scenario for long term success, just when you think you have it all figured out something will come along to knock you off of your game.

Some species that are known to be mad crazy aggressive in captivity will end up being wimps, some that as a general rule are known to be fairly peaceful, will end up being hyper aggressive, some even stone cold killers. With cichlids, best advice I can give is hope for the best, but plan for the worst.

In your specific situation, don't even think about festae, male or female.

 

[Jc1119]

+1

With cichlids you always need to be prepared to move fish around (i.e. have extra tanks for separating fish, quarantine, recovery from injury, etc.). The idea that it's possible to somehow predict the behavior of a bunch of big, angry fish like festae is fanciful...

Matt

Agreed. Cichlids keepers are much like referees. You never know, and even when you think you do, things can change quickly..... Usually for the worse.


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[ehh]

One day the cat opened the lid to the festaes tank. Now I don't have a cat but have fat red terror.









Jk I've never had a red terror.


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[neutrino]

In this hobby, there is no such thing as "once & for all". Every fish is an individual, and while there are general rules that should probably be followed for a best case scenario for long term success, just when you think you have it all figured out something will come along to knock you off of your game.

Some species that are known to be mad crazy aggressive in captivity will end up being wimps, some that as a general rule are known to be fairly peaceful, will end up being hyper aggressive, some even stone cold killers. With cichlids, best advice I can give is hope for the best, but plan for the worst.

In your specific situation, don't even think about festae, male or female.

+++

Exactly what I've been telling you in your other thread, maybe not spelled out as plainly. Because of this I like to recommend thinking in terms of odds. There are some scenarios that might work on rare occasions but what are the odds and would you take those odds with your tank and your fish. What I've seen with festae is at a small size they don't seem so bad, so it fools some people into buying them, or saying I've got one in my tank with (fill in the blank) and they're not so bad. I've seen it (and done it) with aggressive species you buy for looks and they seem ok until they get some size to them or adult hormones kick in-- then you start to hate this fish that's only doing what it's naturally supposed to do, which wouldn't be a problem in the right tank.

A long time ago (in a galaxy far away), I was doing SA fish, including discus, saw these cool little spotted fish, very personable, happy little fish, and I thought they'd look cool in my tank... with my discus. Fortunately for me the shop owner knew me well enough to know I'd been doing peaceful SAs and I took his advice and didn't put some tropheus with my discus/angelfish/mesonauta/laetacara, etc. Hey, it's all part of the learning curve...

As mentioned above, you can't always predict everything 100% and it's nice to have the option of multiple tanks to move fish as needed, especially if you're trying something that might work, might not.

 

[KingCichlidKeeper]

They are very aggressive

 

[billco_1]

sorry for jumping in guys but thought id share my red terrors and there in a 150g tank by themselves only because the female is nuts shes only 6" but shes thes brutal with the male but the only good thing is he is 13" so he can handle himself but when spawning she gets him to do all the work crazy as all the other american cichlidsive got the females do the digging etc apart from my red terrors and doviis