I take back everything good I've said about c.cutteri

[duanes]

By the way the pH scale is logarithmic.
Meaning a pH of 6.5 is 10 times more acidic than 7.5, but it also means 6.5 is 100 times more acidic than 8.5.
So if you see difference 2 on the pH scale, it is no small matter.

 

[LordMantill]

By the way the pH scale is logarithmic.
Meaning a pH of 6.5 is 10 times more acidic than 7.5, but it also means 6.5 is 100 times more acidic than 8.5.
So if you see difference 2 on the pH scale, it is no small matter.

This makes me sad cuz my PH is between 7.0-7.4 and I seem to have put them in suffering conditions. I guess I m gonna go talk to my LFS and see if they can take em back. Are these conditions good for my EBA and sajica?

 

[Gajzila]

The male sajica probably beat the male cutteri in size by another 2" (maybe more).
With those two species though, their bulk and height seem to necessitate tanks of at least 6 ft long, minimum for a pair to keep the peace.
Even then, I always had one of those egg crate dividers with a space carved out the female could escape thru, just in case, like the one below.

The rule I use for my tanks, is once any cichlid hits 7 ", a 75 gal is then too small for even a single pair.
The myrnae, red points and nanoluteus all did fine in 75s.
Some other cichlids at just 5 " seem too much for anything but 6 footers.
I really like the genus Nosferatu, and have never been able to keep just 5" adults from killing each other in under 6 ft tanks.

N. pantostictus above, N. bartoni below

Bro, do not exaggerate... for Sajica or Cutteri and orher Cryptoheros or Amatitlania sp. is more than enough 55 gallon for a pair. 40 gallon too work.

 

[Gourami Swami]

Bro, do not exaggerate... for Sajica or Cutteri and orher Cryptoheros or Amatitlania sp. is more than enough 55 gallon for a pair. 40 gallon too work.

He isn't exaggerating, he is giving his opinion, which comes from years of experience. He isn't saying there's some hard and fast rule that everyone needs to abide by, tank size is an opinionated topic. I happen to agree with him that for the larger amatitlania, something like a 75 gallon is eventually necessary and may even be a bit tight. But also that tank size is not the only important factor when stocking these fish.

For an example; I kept my pair of panamensis cichlids (very similar to amatitlania) in a 5 foot tank for about a year with some other fish, and they spawned successfully a few times. I ended up moving them to a 90 gallon where they were the only cichlids; should be "big enough" right? Male killed the female pretty quickly in that tank. Obviously, to be alone as a pair without a divider, even the 90 was a bit small. I then exiled only the male to a 45 gallon. After about 4 years, it had become obviously too small for him to live even as a solo fish. The main problem was the width; he has grown longer than 6" now (and fat) and made the tank look small. I had a convict before which grew to about the same size. A bulky male like that in a 40 or 55 gallon, would be hard to keep from to killing his mate IMO. I think the best chance of keeping these guys in a pair situation long-term is a big enough tank to keep some other fish with them to distract the male from the female. In a 40 or 55 gallon, there is no chance of that. Also the tank itself will look small for the larger fish, and bioload will be tough to keep up with.

So, could keep a young pair in a 40 or 55? Yes sure, but a big old pair? Probably not.