Is the Vieja Argentea aggressive.
- Thread starter Kyel
- Start date
Right now my Oscar holds the peace in my tank. Him and the Blood Parrot are best buds. If you mess with one then you mess with them both. They do not go after fish but they will hold their own if challenged. And they do it together.
Trust me I don't know what it is about pet stores and cichlid aggression, but some how they're always keeping fairly aggressive fish together with minimal problems. I don't know if it's the stress of alot of LFS's poor water conditions, lack or decor(makes the fish unable to declare definitive territories) or the uber overstocking they do. In either case when I was young I had many a fish that seemed to be the exception to the rule in a LFS and when I bought him/her home they turned into complete maniacs. Lol! Argentea are fairly aggressive and more likely than not yours will become so too in time. As for you BP being his best friend it usually means the parrot and the Argentea don't see each other as a threat and when someone challenges their shared territory they attack seemingly in tangent. I personally have seen this with BP's often. As a matter of fact I've got a BP who tag teams with my Loisellei female all the time against her would be mate. Reason being the Loisellei is trying to be an Alpha and chases everything. The BP sees his aggression and tries to put him in his place often coming to the aid of others in the tank. Then when the Loisellei male's bid for power is squished the BP will in a little while feign attacks at the other tankmates. Those that react submissively are left alone after that other's are challenged and chased. I give it to BP's their devil blood runs deep and despite not having the tools to really enforce their rule they some how do on attitude alone. I wish you luck with the Argentea, but I strongly suggest having a spare tank if things get ugly. This way if they do you can move the Argentea out and give the other fish the chance to establish territories in the original tank and try reaaranging the decor and adding some new rocks and such to create new territories and try introducing him later. Sometimes this works sometimes it doesn't, but if you try persistently who knows. Also in my experience it takes a sub-ordinate tankmate at least a month to settle down and declare a territory, some do it alot quicker. Just observe carefully and be prepared to seperate if necessary. I've personally kept different Vieja together in a tank and usually they can't stand each other. They almost killed each other on a regular and I had to play musical tanks, but eventually I managed to keep a Hartwegi, Zonatus and a Synspila all around 12 inches together successfully using this method. Though it took alot of time and unfortunately adding new fish would mess it all up again and I'd have to start at the beginning again.
I had two fenestratus that were absolute monsters. One of the most aggressive, territorial fish Ive owned. When I finally go tired of the death toll and their antics I took then in to the LFS where they put them into an overstocked tank with fish that I would not consider aggressive enough to hold out against them (Oscars). Turns out there were so many of the oscars in their size bracket and bigger that they were mellow when I watched them. The whole overstocking can work to a certain extent.
I agree with kolstix there is something about a fish store that keeps aggression down. I've seen STUPID stock together in fish stores that somehow works for them but would likely never work in my tanks if I tried the same thing.
I had a male that killed 5 other argentea at 5 inches, and then pinned a 10" dovii and a 12" managuense in opposite corners of a 150 gal tank. I had to give the argentea its own tank to keep it from killing the Parachromis's. It was docile until it hit 5". But each has their own personality, its the risk you take with cichlids.
Mine also went nuts when it hit 5". Dominate male killed all the other fish (3 of them) except the dominate (guessing) female in a week with no warning--and they are showing no signs of a pair bond. Mine is ignoring my Parachromis for now, but I am separating them soon anyway.
The Argentea I am considering for my 210g is a W/C and is absolutely gorgeous. It does seem pretty shy but then again it is only 4". My concern is when it decides it is "man enough" to handle itself and get big enough to take on its tankmates how will it react? It will be the smallest of the fish in the tank for a little while. Will I be on here telling my horror story of owning an Argentea.... I guess I will let you know if I get one. (to be continued...)
Yeah the one I will be getting is about 4inches. My Oscar is about 8inches, My Blood Parrot is about 6inches, My Bocourti is about 7inches and the Green Terror is about 4 1/2 inches.
