Jaguar Almost Ate My Brand New Shovelnose

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Long Island Fish Guy

Long Island Fish Guy

Black Skirt Tetra
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Mar 28, 2017
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Long Island, NY
I have a 125 stocked with SA Cichlids. Biggest fish being a 5in Oscar, then a 4 inch JD, then a 3.5in Jaguar, 3.5 Pike, 1 inch Firemouth...... I also have a 4in Hoplo, a 2in Royal Pleco and 3 Cory cats (the Cories will be removed soon).

I LOVE the Shovelnose Lima and bought one tonight. I underestimated his narrow-ness. He's smaller than expected. He's about 2in long.

About 2 minutes into him being in the tank the Jaguar went after him. Getting about 25% of him in his mouth twice. I set up my 10 gallon quickly and put the Shovelnose in there with a filter and filter pad from my 125.

I plan on trying to beef him up in the 10. So he can be ready for the 125. What's everyone think I should do? I'm at a loss for words. I love all my fish and want this to work. The Lima NEEDS to make it in my 125.

Would a month even make a difference? Should I add the Lima to the 125 and just see if the Jaguar stops? The other cichlids saw him and didn't even pay attention (they have never been live feed).

WHAT SHOULD I DO???
 
Limas also get pretty big, but they grow extremely slowly. I agree a Jag probably will not work out with that stocking in a 125. I would bring the jag to an LFS and grow out the lima before putting him in the 125
 
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I had a little 4 inch jaguar that terrorized everything around him. When I moved he jumped a divider ripped the head off one Uaru and plucked an eye out of another. it happened in seconds right in front of me. Just a testament to jag aggression.
 
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You guys are definitely confirming a lot of what I am hearing about my Jaguar. I love him so much. I went to great lengths to get him and it would be very hard to let him go. He does terrorize my Hoplo, only during feeding...

Just to give you a little background about me, I have keep fish with my dad for 15+ years growing up with my dad. With no Internet and basically playing trail by error, we had many mistakes. After a 5 year hiatus, I'm back doing things the right way.

I'm a member at fishlore but they don't really answer for cichlids. I feel like I'm home here :)

What cichlid could I replace my Jaguar with? Could it ever work? I always said I'd get rid of all other fish to keep him, but I didn't get a 125 for 1 fish lol.
 
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Gourami Swami said:
Limas also get pretty big, but they grow extremely slowly. I agree a Jag probably will not work out with that stocking in a 125. I would bring the jag to an LFS and grow out the lima before putting him in the 125
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I heard Limas skyrocket to about 6 inches and then slow down... Any truth to that?
 
All fish are different, but the likelihood that the Jaguar will work in a community setup in a 125 long term is not very high. You could probably find some tough fish that would be okay in there with him, but the stocking you currently have are generally not aggressive enough. Also, a 125 would be kind of cramped for a large male Jag even if he were alone. I think the better bet would be to re-home the jaguar and stick with nicer species, like the ones Brandonclark suggested. If you really like the parachromis, you would probably have better luck with a loisellei than with the managuense in this situation. And about the Lima, the only one I ever owned was purchased at about 5-6", and did not grow much for the year or so that I had him. He ate well, had a full stomach always, and was in a 90 gallon tank, but did not really put on much size.
 
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Gourami Swami said:
All fish are different, but the likelihood that the Jaguar will work in a community setup in a 125 long term is not very high. You could probably find some tough fish that would be okay in there with him, but the stocking you currently have are generally not aggressive enough. Also, a 125 would be kind of cramped for a large male Jag even if he were alone. I think the better bet would be to re-home the jaguar and stick with nicer species, like the ones Brandonclark suggested. If you really like the parachromis, you would probably have better luck with a loisellei than with the managuense in this situation. And about the Lima, the only one I ever owned was purchased at about 5-6", and did not grow much for the year or so that I had him. He ate well, had a full stomach always, and was in a 90 gallon tank, but did not really put on much size.
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For the first time, I'm listening about the Jaguar. I've been thinking about this since the post, his aggression has definitely been growing week by week. My Hoplo looks fine, but has been taking a beating. He's tough as nails thank God. Surprisingly he fights back too (my Oscar is actually afraid of the Hoplo lol)

I will definitely take a look at the Loisellei. I'm not sure if any places would have one though. It was very hard to get the Jaguar and that seems even rarer.

I'm going to purposely over feed my Lima and lower the amount of food for my 125. I'll do pellet and flakes/just flakes every other day.

Luckily my tank is my "Oscar's Tank". He's like the warden. He's not aggressive unless there's aggression (started by the Jaguar mostly). He keeps the tank in check. He could easily eat 2/3 of my Cories but doesn't.... He did also grow up with them. That's why I feel like he'd be fine with the Shovelnose when he puts on some size
 
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