Jaguar Cichlid... Little help needed...

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PaiLum92

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 18, 2010
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Fort Collins
Hi all, I recently found out that what I thought to be a Red Tiger Cichlid is actually a Baby Jaguar Cichlid.

Now that I know the exact species, what all should I do to make it extremely comfortable? Here are a few questions...

I have a Cave that he recently moved all of the rocks out of. Not sure if this is him making it home, or what?

I feed him a mix of things, 'TOPFIN' Freeze-Dried Bloodworms, 'TOPFIN' Tropical Color-Enhancing Flakes, and 'OMEGA ONE' Shrimp Pellets. Should i be feeding him anything else, or take one of these away, or what? (I tried dropping in some fresh Romain Lettuce as a snack, but he showed no interest at all, left it in for atleast a day and he never gave it a second look...) Hes only about 2 - 2.5 inches, so still not very large. No live food yet... I feed him a pinch of the Bloodworms and a pinch of the Color Enhancing Flakes everyday, and every now and then substitue one of them for a shrimp pellet...

I give him 12 hours of light, and 12 hours of darkness everyday.

The water temp is usually between 78 - 80 degrees F.

I have alot of plants on the left side of the tank, and a cave, as mentioned earlier, with a few other plants on the right side. The bottom is a mix of small rocks and sand (About 80% small rocks/gravel, 20% sand). There are a few large rocks, about 3 - 3 inches in the middle of the tank, but no tall plants.

I do put water dechlorinator and aquarium salt in the water every time i do a clean out. I also drop a few drips of anti-bacterial stuff ('BIOSPHERE' Maracide) in there incase he may have been spooked and caught soemthing.

Im not new to taking care of fish, but am new to taking care of Cichlids. I like them alot and want to make them as happy as they can be, without setting them free...

Any suggestions will be helpfull and appreciated...

Thanks, Caleb (PaiLum92) (Below are a couple of pictures of the Jaguar Cichlid, hes the only fish in the entire tank... i plan on getting another in a few days...)
 
how big is the tank and how often do you do water changes and how much water do you change? like i said in your other thread, it is most likely male though it will have to grow more to be positive about that but if it is indeed a male then you are looking at having a very territorial beast on your hands that can get over 14" he will need at least a 90g by himself and if you plan to have tankmates then he will need at least a 6' tank. these guys are great fish but they def need a lot of room.

as for what your feeding him i would get a cichlid pellet, like hikari bio-gold or omega one or NLS pellets and get him on that as his staple diet. flakes are ok for them when they are really small but he is now to the size where he needs the added nutrition of pellets, and you can mix in those shrimp pellets with them as well at every other meal or so. and jags are straight up predators so he isnt going to think much of vegetables, and i would avoid feeders, especially ones from the petstore as they have little nutritional value and will most likely contain parasites. i would stick with feeding insects if you want to feed him live things, and jags especially get hooked on feeders very easily and will want to then ignore pellets so you really dont want to start him on them, GOOD LUCK with your future monster
 
You are doing a fantastic job so far! I wouldn't worry about the bacterial stuff. Regular water changes and the salt (which you dont NEED to use either) will keep your fish healthy and prevent any sickness!

The food you are using is just fine (and variety is great for the fish too). You will find foods like "Hikari", "NLS (new life spectrum)", and "Xtreme", etc... as popular foods on here, and their quality is pretty good for most of the diets they offer. Your jag will likely eat just about anything. Pelletted (or frozen) diets will be easier for your jag to eat, especially as it gets larger (like Sarah said). Pellets tend to break up a lot and just make a mess in the tank. I wouldnt worry about trying 'veggie' stuff with him, most will ignore that stuff.

As mentioned, I'd probably avoid a second one. One (likely the current one) will likely become dominant and as they grow much more there will probably be a lot of fighting (resulting in death).

Keep up the good work!

Chris
 
The tank is a 30g right now (I know its small, my birthday is coming up, and i always get money, so im buying atleast a 100g tank, hes still small, so it shouldnt matter too much, no?)
I usually clean and change water every 10-11 days... Ill have to clean more often now though, seeing as the Pleco i recently had died, and had its stomache eaten out by the Cichlid... (Kinda bad to wake up to...) (If i buy a few snails, will the Cichlid try and get at them, or will they be fine?)
I usually change about 40-50%
If i do get another, ill try and spot a female... Im planning on re-organizing the tank as well, before i drop it in, to erase all of the territory he has claimed. Im also going to add another cave or a log, for the new one to retreat to if anything bad happens...
Im going to call PetSmart soon though and see if they even have any Jags in stock... I went to PetCo and all they had was Albino Oscars and Bumble Bees, and they were all about an inch long... no good for my tank, yea?

Any other advice or anything?
 
My jaguar love fthawed fish fillets and market shrimp cut into manageable sized chunks! Best to get it used to this meat if you were planning on eventually feeding live. It is more nutricious and no parasite infections. The growth rate will surpass the pellets, but since it is eating them already, that is a great (less expensive) staple diet!
 
Switch to pellets and do the water changes weekly with the same volume. The oscar will definitely require you to get a 6' tank and the bumble bee is an african cichlid from the rift lakes which require different water parameters so he won't work.
 
yea, i didnt get either... sticking with my Jag for now, going to Petsmart later, they have a few in stock.... gonna see if theyre worth it or not... also have to find a sure way to ID my Jags sex. Ive read if you put two males together they may kill each other... dont want that...
 
at such a small size it will be very hard to determine whether one is female or not as the submissive males and females will have the same patterning at this stage. when exactly are you going to be able to get the new tank? jags grow fast, like at least an inch a month fast so your going to need a new tank soon, and more than likeely in a 30g you will need to divide them even if they are male and female as they are too young to pair yet and the larger one will just see the other one as invading his space. and for a pair you will need at least a 125g, i wouldnt put jags together in anything less than a 5-6ft tank. best option would be to wait until you get the big tank and then get a group of babies and let them grow up and naturally pair off and then re-home the extras if you want to have a well bonded pair. and since the one you have now will be a bit bigger i would leave him in the 30g, set up the 125g and once it is all cycled and everything add the group of juvies, let them settle in and then add the one you have now. GOOD LUCK

and like stated it would be best for you to do 50% water changes every week, and if fish just died in there then do a big extra one
 
I guess i have a couple more questions... If i do decide to get another Jag (Im more than likely going to wait to get the bigger tank...) and its a male, will the two males fight and kill each other, or should they be fine being this young and little... the ones at PS are about 1.5 - 2.0 inches... so theyre smaller than my one now... i dont think it would be a problem if they got to know each other at a small age, plus theres no female to fight over... will they stil fight though?

Also, whats the ideal habitat? I read muddy bottoms but i dont want a tank full of mud... Maybe just some dark colored sand? Also, how many hiding places and plants should i put in? none of the plants i have are real, so they wont get torn up, and the only hiding places i have now is a small and medium cave... He also seems to jump alot, ive read thats very common with Jags... whats that plant that floats that people say will be good to help prevetn that? My lid isnt very tight fitting... I start college soon and dont want to come home to see 2 dead Jags on the floor...
 
if they are two males then yes they will fight, you could put a different kind of male fish in there and with no female they would be fine but it is very rare with cichlids for them to tolerate males of the same species within the same tank unless it is totally massive. and some floating plants are duckweed and hornwort? (i think is what its called but not sure, its like a long stemmed floating plant) but yeah as long as you have a lid i dont think it would be an issue, just make sure any holes big enough for them to fit through are covered, the only time i have had cichlids jump was if they were still small and they had a fish messing with them relentlessly or something and the jumped to get away from the fish chasing them. i just say this because i personally think floating plants with cichlids are annnoying as hell, i tried it and all i ended up with was little bits and pieces floating all around my tank, but my cichlids dont bother my planted plants as long as they aren't in front of their caves or anything. and yeah caves and hiding places are a must, you dont have to buy expensive stuff at pet store just go to home depot or somewhere and get nice big rocks (no limestone or anything that will mess with your water) and get some driftwood or something and have a nice natural look (at least this is what i prefer) as for the bottom, you can just get some pool filter sand, just make sure to rinse it well before adding to the tank and it barely clouds the water and is way cheaper than any substrate at a pet store and it looks great (but make sure to not get playsand as this is too small grained and is too easily stirred up)
 
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