Lepidota in 55 Gal Tank Setup

[Wingless]

Hey Everyone I have 2 Lepidota's (I Believe) in a 55 Gal Tank.

Here are some Pics. One's name is JAWS and he is about 7 Inches.

Then there is Happy who is around 5 Inches. Still can't tell if Happy is a girl or not yet still too young maybe u guys can help.

The Top 2 pics are Jaws in a black 1.5" PVC Tube

The Bottom Pic is Happy in 1.5" PVC tube with Rocks Blocking entrances so Jaws cannot attack him/her.

Jaws Kills Everything He has Killed 2 Adult sized Crayfish and then picked them apart!!

Jeremy

 

[Peanut_Power]

Ha, they definitely love their tubes eh? Very nice!

They indeed to look lepidotaish, full body shots would help with confirmations though, especially on gender!

Welcome to the forum!

 

[Wingless]

Here are some more Pics of JAWS and Happy

Hope you Enjoy

How long can I keep them in a 55 Gal? How soon Should I get a bigger tank?

 

[Wingless]

With the full Body shots of JAWS do u guys still think Lepidota?

 

[Wingless]

I was wondering if this is normal behavior for my Pike cichlids?


http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=442677475687&ref=mf


There is a video link of my 2 Lepidota Pikes Acting Strangely.

Jaws is the Big one and Happy is the small one.

Any help sexing or any more info on this behavior would be awesome!!

Jaws seems to turn sideways and twitch towards happy a few different times, they swim close and rub on each other swim back and forth and finally go there separate ways.

Thanks for the help!!

 

[Peanut_Power]

They do seem to be lepidota yes.

As for the sexing, its hard to tell really. I want to say Jaws is the male and Happy is a female, but I'm not positive. It almost looks like you have two males honestly.

What you described them doing is either aggressive or courtship display. I can't really tell from how you describe it cuz they could be doing either from your description. Hopefully its the latter and not the former.