mayan cichlid in a marine set up???

[justarn]

hey all im looking for some concrete info on false red terror cichlids! i bought a young mayan by accident trying to buy a festae, there seems to b e a silver lining though!
i read on a few fish profiles that they prefere brackish if not total marine enviroments! i read also that they had been seen spawning on the corals in the ocean near florida!!! is this true? as im a die hard cichlid fan marine fish have never excited me although ive always admired the coralsa, anenome's and such....

you can prob see where im going with this, i have a vision of a large mayan in a beauty of a marine tank!

anyone ever tryed it?

 

[Dan F]

I have seen them in brackish cenotes (some quite salty, especially at high tide), but never in a full marine environment. I am certain they could take it short-term, not so sure on the long-term effects, if any.

 

[Sarah88]

I have also heard of them being found in full marine but it is unknown whether they travel out there occasionally or actually live long term in that environment, i have never seen anyone on here try it. either way the acclimation process would have to be extremely slow, like slowly gradually adding salinity over the course of a few weeks if you wanted it to be able to handle the change. also as much as cichlids dig up their environment, if you were successful at acclimating it to full marine i feel that it would tear at any corals you tried to put in there unless you just did like a big carpet anemone or something...

 

[AngryCichlids]

Hmm very interesting idea definatly worth a shot. I would have a backup plan in case it dies cuz if you go through all the work of setting the tank up i wouldnt want to end having it empty.

 

[Eläköön]

Buy a young mayan cichlid (sold as red terrors in most places) and place him in a smaller brackish tank, slowly up the SG until you hit full marine over a steady timeframe.
him growing up in this environment would help his body cope with the higher amount of salt because as far as i know, its only the adults that are seen/found in high salinity environments.

 

[freebyrd]

Never herd of such! Amazing

 

[aclockworkorange]

If you want a SW fish with a Cichlid personality you might like triggerfish. Just a thought.

 

[Eläköön]

Aclockworkorange is right, I would also suggest Groupers, I used to have a Poleni Grouper, they look like cichlids and act like cichlids,
gets to 16" or so

 

[aclockworkorange]

Yes, I was going to say groupers as well. I'd love a grouper if I was in to SW. That aspect of the hobby is still a long way off for me, enjoying FW too much right now.

 

[justarn]

thanks for all the good advice, i will be setting up a marine tank in the next few months when i find a 150g at a sensible price! i may look into the groupers and such, i have a young mayan and a spare twenty gallon!-) think its gotta be worth a try... i'll keep you posted thanks again.