PERSONALITY!

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R

RRgers

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 25, 2011
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Monroe
Ok MFK,

I see many post saying this fish has color but that one has personality. For example, Mayans vs Festae, RTM vs Festae etc. So let's here your explanations for how you define Cichlid personality. And in this discussion neither color, size, nor generation are up for debate. Also omitted from this discussion is whether or not your fish bangs the glass with a mirror beside it.:headshake
 
Personality really depends on the fish. IME festea are low on the personality scale compared to most fish but there are exceptions. I base it on owner responsiveness which means how the fish interacts with its owner. All i've had fish that react the same towards anyone and then I've had fish that only interact with me and act aggressive towards anyone else who goes near them. Right now my grammodes are still at the skiddish stage for personality. But they get better as they grow. The amphs, and veja, parachromis species are the most owner responsive fish you can buy aswell as the oscar. The I think alot of things affect a fish's personality. I'm sure people will disagree with the but it's what I think and I'm sure there are more reasons or other opinions

1) species
2) tank size
3) tankmates or solo
4) traffic around the tank

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dent20 said:
Trying to rate/rank cichlids by personality sounds like a very subjective task to me.
Click to expand...

+1

It's kind of hard to just generically define something that is really determined differently to each fish owner. I think Aquamonster summarized it pretty well.
 
well i feel like one of the most obvious aspects of a cichlids personality would be how they react to your presence. People constantly say that oscars have the best personality and I feel like this is obvious when watching an oscar beg for food.

Another aspect of personality to consider is the fish's reaction to the other inhabitants of the tank. Cichlids will react differently to the same tankmates and stimuli based on the individual fish and not the species.

Another thing that I would consider is "quirkiness". I guess this is kinda hard for me to define. good examples would be some fish don't like specefic things such as people wearing hats. In that case the fish would reportedly attack the glass until the offender removed their hat.


When it all comes down to it though, I like to think that personality is based off of intelligence. Also the longer you have a fish and the better cared for it is, the more it's personality will come out
 
So owner responsiveness tops the list for criteria? Could it be that certain species retain their caution of the human species just as their wild counterparts do?
Do you guys prefer your wet pets to exhibit the behaviors of their wild counterparts or dogs and cats? BTW dnet20, this is not an attempt to rate/rank cichlids. I thought the subject of this thread spelled that out. It is it about how MFK'ers define personality since many people on here say this one has personality, that one doesn't. I don't expect everyone here to agree but to respect others' formulas for arriving at their opinions.

Peace,
MFK Fam!
 
...The impossible fish that terrorizes tank mates & ends up all by himself "until I get rid of him".. then turns all his attention on me, both for food and attacking through the glass. He watches, patrols, bites hand in tank ruthlessly- yet eats nicely from my fingers at top of water. ? Sick relationship! LOL. the ONLY hostile 'being' I enjoy.. it's CUTE bcuz he doesn't know how vulnerable he really is. there's a strange reward/attachment when he is 'nice', even though I just beat him away with an air hose to work in-tank earlier. I guess it's intriguing ?
I also enjoy the non-territorial kind, who only swarm hands for food. they're easier. no skin lost!
Any repeated 'surprise' behavior is some personality too. I had a homely little female Betta -"Fiona"- who always jumped out of the bowl when she saw me close by, not even feeding. I picked her up off the floor so many times. finally put her in a real tank, thinking she'd do it less. wrong. whenever she saw a chance, out she flew. never hit the lids, only jumped when open. One time I was standing right there and caught her with cupped hands but she slid to the floor...odd little thing, she was. Only Betta I ever named.
 
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