Potential warning for Aequidens metae keepers

[duanes]

The term "breeder tank" is a misnomer when taking about any, but the smallest cichlids, and was probably coined when most people simply bred small live bearers, zebra danios, or other community fish. In nature most cichlids defend a 4ft square area (240 gals), and like Ryan said, a 150 is minimal if you want to keep a pair and breed them naturally as a pair, to term.
Just about any cichlid will kill a mate in a 40 breeder, and the remaining parent will proceed to eat eggs or fry at the slightest twitch or shadow.
If any of my cichlids decide to spawn in something small, such as a 55 or 75 gal, as a rule, I leave only one parent with the eggs and fry (usually the female).

 

[xEchOx]

Sorry to hear. I too, think a 40B is a tad bit small but I would not have expected it to result in an overnight death. That is quite surprising. Especially for a species that is relatively peaceful when not in courtship.

Thanks for the heads up. My 4 will be staying in my 125g, even if they do pair off and start breeding.

 

[duanes]

I find most deaths in breeding pairs is very sudden and happens over night.
I had a breeding pair of carpintus that were totally copacetic, successfully spawning twice in a 75. Two days into the 3rd spawn, overnight the male turned, and I awoke to a dead female, and the spawn gone.

 

[xEchOx]

But for carpintis... not all that surprising. I'd consider them to be aggressive in general. But I guess I never really thought of these fish in that way. After all, I keep mine with tetras and angel fish with no problems. *knock on wood.

 

[ryansmith83]

^ Yes, but that's not conspecific aggression. Discus and angels are peaceful to most other species but can be brutal on each other. The same goes for most SA cichlids. I've noticed that acara types can be particularly rough on mates but also on others of the same sex. For instance, my Laetacara and Krobia females hated each other, even when there was no male in the tank. I ended up having to keep a bunch of them as singles in various community tanks.

 

[xEchOx]

Interesting. Seems I've still got a lot of learning to do. I'll be watching my metae closely over the next handful of months... and my krobia, and my laetacara... lol.