Red devils are popular choice for intermediate to advanced aquarists, many people like them for their name, their temperament and their colors, hence the name.
Red devils are like any other large cichlid, except they get about 12", are extremely aggressive in most cases and have a lot of personality. You will quickly learn to enjoy your red devil when it chases your finger and gets excited when you walk past the tank, i have found myself almost buy a red devil when my tank wasn't cycled yet, they are so very beautiful.
These fish need a large tank, most people say a 55g is suitable, but really a 75g should be provided, they are long fish and turning around in a 12-13" wide aquarium is not good. A 75g has nice versatile dimensions of 48"L 18" wide and 21" tall.
These fish are not only very active, they are large messy fish, they eat their pellets and spit about 25% of it out which smaller dithers will gladly take, but also the food that they actually do eat, does come out sooner or later.
So a strong filtration system is a must, i have 2 aquaclear 110s, more than enough for my 55g growout.
Buying red devils is tough in some ways. First, if you want a single species with maybe a pleco or something, pick out the most aggressive fish you see, this way it will display the best personality, if you pick one that isn't a very active one or isn't chasing your finger, chances are it's either sick or a docile (boring) specimen. These fish do have teeth. I don't have physical proof but whatever. I went to petco one day to pick up some supplies, there was a 2-3" red devil alone in a display tank with a small layer of gravel and a small tunnel, he was proudly displaying his red body splattered with black. he was beautiful. I closely inspected his body, moving on from the tail to the face (meanwhile he is not at all shooken by my sudden appearance) and i see little tiny teeth, a 3" fish with teeth has to be pretty bad@$$.
When taking your newly acquired red devil home, make sure you have a suitable location in the car where the bag will not shake too much, try to take the fastest way home, but don't speed. I usually get a few thin slices of Styrofoam and tape them around the bag to prevent heat loss. When i get home i float the bag for 5 minutes and than open the bag, put a cup of water in and wait 5-10 minutes, and repeat 2-3 times. You can drip acclimate them but it is not required, i would only do this for fish like bichirs, eels and knives.
I hope to pick up this specimen for my newly cycled aquarium, although a petco animal, he truely has some nice characteristics.
The aquarium should be lightly decorated with driftwood and large rocks and a sandy substrate or fine grained gravel. The light should be somewhat dim, the filtration should flip the tank over at least 15 times an hour (my 55g has 18.18 turnover rate, in total 1000GPH), the heat should be around 80F and the pH should be neutral and nonfluctuating.
I am going to feed mine All large fish hikari products, blood worms, earth worms, crickets and house flies, that's what i fed my oscar.
Tankmates for these fish should be forgotten about unless your tank is several hundred gallons, these fish need several other large fish and small fish to disperse the aggression.
Please ask me for any other things about these great fish
Red devils are like any other large cichlid, except they get about 12", are extremely aggressive in most cases and have a lot of personality. You will quickly learn to enjoy your red devil when it chases your finger and gets excited when you walk past the tank, i have found myself almost buy a red devil when my tank wasn't cycled yet, they are so very beautiful.
These fish need a large tank, most people say a 55g is suitable, but really a 75g should be provided, they are long fish and turning around in a 12-13" wide aquarium is not good. A 75g has nice versatile dimensions of 48"L 18" wide and 21" tall.
These fish are not only very active, they are large messy fish, they eat their pellets and spit about 25% of it out which smaller dithers will gladly take, but also the food that they actually do eat, does come out sooner or later.
So a strong filtration system is a must, i have 2 aquaclear 110s, more than enough for my 55g growout.
Buying red devils is tough in some ways. First, if you want a single species with maybe a pleco or something, pick out the most aggressive fish you see, this way it will display the best personality, if you pick one that isn't a very active one or isn't chasing your finger, chances are it's either sick or a docile (boring) specimen. These fish do have teeth. I don't have physical proof but whatever. I went to petco one day to pick up some supplies, there was a 2-3" red devil alone in a display tank with a small layer of gravel and a small tunnel, he was proudly displaying his red body splattered with black. he was beautiful. I closely inspected his body, moving on from the tail to the face (meanwhile he is not at all shooken by my sudden appearance) and i see little tiny teeth, a 3" fish with teeth has to be pretty bad@$$.
When taking your newly acquired red devil home, make sure you have a suitable location in the car where the bag will not shake too much, try to take the fastest way home, but don't speed. I usually get a few thin slices of Styrofoam and tape them around the bag to prevent heat loss. When i get home i float the bag for 5 minutes and than open the bag, put a cup of water in and wait 5-10 minutes, and repeat 2-3 times. You can drip acclimate them but it is not required, i would only do this for fish like bichirs, eels and knives.
I hope to pick up this specimen for my newly cycled aquarium, although a petco animal, he truely has some nice characteristics.
The aquarium should be lightly decorated with driftwood and large rocks and a sandy substrate or fine grained gravel. The light should be somewhat dim, the filtration should flip the tank over at least 15 times an hour (my 55g has 18.18 turnover rate, in total 1000GPH), the heat should be around 80F and the pH should be neutral and nonfluctuating.
I am going to feed mine All large fish hikari products, blood worms, earth worms, crickets and house flies, that's what i fed my oscar.
Tankmates for these fish should be forgotten about unless your tank is several hundred gallons, these fish need several other large fish and small fish to disperse the aggression.
Please ask me for any other things about these great fish
