Red head tapjos with Central Americans?

[FishKing5]

Hey so i have some 3" red head tapajos in my 75 gallon tank with a sand bottom with driftwood and discus. I have some smaller discus and want to make my 75 gallon barebottom so i can properly grow out my juvie discus properly. I dont think the sand or wood is affecting the water chemistry because i do 80% water changes every other day and the tapajos are constantly sifting through the sand keeping it clean. its a light layer of sand too. basically the problem is that ive noticed my discus have ate a lot more when its been a barebottom with nothing in it and would like to purchase a few more juvies to grow out so im wondering if it would be alright if i put my red head tapajos in my 220 gallon central american tank which includes a sand bottom, with vieja synspilums, argenteas, and zontums and two amphilophus lyonsis. Most these fish are still juvies and i havent ever noticed any aggression in the tank. i would have them in the 220 temporarily until my discus were more grown out. let me know what your thoughts are. i know tapajos are more peaceful so i dont want to stress them out because they are growing super nice. i just dont want to raise them in a bare bottom because they love sand.

 

[fug202]

I wouldn't recommend red heads with the likes of argentea and zonatum. While they may not be aggressive now, they grow fast and it is only a matter of time before their aggression kicks in. Your red heads will are unlikely to thrive in such a community. Lyonsi (in my experience) show more intraspecific aggression than inter-, but they'd be risky as well.

 

[Mythic Figment]

Definitely not. Red heads are very peaceful when compared with virtually any CA cichlid. My four red heads are housed with four Guianacara stergiosi, which are also a very mellow SA cichlid, but even then the red heads are bullied a bit by the Guianacaras. Then you take a species of CA, which is very likely many times more aggressive than the Guianacaras on their worst day and those red heads will end up super stressed if not dead. And while it might work out for a very short period of time, those juvie CAs are going to get meaner and meaner as they get bigger.


Sent from my iPad using MonsterAquariaNetwork app

 

[neutrino]

Definitely not. Red heads are very peaceful when compared with virtually any CA cichlid. My four red heads are housed with four Guianacara stergiosi, which are also a very mellow SA cichlid, but even then the red heads are bullied a bit by the Guianacaras. Then you take a species of CA, which is very likely many times more aggressive than the Guianacaras on their worst day and those red heads will end up super stressed if not dead. And while it might work out for a very short period of time, those juvie CAs are going to get meaner and meaner as they get bigger.


Sent from my iPad using MonsterAquariaNetwork app

Spot on imo. If they're competing for breeding spots, mature guianacara will claim what they want from breeding red heads ime-- it creates the illusion that the guianacara are tougher than they are. Even my wild scalare, which are not aggressive, will back off the red heads when they want to.

IMO housing them with several other species, since red heads are an active species and can be assertive in the right mix of fish, it creates the illusion they would hold their own with fish that, in reality, are out of their league and can easily intimidate them.