Very nice "Female" salvini. You can tell by the redish belly and the black dot on the dorsal fin. Very nice pick up.
Salvini Cichlids
- Thread starter burzumaske20
- Start date
Thank you,I was leaning more towards it being a female actually,but wasn't too sure.She was only 3.48 to purchase.
burzumaske20;4918170; said:
Because I've been in this hobby for 20+ years and have owned all your stock and many more. I no longer see the small picture. I've seen all your stock as multiple years old adults - the breeding instinct gets worse with time as does their aggression stemming from it. The over-all adult mass of New World Cichlids is grossly under estimated - a 12" 1 year old Oscar is much smaller than a 5 year old Oscar at 13" these fish grow in mass for up to 10 years as does the sold waste they produce. And yes sex does play into it, females are smaller. What are the odds all your fish are female? Also I'm not looking at the size of the adult cichlids I'm looking at each individual cichlid you have stocked and how much territory each will want as adults which can be up to 4' of bottom space for just one large male. I own a few species that will take all 6' and if I added all your stock they'd all be at the top huffin puffin eyes bulging with no fins waiting for some stress related disease to claim their life.
My intent was not to critize you or stop you from purchasing but to prepare you for the possibility of a future. Best to understand that in a year or two you might want to upgrade to a 235 for a more fesible co-hab or thin the stock as needed or purchase more tanks to house those that are harressed - those choices are all you and nothing is written in stone.
Just an FYI - your Salvini is female - they have a black plotch in the center of the dorsal and on the lower gill plate that the males don't have.
Otherone;4920915; said:
Yes I know about the tank having to possible being upgraded either way.I have been in this hobby in the past with my father,who had catfishes,pleco,eel,crabs,so forth.that was 20 years ago.That is why I have a 55 gallon tank as a temporary back up,that is enough to hold cichlids that stop at 6 inches or less,until other plans come into mind in the future for a much larger tank I have plans for.That is why I went for fishes that wont grow as fast,but only wanted one that will grow rapidly and that was the Oscar.The only ones I know of being males in my tank is my Tiger Oscar and Jack Dempsey,so far the black convict,salvini,possible the green terror since I see green markings by the face are females,the rest I am not sure about yet.
I ended up having to sell my 5-6" female salvini, pictured in avatar. She was pretty rough on her tankmates in my old 4' tank, I was hoping the upgrade to a 6x2x2' tank would give her plenty of space to be comfortable in and she'd stop picking on the other fish. As soon as I put her in she wanted the whole tank to herself.
She constantly excavated breeding pits in both tanks right down to the glass and when she had nothing better to do would relentlessly chase my blue acara, who I think she perceived as the closest threat in the pecking order. When I was babysitting a 4" oscar, she shredded him so badly I had to remove him for his own safety.
I'd had her since she was about 1.5" long and had grown up alongside the other fish, but once she reached a certain size and age didn't want to tolerate them anymore.
I put most of this down to the variability of cichlid personality. I'm sure under different circumstances or with a different specimen it may have been a different outcome, particularly in a tank with fish big enough and aggressive enough to stand up to her or put her in her place.
Good luck with your salvini, I hope she turns out to be more amenable than mine - there's every chance of that - but be prepared.
She constantly excavated breeding pits in both tanks right down to the glass and when she had nothing better to do would relentlessly chase my blue acara, who I think she perceived as the closest threat in the pecking order. When I was babysitting a 4" oscar, she shredded him so badly I had to remove him for his own safety.
I'd had her since she was about 1.5" long and had grown up alongside the other fish, but once she reached a certain size and age didn't want to tolerate them anymore.
I put most of this down to the variability of cichlid personality. I'm sure under different circumstances or with a different specimen it may have been a different outcome, particularly in a tank with fish big enough and aggressive enough to stand up to her or put her in her place.
Good luck with your salvini, I hope she turns out to be more amenable than mine - there's every chance of that - but be prepared.
I try to keep my fish in the optimum conditions this is hard to do with cichlids due to aggression. Its all good for the tank boss everyone else is ragged beaten and weakened hiding behind the filter intake not what I want to see in my tank but im sure it happens often in the wild the loser can swim away to claim a new place that is not an option within the confines of an aquarium
