Salvini's & tankmates?

[DarylMac]

Hi all,

I currently have a 6' 135g tank. I'm considering switching to CA cichlids as my current South American set-up is just too peaceful (I know, be careful what you wish for)!

I used to keep some CA cichlids (JD & Cons) in the same sized tank. It was great, Cons are such fiesty little buggers.

Anyhow, I'm currently thinking of getting a decent sized group if T. Meeki. I haven't kept CA in awhile and it seems that methodology has changed, whereas before there was a less is more attitude with CA's in generally, I have read from a few informed sites that a group of 6 to 10 fire mouths may not be unreasonable in a tank the size of mine.

I'd prefer not to keep a single species though, so I think I'd go with no more than 8 fire mouths...

Getting around to the title of this thread, would it be possible to keep multiple (a pair or two so same sex) Salvini's with a modest group of Meeki in a 6 foot tank?

For what it's worth I would use lots of rock and wood, and some plants to break up site lines and offer areas of refuge.

I realize the Salvinis don't get that much larger than fire mouths, but from what I have read they can be fairly aggressive, especially when spawning.

 

[Stanzzzz7]

When in pairs salvini can become very aggressive and could quite easily dominate thorichthys.
Thorichthys can look like aggressors sometimes but it's all show with these fish.
They have the display and the bluff, but not the tools to back it up.
Thorichthys have very weak easily dislocated mouths. They can come off very badly against more aggressive species like the salvini.
Cryptoheros spilurus would work in pairs with a large group of meeki. They can also be found together in nature.
Or another option could be another group of thorichthys such as pasionis. Pasionis have nice hues of yellow and green and contrast nicely with the red meeki.
You could have 8 of each group.No more than 1 or 2 males per group should work out nicely.
A solo salvini would probably behave but I would avoid a pair.
Fish that do well in groups from central America are..
Thorichthys
Rheoheros
Astathoheros
Herotilapia multispinosa
To name a few.

 

[Hendre]

Just don't cramp them, i got a salvini recently at 1.75" or so and put him in a 15 gallon to monitor, big mistake. Killed or injured a bunch of danios at night and shredded my bettas fins a bit. In the 70 gal however he is very chilled and doesn't really care about his bigger tankmates (no cichlids though).

I think one MAY be okay, i am not sure on their aggression with cichlids apart from the fact that they are known to be mean

Frank Castle
Stanzzzz7

 

[DarylMac]

Ok. So I suspect a pair of Salvini may be a bad idea. Doesn't surprise me - they look like a mini guapote and apparently have attitude to match.

I may just hold off and wait to do a CA tank when I upgrade to a 200+ gallon tank!

 

[Gourami Swami]

^ Bigger is always better and that's not a bad idea, however if you did want to do them now there are plenty of fish that would still work with the group of Meeki's. I think 6-8 Meeki and a pair of Nicaraguense would probably work just fine. If it were my tank, I would do the group of meeki (i would probably get ellioti tbh), then a single specimen of a larger fish like a P. Regani.

 

[Frank Castle]

I have mixtures of SA and CA Cichlids in my collection, as I tell everyone - just pay close attention and have another tank ready to move things to if something gets bullied or becomes a bully. Cichlid temperament is hit-or-miss, I have a female GT that despises my larger male Dovii and chases him excessively and I have a considerably larger male GT that runs his tank but doesn't show a bit of aggression to anything. FMs can be aggressive to smaller fish, but they are not built for combat just like SA Earth-eaters......although as JUVENILES, I did lose an Oscar and a Salvini to my overly boisterous EB Acara and/or 2 male FMs. They were the tank bosses until I added some more larger aggressive fish, but still dominated JDs, Salvini, an Oscar, Convicts and other mild-tempered fish. It can go either way though, you never know - it doesn't always depend on the species, it depends on the individual fish


My motto is try mixing what you want, load the tank and have a strong and definitive backup plan - either a bunch of extra tanks to move stuff to, a good quality LFS to sell or rehome them to or friends in the hobby also or something else similar that would work if stuff falls apart. I DON'T recommend just putting a bunch of stuff in a tank and disappearing for a few days though lol. Thhese mixed community tanks need to be closely monitored frequently, at LEAST daily for them to work

 

[cichlidfish]

I would not do salvini or convict pairs as they'll kill or dominate everything else. I would only keep 1 salvini or a group of the same sex. Females generally are much less aggressive. A single female and a group of thorichthys would make for a nice tank. My female salvini is very peaceful in a similar sized tank. You'll find they are less shy when given space. My is quite fiesty at feeding time and knows I feed her. She will follow me around looking for food lol. She almost bit me when I was dropping pellets in lol.