Solo Cichlid versus Future Tankmates

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Azedenkae

Piranha
MFK Member
Apr 19, 2012
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Washington State, United States of America
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Hey all, I read somewhere (I am pretty sure) of cases whereby cichlids kept by itself (or with small dithers and the likes, not other cichlids), especially of the more aggressive species, tend to be a lot more intolerant of cichlid tankmates later on in life, do anyone find this to be true at all? And if so, with what species in particular?

I can't remember off the top of my head how I got this story stuck there, but it does seem to have some merit - after all, if they're not used to other cichlids, then it's possible they'd react badly when cichlids ARE introduced. So yeah, anyone got any experience with this type of thing?
 
i have had both sides of the experience.

Most probable **** happens if you introduce a new cichlid(s) in the tank in which the wet pet was solo. The opposite tends to work well, assuming fish are of same size and temper.
 
Ive never kept a solo wet pet but usually certain species like dovii, midas ect raised alone will not tolerate future tankmates. There are things you can do to attempt it but usually end up with your wet pet. Ive also seen this case to be true when you have one species in a community that normally would not tolerate the same sex of the same species ie male midas, jack dempseys and especially paratilapias; and raise them from babies as the only one of its kind to adult hood they still wont be very tolerant of you adding the same sex and species. I personally have had no problem adding midas and amphilophus juveniles after the other but not one has been the dominant fish in the tank or been their long enough to establish its territory. Its a different story when i try adding another female oscar. And when i had a adult paratilapia that was raised as the only one and tried to add another one that wasnt tolerated either but i did have success keeping two different kinds of paratilpia that were raised together from 2".


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Most cichlids are territorial, if put in a large enough tank together, will work the real estate out among themselves, at least until growth shrinks territories to intolerable levels.
Put a single cichlid in a tank for even a short time, and it owns the tank, any other cichlid is an interloper, and is at a disadvantage.
 
that is what I was saying. It is the wet pet that has to go into another tank with mates. Never the mates to the wet pet' s...
 
Interesting... well thanks guys a bunch! What's going on is actually that I have some fries, the largest one is 3cm long and is already very mean, chasing the others around. I have 4 in a 2ft atm, and I kinda feel like reducing that number to just one (I have a 4ft that contains the rest of the siblings of these lil' things, I can always chuck ones back and forth). I was just thinking that one by itself might allow it to grow much faster, but yeah in the future I'd want it to have tankmates/breed, and being super gnarly isn't gonna help. XD

What do you guys reckon? The fish in question are Ellicons (Ellioti x Convict hybrids), so I assume they won't be as aggressive as Doviis and the likes, hopefully.
 
no they won't, imho.
 
let me clear somthing up.

it really irritates me how there is people on here, who claim to know anything, and everything about American Cichlids.
Sure there are probably people who will know quite a lot, and still they could not answer this question.

the honest truth is....

EVERY CICHLID IS DIFFERENT

you cant say that it WILL be agressive, you do not know that.

i have kept a 8 inch dovii alone for his whole life to spend at least 9 months with 5 small fenestratus around 5 inches with no dramas.

every fish is different, so dont act like you know all the ****, and if you dont have the experience dont give a bull**** answer
 
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