umbee aggression

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steenmillinder

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Oct 25, 2012
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are Umbee's more assertive or aggressive?

I read this article on fastae:

http://www.mchportal.com/fishkeepin...ng-and-breeding-the-ex-cichlasoma-festae.html

And he talks about cichlids being assertive and standing their ground or aggressive as in looking for trouble. In my tank my oscars are assertive, standing their ground but never invading a territory or harassing another other fish, while my P. freddy and p. mota. just get their "mean on" sometimes and go out looking for trouble(as if for the fun of it).

I realise different specimens in the same species can differ in temperament, but do you recon umbees tend to be more assertive or aggressive?
 
I'll put it to you this way....I put a 5-6in male umbee in a 125g with 3x 9in Hecklii and 2x 6-8in silver dollars....2 days later he decided that it was his tank and that he didn't want any tank mates ;)
 
It's only a matter of time with fish like umbees and dovii. They see tank mates as food period.

Drew
 
I don't know about umbees, but I would say my loisellie is more assertive than aggressive. My male just chases or give a gentile nudge when others are in his way or where he wants to be. He ignores the other fish other wise. Now my old h. Cyano and h. Deppi were flat out killers. They would sneak up and bite at the underbelly. No gill flaring or jaw locking. Most people who have mostly kept African cichlids think all CA and SA cichlids is the same like jaw locking, it's more complicated than that.


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You need massive tanks to even attempt to house full grown piscivorous new worlds! Like 700g plus and even then no guarantee. IMO when I want a show specimen like Dovii or Umbee etc. I plan for a tank with One male and hope that I can have a female along side that show specimen. I don't like to let females die so I always provide an escape hole that only the female can fit.
I got lucky with my big Umbee he didn't do much t smaller New world fish in his 220g with him or he doesn't even put a scratch on his female! But if I went and dumped a 15 inch Red devil or big dovii I'm obviously startinging a cage match!
 
My experience mind you big tanks....

Umbee is in with 2 other cichlids and my red tail, he is around 22-25cm other cichlids are a syns(25cm) & red devil (15-18cm). The red devil he seems to leave alone for 90% of the time only chasing it away from his area though but the syns he will chase all over the 8.5ft tank almost in laps he only leaves it when the red tail swims past. It wont dare to touch the red tail as she is pushing close to 80cm when he was with other smaller fish he was fine also only fighting with a jardini here and there but the jar was the one starting those fights. & yes I know the RTC may eat the cichlids, its been 6 months and no luck... the red devil was actually thrown in as a feeder lol.

I find my doviis much more placid they only lip lock every so often with other cichlids but once that is finished they return to there area within the tank no constant chasing. with the exception of the big male dovii chasing the big male jag and vice versa but the tank is large enough for them to have an area to there self.

All in all it depends on the fish having had 8 dovii in one tank it was easy to see they all behaved differently, I believe most cichlids will be the same.
 
All fish are different of course. But my umbee is very aggressive and I believe that to be pretty much the norm with umbees. Once a umbee starts to becomes a adult fish he will not let any other fish in his territory. Except maybe a female that he has paired up with. And his territory is the whole tank in less you have a very large tank somewhere above 400 to 500 gal.


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moral of the story dont put anything with a full grown umbee or dovii unless its a huuuuge tank
 
THX a LOT for your answers!!

I'm gonna build a L shaped plywood tank with 6 and 7.6 feet sides 2,6 feet deep and 3,9 feet high. There's gonna be a big nest/cave/spawn site at each end with sand bottom in the middle at the bend/corner. Each spawn site will have smaller refuge for the females and the cichlids when in their nests will not be able to see the other pairs nest. I'm thinking of putting in some wood/branches in the tank to act as a "speed bump" if a male wants to chase, and because i love the riverine look!! kinda like this trimac tank, especially the right side:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoMwoc0-1wA

I was hoping for a umbee and a festae breeding pair and two same sex oscars, non cichlid I'd like a bichiir, pleco, RTC-ish cat, and if possible a couple of clown and if fire eel, I also love the trimac and jag, but umbee and festae would be my first choice, and oscars!

p.s. jagster: what's the fish on ur picture looks like a JD except for the colours...

and again thx a lot for ur answers!! here most have rift and reef tanks, need to hear from IRL XP ;) thx!
 
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