Vieja ranking in size and aggressiveness

[tiger15]

I am relatively new in Vieja collection. Currently, I have an 11 inch male synspillum that I have kept for 2 years, a 4 inch regular fenestratus and a 3 inch pink fenestrauts that I had for 2 months, and the newest addition of a 2 inch melanurus and 2 inch bifasiatus from Jeff Rapp. I will soon get a breidohri from my LFS when it is on sale in black friday. I am raising the juveniles in grow out tanks, and eventually they will all be placed in my 125 gal.

I am picking and hoping that they will all be male to avoid breeding aggresiveness. Do you think they will get along? I know Vieja species come in all sizes and temperament. How do you rank them in aggresiveness and ultimate size.

 

[lp85253]

the heterospilla are small(8-10 in.) good looking and low on the aggression scale .... a good community cichlid in a decent size tank....black belts get pretty big (10-15 in.)and are pretty high onthe aggression scale ,but very pretty ....I have one thats about 8-9 inch and is in a 75 with a con ,so tankmates can be done ....but they have been together a long time and the con is a mini beast...I WOULDNT try it with any other fish now....

 

[Madness]

All of those fish reach 12"+. There is no way that you will be able to house them in a 125. There will be violence, and death in that tank.

All fish are different. My Bifa is the most aggressive, followed by the Fen and the Breidohri can be nasty also. The Syn, Mel and then the Hetero. I have a friend that has a psycho 10" Mel, that whoops on his Fens.

So if you want this dream to become reality, then you better get yourself a 300 gal tank.

 

[duanes]

I agree with Madness, so many Vieja types(Paraneetroplus) in a tank as small as 125 gal is very risky.
In nature you do not find species of the genus together, because they see each other as competitors.
I know how, when you like a certain genus or type, you want to keep a community of them together, but this is often a disaster waiting to happen. Better to keep fish that don't resemble each other in shape or color, together in the same tank, that way the tendency for that obvious competition is lessened.
This does not apply only to Vieja, but goes for any cichlid, I don't keep Parachromis with Parachromis, ot Tomocichla with Tomocichla, unless your tank is 300 gallons or larger. In reality, to be frank, a 125 is simply a glorified puddle.

 

[Yank-Keeper-Scott]

a 125 is no way near big enough for all of those viejas.

considering you have an almost foot long syn male, he will feel to assert himself, being agro.


dont try it, it will NOT work.

if you want somthing like viejas, go bocourti or pearsei, much more peaceful

 

[tiger15]

True, keeping fish of different genus that don’t look like each other will have less competition. That said, African cichlid keepers crowd fish of the same or closely related genus in the same tank to diffuse aggression, and it works.
Interestingly, when I introduced my two fenestratus into my 125 gal, the 11” sysnspillum totally ignored them, and the fish that wouldn't leave them alone were African cichlids. A Victorian haps and a Eurecka Peacock would jump on them everytime they came out of the corner. It took them a week to come out of hiding with dignity. Now the fenes would stand their ground to face off the African bullies. I guess they have similar size and vertical bars that believe they were cousins, even though they are different genus from two continents.
I guess I have to experiment on how they will get along. I do have 3 other 75 gal for segregated housing if need to if they get too rough at each other in the future. My question remains. What is your guess on the pecking order when the Vieja grow up.

 

[Madness]

Like I said before. They all are different. My list may have the Bifa as the most agg, but duanes could have Syn while YKS could say the Fwns. You cant put a list like that together. They are all different.