What is your experience with Salvini Cichlids?

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Pyramid_Party

Pyramid_Party

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Aug 6, 2008
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Monterey, CA
Hi,

Im looking for some posts about your experience with keeping Salvinis. How aggressive are they? What kinda fish/cichlid would you compare them to in terms of aggression?

Let me know anything you know, like any basic info etc. Thanks
 
Pyramid_Party;2598894; said:
Hi,

Im looking for some posts about your experience with keeping Salvinis. How aggressive are they? What kinda fish/cichlid would you compare them to in terms of aggression?

Let me know anything you know, like any basic info etc. Thanks
Click to expand...

hi i bought 2 sals not knowing much about them and then they turn out to be a pair, and bred for me.

they can be rather peaceful fish if kept with similar sized tankmates or bigger, but when they are starting to breed, they can turn nastier than a breeding convicts.
the problem is.... they coloured up their best when they are in this stage, kind of catch 22.
 
I have found that my Female can be very aggressive to any fish that doesn't stand up to her, she is about 4-5" any fish that fights back she seems to leave alone, great personality and one of my favourite in my collection. She is very flirty with most Males in the tank which is amusing to watch, I think she just is just desperate for some action :)

Mine seems to love her cave and will defend it against any fish I have including a 9" female Jag although she is scared of the pleco!

Just for your info I have her with:

2 JD's 6"
Severum 7"
2 Convicts 3-4"
Flowerhorn 6"
3 Firemouth 3-5"
Jag 9"
Oscar 8"
2 Pleco 8"
3 Pictus 3-4"

She is a little bit bigger and brighter now, I may get her a Male at some point because I think she deserves it and the fry should be good looking enough...

Sorry about the blurriness...

IMG_0090.jpg
 
Pyramid_Party;2599042; said:
Nice salvini.

Im thinking of mixing one with a GT and 2 jaguar cats. Just worried about the cats being picked on.
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Well, dont worry about cats, they rarely pick on non-cichlids.
I had a drab female, truely monstrous female, not by size though.
It was 5" big, paired up with my con, later I gave it away to my friend. There it ate no pellets or prepared food, instead it was eating newly introduced fishes, some of them being 1/2 a dozen zebra loaches, jewels, widow n BA tetras, etc, my friend disgusted took it out into a bucket, poor thing jumped out and suicided there :nilly:. A predator and a very aggressive fish.
 
I've got a male at 4 inches with GT, RT, Flowerhorn, JD, Blackbelt and he holds his own without too much trouble. He did kill 2 silver dollars when they were first introduced but seems to have settled since. Great colours and always greets me at feeding time.

Dave

sa fish 086.jpg
 
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I have my Salvini living with all the cichlids listed in my signature block. She holds her own... Although, mines don't have the color that Japtastic has... On my Salvini, the color intensifies at times, but never stays...IMO the less competition you have for the Salvini, the better your chances of maximizing the color.
Salvini is an aggressive cichlid, the more space that you have, the better chances for harmony with other larger cichlids...
 
Hi... As always.... a lot depends on the size and setup of your tank as well as the individual fishes temperment.
I had a very aggressive very beautiful female about 5 inches big. She killed everything I introduced after her into the tank including a firemouth and a male slvini that was a bit smaller than she was.. Just charged and killed.. didn't matter that I removed her and rescaped and then added her back in last after a few days in qt even. However she only did this to cichlids.. Never even bothered the school of tiger barbs.. Then when I switched out the barbs and went for african mumbas she got along great with them.. I had acei and yellow labs and everyone was fine. This was in a 55 with lots of hiding places and even plants.. Strange I know.. but it worked.....
Things might have been different in a much larger tank. What size were you planning. Good luck whatever you do and just have a backup plan. HTH Sue
 
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