will this combo of tank busters work?

[terrors r us]

Hi there, I am planning to get a 200gal tank and would like to know if this combo
would work;
(1) pair of carpinte (blue texas)
(2) pair of bi-faciatum (vieja species)
(3) pair of fenestaum (vieja species)
(4) pair of cubans (not sure how aggresive these are?)
(5) pair of argentea (vieja species)
of course I would buy them all as juvies and watch them pair off while removing the
excess fish, so at the end I would have 10 fish.
If thats to crowded then I would get rid of the fenestum pair or argentea pair.
That would leave 8 tank busters breeding in the same tank. Is this a recipe for
disaster???? Let me know your comments. Thanks

 

[TheMightyOscar]

seeing as how cichlids are excellent parents and protect their offspring..i cant see it working, the tex's are already pretty agressive, i could only imagine an adut pair with fry..maybe someone else will have a different answer, but i would choose one breeding pair, and then one of each fish you listed

 

[Aquamojo]

Absolutely not. Paratheraps/Vieja complex are very aggressive toward conspecifics. Try mixing a pair of your choice with some sort of larger characin like Metynsis. You will end up with a great group of dithers with a large pair of Para's.

 

[ROSS]

IMO no .. it is an unessesary waste of some of the fish you are stocking, but if you some how get a second 200g then maybe with some egg crate it's possible ..

The second tank would be for the other's that are not the spawning pair ..

 

[croc 2-3]

Hi there, I am planning to get a 200gal tank and would like to know if this combo
would work;
(1) pair of carpinte (blue texas)
(2) pair of bi-faciatum (vieja species)
(3) pair of fenestaum (vieja species)
(4) pair of cubans (not sure how aggresive these are?)
(5) pair of argentea (vieja species)
of course I would buy them all as juvies and watch them pair off while removing the
excess fish, so at the end I would have 10 fish.
If thats to crowded then I would get rid of the fenestum pair or argentea pair.
That would leave 8 tank busters breeding in the same tank. Is this a recipe for
disaster???? Let me know your comments. Thanks

You can start with juvies of 2 of those species but not all. The bi-fasciatums might hybridize with the fenestratum so avoid those to types together. I'd try the tetracanthrus(cubans) & carpintes. As the argentea will probaly kill most of the other types or be killed by a the fenestratum(only because their weight/mass is more) if the fenes breed first. Get another tank & divider to seperate wounded. Have a few hide areas & it might work.

 

[Esco]

cubans and texas' seem to work great, but the cubans get fairly HUGE. and they are pretty aggresive, i cant really picture them in a 200g being nice to a group of Vieja, they are vastley territorial, and will continue to harrass smaller fish until they are removed...

would be a cool set up though. a friend has A cuban with a large oscar and a barred midas in a 175g tank, this set up on a daily baisis has territory skirmish's, and i just cant imagne the anger level of your set up being put to use.
i say try it, just to see the out come and to try and prove us wrong...

 

[ng80]

Your tank is not big enough for lots of paired cichlids. they will breed and the first to pair and breed probably will kill the others.
A pair of texas will dominate a 200gall at adult size if they breed. mixing viejas is not a good idea because they dont get along well.
i would choose the pair of cichlids you want most and buy 4 of them and raise a pair and sell the remainders and you could add some big dithers and catfish.
or
keep single specimens of say 3-4 different species and avoid realted species to prvent crossbreeding.

 

[big train]

It could work with juvenile fish only about a year or so and then u would have pick a pair or several with dividers to keep for life. Also the texas can get pretty mean evan when not spawning i think they would harass some of those not as mean cichlids.But with a 200 u could put in a divider and keep several pairs in there til they become fully mature then they will need at least half the tank for a pair 100 gals a piece should do nicely.

 

[terrors r us]

Thanks for all your input;
(1), "Aquamojo", I have seen your stuff around on different sites and I am a member
of your web site so I am grateful for your response and respect your opioions.
First of all I have had experience between blackbelts and synspilums, not good,
blackbelts are very aggresive. Secondly I don't care much for characins...... even
thou sometimes they are necessary... I have no experience with the other vieja
species we disscused but I agree with you now......
(2), "Ross", I hear what your saying!!!!!
(3),"croc2-3", How about ; texas, cubans and bi-faciatum with a couple of dithers.
I'll move the other two viejas into the large tank and they will have bigger issues
to contend with.....
(4),"Ng-1", I have had breeding texas before and IMO their bark is bigger than their bite....
(5),"big train", Your right about that, I am now hopeing to get just 3 pairs living together
with only one pair being vieja......
Thanks
P.S.- I have seen a pair of amarillos and two pair of wolf cichlids breeding in the same
tank at the same time(on the web)..........So what about that??????

 

[Jason_S]

what is the footprint of the tank? if it's not at least 8 feet long then I don't think you'll be able to get more than 1 breeding pair of any 12" or larger semi-aggressive to aggressive species in there. if it is 8 foot long then you might be able to get away with 2 breeding pairs of semi aggressive species at each end but I don't see 3 or more living together without killing each ohter as they reach full size.

yes you probably have seen pics of dovii and amarillo breeding in the same tank...the tank of Willem Heijns. the catch is that tank is 13 feet long I believe so there is plenty of space for the breeding pairs.