Ideas for an all Amphilophus tank....

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My big endli... Yummy, yummy 'Custard' in tummy. lol
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I was pretty sure that the fish were big enough to go into the 300 but the 20" endli decided the Sagittae (Custard) was still bite sized enough. So more grow out time for the young fish.
 
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Last night was one of those nights where the water change in the 300 was just the thing that made me question this project. lol

I hate the extra maintenance of overstocked tanks! Im realizing this with four mid sized amphilophus and the goal is 5 to 7... what am I thinking?

As an example of under-stocking tanks my two 65B both house individual puffer fish that only really need 30 gallon tanks. These tanks get regular maintenance but with such a light bioload they just look so much cleaner all the time. The 300 seems to look "dirty' much more often.

Im really considering a solo amph in the 300 with the 3 big balas and 2 bichirs and call it good. Just debating if it will be the petsmart red devil in there or to try the trimac out. Whatever the case in the end I would keep 3 aphs max with one in the 300 and two solo in their own 75's.

The problem will be deciding on the keepers... For sure the Petsmart red devil and trimac. Not sure on the true midas, only liked the one two-toned one which seems a keeper, the rest are very plain orange with nothing else going for them. The two Sagittae are also in question, not sure if I want to grow them out either.

Questions for you guys...
If the Petsmart red devil were solo in the 300 would it lose it nuchal hump? That is one thing that I really like about this fish.

How bad is a Trimac's agression toward non cichlids? Do you think it would work in my 300 with 3 large bala sharka and 2 large bichirs?
 
Nuchal hump is likely to shrink a certain amount but by how much is anyone's guess. All amphilophus can be risky to house with anything else, I think aggression comes down to the individual fish as much as the species. That trimac does look good though.
 
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dan518 said:
Nuchal hump is likely to shrink a certain amount but by how much is anyone's guess. All amphilophus can be risky to house with anything else, I think aggression comes down to the individual fish as much as the species. That trimac does look good though.
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Thanks, very happy with the trimac.

So far the aggression from the dominant Petsmart devil is relatively mild, even in breeding condition he is not damaging any other fish just some mild chases. Nowhere as bad as the hoga I rehomed that was tearing up fins and having fish in the corners. I know the female midas is not happy with an egg site and they have moved to the other mopani piece on the other side of the tank to try there. I know once eggs are laid he may get more mean but Im watching situation closely. I am thinking to pull the female tonight and drop in another midas growout that I think might be male. May calm things down a little bit...

I love the big hump that the Petsmart devil is sporting but I know it will shrink, just hoping not too much.
 
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Sounds like a plan. I dont know about anyone else but I have always found ca cichlids are at there most aggressive between 3 to 7 years, I have witnessed chilled young fish turn into killers and big old chilled males that used to be. Caught me out a few times when doing community's that there aggression levels can change at a drop of a hat.
 
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dan518 said:
Sounds like a plan. I dont know about anyone else but I have always found ca cichlids are at there most aggressive between 3 to 7 years, I have witnessed chilled young fish turn into killers and big old chilled males that used to be. Caught me out a few times when doing community's that there aggression levels can change at a drop of a hat.
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I went through that some years back with a mixed CA tank of 'calmer' fish like Regani, Red Bay Snook, Hetrospilus, Pearsei and something else that I cant remember at the moment. All was well until about the 5 year mark and then the changes hit and in the end it was just the big Pearsei because I pretty much had to rehome the rest. After the Pearsei aged out and passed (at least 10 years old), was when I had to get some new stock so the amphilophus project was attempted.

At this point Im pretty sure to make this amph tank succeed it will involve a stock of about 7+ fish, all male with no uber aggressive ones. This probably wont happen because im getting tired of the hard core maintenance. lol

I already have two 75's, two 65B's a 30g and then the 300 that Im attempting an overstocked amph community in. Im really thinking this rehoming of fish will happen sooner than later.
 
Moved the female out of the 300 into the 75g growout and took a rough measurement and she looked to be in the 6 1/2" to 7" range. Then took the largest midas out of the growout which is around 5"+ and moved it to the 300. Hopefully this calms the big guy down a bit with no female in heat around. They were getting close to spawning for sure but I could tell she wasnt happy with a spot so was putting him off. He was not too bad with aggression through it all.
 
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The 5" midas made it through the night. Didnt become endli food so thats a good sign. The fish all seem calmer with the big water change yesterday and pulling the female out. Likely reduced the hormones in the water considerably. Might just be my imagination but the nuchal humps seemed just a bit reduced this morning.
 
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