Green terror with haps

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justintheodd

Plecostomus
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Oct 7, 2024
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Hey y'all! I had a question. I have been thinking about getting a green terror for my 150 gallon african cichlid (namely Haps) tank. GTs are one of if not my favorite fish ever, and I have a 55 gallon- backup if need be. I have seen others post about the matter with success, but I wanted to get your opinions on the matter.
Thanks so much!!!
-Justin
 
well, they are relatively similar in size, debatably temperament, water requirements, and its a 150 gallon so they will have plenty of space to establish their territorry
 
Not really, green terrors are from West of the Andes, which have water conditions that are almost identical to the rift likes. as in high ph, hard water, and tropical temperatures. Even Duanes will sometimes use Haps as dithers with green terrors
 
I have always mix African cichlid, mainly Haps and Tanganyikan, with a male green terror. GT came from Pacific side of the Andes, and the water requirement is compatible with African. GT is semi aggressive and can reach 10 inch, so it is comparable to large Haps in temperament and size. My 125 gal currently has a 10 inch Frontosa, 9 inch GT, 8 inch Moori, and several 5 inch peacock, all male. They get along well with circular pecking order of Moori over GT, GT over Fronts, and Fronts over Moori, but it looks like the Moori will move up to become the tank boss.

IMG_0560.jpeg
 
Although the waters west of the Andes are slightly more alkaline than the Amazon area east of the Andes, the pH there is still only around 7, and (not liquid rock) like the waters of the rift, The pH Africans prefer at about 8, (is 100 times more basic). If your tap water comes close to inbetween, it might work, and although Andinoacara from that area, are loners (hardly ever sharing territory with other cichlids), they may not even recogonize certain Africans as other cichlids.

If you do experiiment, let us know how it works out good (or bad) over time.

I personally would not keep them together in the same tank, but I'm anal about strict biotopes, yet know, many other aquarists could care less about geographical correctness.
 
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Yes, ime it works. There can be exceptions to anything with individual fish temperament, but in the 15-18 years I bred Malawi cichlids I often kept a male rivulatus to boss the tank and settle down aggression between haps and peacocks, which worked quite well for me-- except the time I had some wild rivulatus that terrorized just about anything else, even at 3-4 inches they harassed fish more than twice their size, lol.

They should have no issue with anything from neutral pH up to 8 or so (personal experience), which is in their range according to taxonomic and other reliable sources that refer to the scientific paper officially describing rivulatus (this settled what was once a question as to which fish is rivulatus, Alf Stalsberg and others once incorrectly insisted it was what is now stalsbergi).

ERSS - Green Terror (Andinoacara rivulatus)

Andinoacara rivulatus, Green terror : aquaculture, aquarium
 
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My tank water pH is around 7.5, no where near the rift lake alkalinity. The Africans and GT I keep have been domesticated for decades, so they are adaptive and can tolerate outside their natural range. A neutral water riverine species such as GT is much more adaptive than black water species. I have more success keeping rift lake cichlid including Turkana Jewel cichlid that came from liquid rock water than any black water species that came from near zero tds and pH < 5 water. I think tds matters more than pH regarding adaptability.

I am no purest and prefer to mix fish from different continents and habitats as long as the water requirements are compatible. In fact, dissimilar species get along better than similar species as they don’t see each other as close competitor but rather as aliens.
 
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Thank you all for your responses. I really appreciate it! I probably will move forward with getting one, as they are my favorite fish besides red devils (and I think it speaks for itself why I cant have that). I will let you all know how it goes!
thank you all!
-Justin
 
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