Best tankmates for a Rapps Blue H. Carpintis

[pg60]

Hi Everyone, longtime lurker who finally signed up after reading posts about Jeff's beautiful H. Carpintis.

Had a bighead-descendant Barred Midas wet-pet purchased from Jeff for 10+ years. Re-homed him when we moved.

Now I've setup 75g mostly-CA community tank & looking for some advice on stocking. I've bred CA cichlids, raised wet-pets, but have not tried bigger CA cichlids in community tank. My recent attempt at overstocked (to spread aggression) Mbuna tank was a huge failure; so much violence, "and then there was 1".

So I made big order of small-medium CA (and a couple SA) cichlids from Jeff, will need to thin them out soon, and looking for suggestions on what to keep for best chances at relative peace&fun.

The 3.5" 'electric blue' H. Carpintis will be the foundation. Stunning fish, haven't been able to sex it yet, doesn't seem to be one where it's easy with elongated dorsal for males. It is getting a bit scrappy, mostly posturing with all of them. Even though it's the smallest. Jeff said these don't get that big and could work in my 55 as wet-pet?



Potential long-term tank-mates are.

* 4.5" Male Salvini. Gorgeous, interactive, hides a lot in the rock so less open water space competition with the Carpintis perhaps.



* 4.5 Male Nic. At least I think so by the elongated dorsal. Currently the scrappiest fish in the tank which caught me by surprise. Just starting to color up and would be nice color contrast to the Carpintis.



* 4" Female? GT. Have tried hard to sex this one off the many 'sex my GT' threads here. Want it to be male (orange pectoral fins, slightly pointy dorsal, thick orange tail band) but the less shiny body scales sure look like female. Currently the tank weakling.



* 4.5" Wild Jewel Pike (Crenicichla sveni) that is not very colorful but is incredibly cool fish. Mini northern pike from my MN days. Ate 2 angels in an hour when I tried him in my juvi angel tank. Not aggressive but wont take sh*t either. Minds his own business.



Obviously too many fish for the long-term in a 75g. No jaw-wrestling yet (though the Nic and Carpintis have squared up) but am seeing occasional split fins. Would love to keep them all so hard decisions need to be made...

Any and all suggestions are welcome. I have hard well water from all the limestone here in Central FL.

Thanks for looking!

 

[Gourami Swami]

Honestly man, I think you will find the CA cichlids are more difficult to do communities with than African mbuna, by a long shot. The fish you ordered are not really small-medium, the carpintis will get 10-12", as well as the Nic, and green terror. The salvini will get about 7" and is incredibly aggressive. And a 75 gallon is a small tank when attempting a CA community of larger cichlids. If you had gone with small CA cichlids like sajica, panamensis, myrnae, etc. I think you would have a better chance. But with this mix, I think you will most likely end up with 1 fish again.
You can give it a shot, and keep another tank running on hand for refugees. CA communities are a balancing act that depend on the personalities of the fish. I wish you the best of luck, though I think it is somewhat ill-advised to mix all these in a 75.

 

[pg60]

Thanks for the quick reply! Understood on the size thing, I meant "small-medium" when purchased not adult size. So far it's going way better than the Mbuna tank!

If I remember right, Jeff said his Carpintis only get to be about 7-8", especially it it turns out to be a female.

So hopeful to pick one long-term tank-mate for the H. Carpintis out of these.

Am reading lots about Salvini aggression.

 

[Gourami Swami]

Yes, a female will stay smaller, and your chances of mixing other CA cichlids long term with a female would be much better. Not sure about his carpintis only getting 7-8", but I guess I'd take Jeff's word on it. I think that unless you get very lucky, 2 fish is unlikely to work; the dominant one would probably bully the subdominant to death. Similar aggression-spreading tactics to those used for mbuna should be considered.
Personally, I think your best bet if you definitely want to keep the carpintis, would be to re-home your other large-growing fish and go for smaller hardy cichlids, like perhaps convict or sajica.

 

[pg60]

Thanks! Have lots of caves and line-of-sight breaking which is keeping things peaceful for now. So working some of the mbuna principles. Overstocking males to spread aggression did not work...

You are correct that it's high time to re-home a few.

Used to breed convicts, a little weary of them but they do have personality to spare. Never kept Sajica and will investigate, had thought of them as wimps?

I really like that Pike and am thinking it could work? Completely different in body shape and where it likes to swim. These get to be 7" or so.

Wanting tankmates for the Carpintis because this room doesn't get much human activity, home office, so wetpet may get lonely. My Barred Midas was in bedroom but my wife ain't going for that in our new house ;-)

Likely will be giving some fish away near Gainesville/Ocala if there are any takers.

 

[dan518]

Why not just go for a breeding pair of Carpintis.

 

[pg60]

Why not just go for a breeding pair of Carpintis.

Could do that... It would kind of be a do-over as I'd have to get several more Carpintis to let them pair up, going to look to see if Jeff has more.

When I did Convicts it was PITA moving the fry.

 

[RD.]

If you had gone with small CA cichlids like sajica, panamensis, myrnae, etc. I think you would have a better chance. But with this mix, I think you will most likely end up with 1 fish again.

This.

Also, I would not keep a breeding pair of carpintis in a 75 gallon. I also agree about size, 7-8" would be right for a female, but not for a full grown male. Short of venting yours is a little on the small size to sex by head slope, or fins. I find them pretty easy to sex once a certain size, females are more stream lined with a narrow slope to the head, often with some black in dorsal fins. Males take on a more blunt profile, especially in the head region. Duane has posted some good pics in past threads here. I've got a few of my young male as well, and he's already hit the 7-8" mark with plenty of growing left in him. Good luck.

 

[pg60]

This.

Short of venting yours is a little on the small size to sex by head slope, or fins. I find them pretty easy to sex once a certain size, females are more stream lined with a narrow slope to the head, often with some black in dorsal fins. Males take on a more blunt profile, especially in the head region. Duane has posted some good pics in past threads here. I've got a few of my young male as well, and he's already hit the 7-8" mark with plenty of growing left in him. Good luck.

Thanks! Mine gets noticably darker, with some banding, on rear half when being tested by the Nic, does that help sex it at all?



I'm going to move the male Nic out for now as he is generating the most aggression by far.

 

[RD.]

That last pic, head profile looks like a male to me.