CA/SA Profile thread.

[Alexxxxsv14]

SPECIES: (CENTRAL AMERICA) salvini cichlid Cichlasoma salvini

SIZE: up to 6’’ but ive seen some males at 8’’

TANK SIZE: a minimum of 50 per pair . ive seen some in 30 gal but not recommended

DIET: they are omnivores and like many cichlids they take a variety of foods flakes,pellets,bw,krill

SEXING: Both sexes become more intensely yellow during spawning, and black markings appear along the center of the body and dorsal area. The female has a patch in the center of her dorsal fin and a dark spot on the lower edge of her gill cover.

WATER CONDITIONS:
Hardness: 8-15° dGH
Ph: 6.5 to 8.0
Temp: 72-79° F (22-26° C)

male
female

pics from google

 

[Carg R]

Common name: Freddies, Yellowjacket, Bumble bee, the true golden Cichlid

Scientific name: http://s78.photobucket.com/albums/j114/Carg23/parachromis%20friedrichsthalii/Parachromis friedrichsthali

Origin: Central America, some where near southern part of Mexico

Adult Length: Mine spawned at 4-5 inches and made it to 6 when I sold 'em, never seen one above 8 inches.

Minimum Tank Size: 55 gallon, not killer aggressive, but I kept them with Trimacs, Polleni, Festea, they could hold their own as a pair but did not hurt their tank mates, even when they spawned

When they paired off they beat the 3rd wheel freddie like a red headed step child

Sexing: EASY, see photos (and some decent vent pics too), spawning took place on rock cave wall after they dug out the sand

Diet Requirements: Wardley pellets...blood worms and frozen chunks of brine shrimp block were their favorite.

Female-round wide

Male- pointed thin

Awesome Female w/ eggs

Male and Female

 

[[enjoyable_attempt]]

Species: Vieja maculicauda "Blackbelt Cichlid"

Size: Up to 12"

Tank size: One could survive in a 4ft tank, no less then a 75gal. Preferred is 120+ gals.

Diet: Blackbelts are omnivorous, they primarily feed on benthic detritus containing seeds and fruits, along with plant matter in their natural environment. In the aquarium they can be fed a pellets, but supplement it with vegetables (lettuce, spinach, vegetable flake foods). They especially relish snails. Feed them a few times a day, and its always beneficial to add vitamins to their diet.

Sexing: The male is larger, with more intense colors, and with age develop a hump on their forehead. Males have a pointed genital papilla.

Water parameters:
pH 6.5-8 (7.0), 4-15 dH (6), 72-82°F (22-28°C)
Blackbelts are also one of the few cichlids that don't mind salty water. They have been kept in high end brackish for a while by quite a few.

I own this fish myself and they are great. Very pretty and very personable. He eats like crazy and isnt picky at all. An all around great fish to own. Some BB's have a black bar the goes from top of the fish to the bottom, others (like the one in the picture) don't.

Juvie


Adult



[not my pics, I do not own them in any way]

 

[Plec123]

Species: "Aequidens" pulcher
Origin: Venezuale and Island of Trinidad
Common name: Blue acara
Size: 7" (17.8 cm)
Tank size: 36" for a single specimen, 48" for a pair
Diet: Omnivore, though it prefers meaty foods
Sexing: difficult to sex when young, though the male develops a more ornate/elongated dorsal fin and has an orange edge to the dorsal fin.
Water parameters: Preferrably soft, with a temperature of about 78˚ Fahrenheit and a pH of 6.5-7.2.
Temperament: Aggressive towards conspecifics, only mildly aggressive towards most tankmates.

Comments: Different specimens can vary greatly in temperament. Some can be bullies, while others may be very shy. This is a smaller, more peaceful alternative to the green terror, Aequidens rivulatus.
These are sort of "WYSIWYG", and they generally do not change color very much once settled in captivity. They are likely to uproot delicate plants and are best kept with more robust plants. This is considered to be one of the good "beginner" cichlids. It is usually fairly cheap, and juveniles can be purchased for under $10 USD, which is nice considering it is not exactly one of the most common cichlids found in LFS.

The following pictures are of my 2" juvenile blue acara. it looks slightly yellowish in color in some pictures because my aquarium water has a large amount of driftwood tannins in it.

 

[Ampersand]

Species: "Cryptoheros Cutteri"
Origin: Guatemala, Honduras and Belize
Common name: Cutter's cichlid, Blue eyed cichlid, Copper cichlid
Size: between 3-5 inches, generally around the 4 and 5 inch mark.
Tank size: 30 gallons if kept as a solitary pair.
Diet: omnivore
Sexing: Mature males are larger and more brightly coloured, mature females are more drab, have a dark spot on the dorsal fin and during spawning their color goes really dark.
Water parameters: 7.2 - 7.6
Temperament: Aggressive little guys! They do well as a single in a community set up, but if you have a spawning pair you have to have a large tank with robust tankmates. They arnt as bad as convicts, but will kill for their fry!

Comments: These guys are alot of fun, and quite personable fish. They almost look like a convict, but with a much better pattern and color in my opinion. They are great parents and will raise their fry themselves, and protect them aswell. I definitely encourage anyone to go and get a pair and keep them in their own tank to witness the great parenting.

FEMALE

MALE

 

[Snowflake311]

I have posted profiles on another forum. This is a great idea.

* *Keyhole cichlid (Cleithracara maronii ) ***

Origin: South America: Rio Orinoco basin, and rivers of Guyana
Size: 4-5"
ph: 6.8-8.0
temp: 74-83F
tank size- 30Gal or bigger.
Tank setup: sand is best. Like many cichlids they like to dig. They can be shy if they don't have enough cover. Live plants with rocks and wood are good. These guys do great in planted tanks.

Tank mates: peaceful dwarf cichlids like rams. Angles, rainbow cichlids, blue acara, and other peacful/ semi aggressive mid size or smaller fish. Tetras, Cory cats, and plecos are all good tank mates. They do well with other keyholes.

Temperment: fairly peacful. They don't like to fit. are safe with smaller fish. Mine comes right up to the glass to see me. Can get a little aggressive when spawning but not bad. They are smart little fish with lots or personality to make up for lack of color.

Breeding: keep water clean. Make sure to have flat rocks for them to spawn on. If you have a pair they should spawn often for you. Both care for the eggs.

Sexing: Can be tricky males are larger. Will have much longer fins very pointed. The females will be a bit smaller and round. But venting is the only way to tell for sure unless you see them spawn.

Here is my me keyhole.

 

[Snowflake311]

* *Bahia red (Geophagus brasiliensis) aka red pearl eartheater ***

Location: south america, They are found in Well planted Rivers of bahia barzil.
Size: M 11" F 8" these fish have large bodies
tank size: 60+ for one. 100 gal or bigger is best. These are large fish.
Ph: 6-9
temp: 75F - 80F
diet: Anything. They'd are not picky will eat cichlid pellets live food and plant base flakes. In the wild they eat bugs,larva,snails and other stuff they find in the sand.

Colors: The Bahia red has green eyes, red fins with blue specks, the base color is a light pinkish color with shiny blue specks. The nose will be redish or pink. They have a black spot on the side and will some times have a black stripe throw the eye depending on the mood.

Tank set up: well planted with wood and sand. They spawn in the substrate. They are earth eaters so then like to sift in the sand. Will dig under stuff so make sure rocks will not fall over is dug under. Plants must be well rooted or potted. Will not eat leaves just dig them up.

Sex: Very hard to tell when young. But mature males will be larger have bit of a hump on the head.

Temperment: They are tough fish. Some more so then others. Some can be aggressive others submissive. I found mine to do better with semi aggressive fish. I rescued her from a tank of aggressive African cichlids that ripped her fins up and stressed her out. They do well with other south American cichlids.

Tank mates: Severums, oscares, large plecos, Blue acara, Jack Dempsey, larger catfish, or other semi larger American cichlids. WARNING they can be aggressive to their own kind and other GEOs. I read there has been talk of changing the name because they are not like other Geo and don't seem to fit in this group.

Breeding: easy. If you have a pair and you keep them happy they will spawn for you and at a young age they only have to be 2"-3" to spawn. The bigger and older they are the more eggs they will have. They are great parents and souls be given a cave to spawn under.

Illness: they can come down with HITH aka hole in the head. But if you feed good food keep the water clean and have the right tank mates it should not happen. Just know they are prone to it.

Just note that these are cichlids and don't read the books. When some are semi aggressive other could be more aggressive. All and all this is a very hardy and tough fish. That is a beauty when given everything it needs.

This is my rescue Bahia she was in bad shape but is getting better. So the fins are not perfect. The flash also make the eye color yellow but it is green. She is 4.5" here. Still young. I'm not sure if the sex.

Here she is a little stressed becuase of the flash.

 

[FishFreak95]

Ive been seeing a couple things that were wrong, I think this should be updated. Sorry, Nothing to post thats not already posted

 

[Sidrock]

This thread is really useful.

It would be great if the mods (or the posters) can update the broken links to pictures in this thread.

I would recommend uploading the pics to someplace where they won't be deleted. I don't know if uploading to your "Personal Gallery" on MFK is a good solution.

A big thanks to all the posters for this great reference.

Sid

 

[JacobWhitley]

Species- Aequidens rivulatus (Gold Saum, Green Terror)

Family- Cichlidae

Location- South America, Ecuador and Peru

Size- 8 in

Tank Size/Set up- 55G for a single. 75 for a pair but bigger is always better.

Temperamant- Green terror cichlid is a highly aggressive species. It is not considered dangerous to humans, but it can be very violent towards fish.

Sexing- Sexing Green terror cichlids is not difficult at all, since the adult male develops a distinct hump on his forehead. The male is also typically larger than the female.

Diet- The Green terror cichlid can typically be trained onto a wide range of different foods, including flakes and pellets, since it is an omnivore opportunist. Larger specimens will naturally prefer large food particles like big pellets or big live food, rather than tiny pieces of flake food. A varied diet is recommended and live food is always appreciated.

Other Info- Typical to most Cichlids the Green terror is a Hardy and easy to care for fish if their needs are met. They are omnivorous and will accept all types of food and relish anything live. The tank should be large and have plenty of caves and nooks to hide in. driftwood, rockwork and Live plants although helpful may be uprooted. When young they may be kept in cichlid community but as they mature they live up to their name and will terrorize all but the largest fish. It is best to keep them in a species tank. Provide good filtration and do frequent water changes.

that pic is of a silver saum