New to Central & South American Cichlids
- Thread starter sbloxy123
- Start date
I think this is what made me jump ship![/QUOTE]
Hello,
No problem, happy to help. I think you will find that two is not a great number for the sajica. if they pair up and begin to breed, the other inhabitants will likely be beaten. If they don't form a pair, then whichever is subdominant will be bullied by the dominant one.
I would advise if you want to try this, get a female jack Dempsey. They stay a bit smaller and not as aggressive usually as the males, and JD are easy to sex. I could see a female JD, blood parrot, and lone sajica, potentially working fine in this tank size.
Hello,
No problem, happy to help. I think you will find that two is not a great number for the sajica. if they pair up and begin to breed, the other inhabitants will likely be beaten. If they don't form a pair, then whichever is subdominant will be bullied by the dominant one.
I would advise if you want to try this, get a female jack Dempsey. They stay a bit smaller and not as aggressive usually as the males, and JD are easy to sex. I could see a female JD, blood parrot, and lone sajica, potentially working fine in this tank size.[/QUOTE]
Noted, thanks.
I may go for that then.. only thing is females wont be as vibrant in colour will they..?
how should i go about getting the right sexes in my tank? should i buy a few of each then sell the ones i don't want once they can be sexed?
thanks
Noted, thanks.
I may go for that then.. only thing is females wont be as vibrant in colour will they..?
how should i go about getting the right sexes in my tank? should i buy a few of each then sell the ones i don't want once they can be sexed?
thanks[/QUOTE]
Buy a group of no less than 4 and they eventually will pair off if the condition's are right.
Personally I would go for a male Salvini. Won't be able to keep any other cichlids with him but will look good and have the personality you are looking for.
Yup that's a good way, buy three of four young juveniles, once you can sex them keep what you want and get some store credit for the rest.
Cichlids from west of the Andes can handle hard water,
the riverine waters there are highly alkaline, so a green terror, (genus Andinoacara) would work in your water (although a 63 gal is quite tiny for a cichlid that gets large as an adult). Species from the Amazon region however probably wouldn't do well long term in your water, especially in such a small tank. You'd need to be doing almost some type of daily water changes to maintain the kind of water (no matter what filtration type, and how much) to keep them from getting hole in the head disease as they age.
Blood parrots are man made mutants, so I don't consider them to be from anywhere.
Below a video of how Jack Demspeys live in nature, taken in a Cenote in Mexico, water there is hard, pH can be above 8, about 75-78'F, and a pair usually defends an area of about 250 gallons from any other cichlid.
.
Eden2
the riverine waters there are highly alkaline, so a green terror, (genus Andinoacara) would work in your water (although a 63 gal is quite tiny for a cichlid that gets large as an adult). Species from the Amazon region however probably wouldn't do well long term in your water, especially in such a small tank. You'd need to be doing almost some type of daily water changes to maintain the kind of water (no matter what filtration type, and how much) to keep them from getting hole in the head disease as they age.
Blood parrots are man made mutants, so I don't consider them to be from anywhere.
Below a video of how Jack Demspeys live in nature, taken in a Cenote in Mexico, water there is hard, pH can be above 8, about 75-78'F, and a pair usually defends an area of about 250 gallons from any other cichlid.
.
Eden2
I agree with most of what Gourami said, your tank is to small for large cichlids, especially a community.
Green terrors although South American are not typical amazonian fish. They are found in Ecuador, North of the Andeas.
They can be found in harder water and except a very wide range of water parameters, especially the captive bred ones.
Your hard water would be of no concern to me where green terrors are concerned.
Tank size would be.
A male gt can reach 12inches,thats far to big for your tank. You could keep a female gt with a few robust tetras.
I do agree with Gourami about the small c/a cichlids, they fit your tank and would provide a much better display than a large cichlid trapped in a tiny tank.
Green terrors although South American are not typical amazonian fish. They are found in Ecuador, North of the Andeas.
They can be found in harder water and except a very wide range of water parameters, especially the captive bred ones.
Your hard water would be of no concern to me where green terrors are concerned.
Tank size would be.
A male gt can reach 12inches,thats far to big for your tank. You could keep a female gt with a few robust tetras.
I do agree with Gourami about the small c/a cichlids, they fit your tank and would provide a much better display than a large cichlid trapped in a tiny tank.
OK, thanks... there is some hope that i can get a Green Terror!! - (if i had a larger tanks!)
How long could i keep them till i had to upgrade to a bigger tank? i was hoping to upgrade to a 100+ gal tank in a few years when we move to a bigger house.
I'm considering Elecric Blue JD's.... but read that they can have short lived lives?
going to 2 fish stores out of my area today (just to see what selection they have for future)
If you decide on sajica, as a pair, they may be able to live a long time in a 63, although they will not tolerate other cichlids (as a pair)
I find as a pair the females are more intense in color, especially when spawning.
female
male
for tank mates a shoal of geographically correct live bearers such as mollies or swordtails would work well, and not be challenging territorially, as the presence of any cichlid would.
I find as a pair the females are more intense in color, especially when spawning.
female
male
for tank mates a shoal of geographically correct live bearers such as mollies or swordtails would work well, and not be challenging territorially, as the presence of any cichlid would.
