Rare South American cichlids

FriedFlowerHornFillet

Piranha
MFK Member
Aug 26, 2014
868
313
77
Toledo Ohio
I can't find Zonatus anywhere near me. That one's rare to me I've only seen them on MFK. I'm a huge fan of all the vieja's but that one has the most blue I think. Probably a bad call temperament wise though. Any fish you add will probably be a gamble they might find a way to slip into your tanks hierarchy -they might not. Chaos will probably ensue initially regardless of the outcome. You have a big tank in my opinion- but medium sized fish have different opinions on what's "big" to them. When their real estate shrinks aggression might grow
 

dogofwar

Potamotrygon
MFK Member
Jan 3, 2006
5,097
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Maryland
www.capitalcichlids.org
If someone - anyone - bred zonatum in your area, you would say that our area is over-run with zonatum.

This is the irony of "rare" cichlids, especially substrate spawners: a single spawn can make them over-abundant... and the people looking for "rare" cichlids will no longer find them interesting... so they disappear from the hobby (except for the fishrooms / basements of a few die-hards).

Matt

I can't find Zonatus anywhere near me. That one's rare to me I've only seen them on MFK. I'm a huge fan of all the vieja's but that one has the most blue I think. Probably a bad call temperament wise though. Any fish you add will probably be a gamble they might find a way to slip into your tanks hierarchy -they might not. Chaos will probably ensue initially regardless of the outcome. You have a big tank in my opinion- but medium sized fish have different opinions on what's "big" to them. When their real estate shrinks aggression might grow
 
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dogofwar

Potamotrygon
MFK Member
Jan 3, 2006
5,097
988
174
50
Maryland
www.capitalcichlids.org
If someone - anyone - bred zonatum in your area, you would say that our area is over-run with zonatum.

This is the irony of "rare" cichlids, especially substrate spawners: a single spawn can make them over-abundant... and the people looking for "rare" cichlids will no longer find them interesting... so they disappear from the hobby (except for the fishrooms / basements of a few die-hards).

Matt

I can't find Zonatus anywhere near me. That one's rare to me I've only seen them on MFK. I'm a huge fan of all the vieja's but that one has the most blue I think. Probably a bad call temperament wise though. Any fish you add will probably be a gamble they might find a way to slip into your tanks hierarchy -they might not. Chaos will probably ensue initially regardless of the outcome. You have a big tank in my opinion- but medium sized fish have different opinions on what's "big" to them. When their real estate shrinks aggression might grow
 

FriedFlowerHornFillet

Piranha
MFK Member
Aug 26, 2014
868
313
77
Toledo Ohio
Rare to me? Was that lost on you? We've had other strains of Vieja come through Toledo we certainly weren't overrun by syns or black belts lol. Fish do have large spawns it's true but larger fish are a bit harder for the amateur hobbyist to spawn in the midwest
 

duanes

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Jun 7, 2007
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Isla Taboga Panama via Milwaukee
We had zonatus in my area back in the early 90s, I had spawning pair, and I saturated the LFSs with them myself. I was lucky to get $0.35 each in fish food in trade at LFSs, and after a while they wouldn't take them at all. At our local club auctions a bag of 10 would fetch only $1
I had some in almost every tank, but because they are so aggressive, could only put juvies with other fish. One of the most beautiful fish I kept, but could shred a dovii.
 
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