Amphilophus labiatumWater Conditions
PH 5.5-8
Temp: 75-81F
The Red Devil is an aggressive fish. They have been known to bite requiring stitches by owners. I have read of Red Devils who have to be restrained during water changes to prevent injury, not to the fish, but to the owner.
The Maximum normal length of red devils in aquariums is 12 inches and they have a life span of 12-18 years. Devils are seen in various color ranges from orange to red or pink, with or without white patches. In the wild they can also be found in gray to black pigments.
Adult males can be distinguished by the pronounced hump on the head directly vertical above the eye. The males are also larger than the females with rearward tapered dorsal and anal fins and a rounded caudal fin.
Red Devils have teeth with a dark tip and are recessed into the jaw line. The jaws will dislocate forward to provide a wider bite at which time the teeth may be seen. Devils use a bony jaw to grind food such as snails.
Breeding of red devils is difficult due to aggression towards others, even of their own species, but is achieved in much the same way as other cichlids. They will clean a spawning site and lay their eggs. The eggs should hatch within a few days. For the first few days they will live off of their yolk sack, after this they can be fed with baby brine shrimp. Devil fry are large and should be able to take flakes almost immediately. Red Devils are dedicated parents, and once they have successfully raised one batch, you will often have batches of up to 1,000 fry every month. Red Devils once mated, are mated for life, and it is not recommended to introduce another mate.
Now to what personal information I can provide.
I purchased my red devil at my husbands prompting, and with much hesitation (by the way, he says it is HIS not mine.) After much reading on the net, and many others comments, I was fearful that I would end up with a horribly aggressive "killing machine".
After finding one site on the net with comments from owners of Red Devils, I decided to try it. My devil 5" is housed with a 7" tiger Oscar, in a 65 gallon tank. After reading comments from other owners, I decided to try adding them both in and letting them "grow up" together, as this had been the most successful way to have other inhabitants in the tank. Along with the Devil and the Oscar are 2 small ID sharks, and a common Pleco. The only aggression I have seen in the tank in the 5 months that it has been up has been by both the Oscar and the Devil towards the Pleco, who is able to hide from them in his cave. On occasion, they ID sharks will irritate both the Oscar and Devil, and will get chased away, but that seems to be the extent of their aggression.
My Red Devil seems to be the exception to the rule at this time, as it is not very aggressive. I am in NO way advocating putting Devils in tanks with other fish, unless you have an Extra large tank, and are prepared for the fact that losses may and often do occur. Eventually, my Oscar and Red Devil will both have to be moved to separate larger tanks, or one larger tank, due to their size. I am prepared for them to be separated at any time, as I have another tank that one can be moved to. Unless you are prepared for a fish that can be highly aggressive and can grow to 12 inches, I do not recommend this fish. For those of you who are, they have great personalities, very expressive faces and are quite intelligent fish. I would not get rid of "Digger Dan" for any reason, and hope to have a long enjoyable life with him/her (I am not sure of the sex at this time, but think it may be a male, due to the fins, there is no hump on the head though at this time.)
Much of my information was obtained from an excellent red devil site which is located at:
http://www.reddevilfish.co.uk/index.htm
Michelle Renfro
