New Blue Acara And Fire Mouth

[joshjames]

i am now a proud owner of one of each of these fish shop owner tried to sex the fire mouth we are pretty sure its a female due to the not so red throat under area. also i understand the females are less aggressive which will hopefully work in my favour.
now the new stock has offically started. going to move my tetras to another tank later on to stop them being eaten so hopefully all goes well, they are just settling in now

 

[Markoi]

actually most people will say that females are less agressive then males but mine is an exception. My female has literally taken over the tank. She chases the convict like mad and nips the blue acara from time to time. She even goes after the tiger barbs. Anyway im just saying doont underestimate a fish's aggresion level. Just watch out if any nipping or chasing occurs. Grats on your new fish and good luck in the long run.

 

[kaivalagi]

Congrats, who is the boss of the 2 so far?

Not sure how big the FM was when you got it but the colouration may not help to determine sex, it could be an oppressed male for example. longer trailing fins is a better bet to identify a male, but if they are young is may still be impossible.

So are both your cichlids expected to be female? I ask because when I got my cichlids over time (1xfm,1xconvict,1xport acara,1xgeo redhead) I got all males (and they stayed male) so no nasty hybrid offspring will come of the mix...I've seen quite a few hybrids talked about, it happens more than you'd think. e.g. texas/parrot, convict/firemouth etc

Cheers

 

[Glenbo1981]

Yeh Convict and Firemouth will happen, but you wont see the others crossing.

I'm not a fan of mixing Centrals with South Americans personally, everytime i have doen it, it has never worked out, the behavior is just to different...much like mixing Africans with New Worlds, although CA and SA are more closer related, it still seems to screw up over time.

Of course popel do it for 6 months and say...its fine!... its when you have adult fish that are tryign to establish territory when you get the problem.

Souths are far more tolerant of each other than Centrals, plus Souths like to pair off from groups, wheras most centrals will breed with anything, includign other species.

Central American Cichlids will not breed with South Americans, and if they do, the eggs will not fertilise, alot of people have a misconception on this as they seem to think Blood Parrots are Central/South cross, but if you look deeper, its pretty well known they are 100% central american crosses (Midas x Red Head x Midas x Red Head)

Souths will not cross outside of there genus, meaning yes a Blue Acara MAY cross with a Green Terror, or yes a Heros Efaciatus MAY cross with a Heros Severus, but it is still alot more effort than it would be for say a Midas to Cross with a Red Devil or a Convict to cross with a Honduran Red Point.....plus you wouldnt get a Severum x Green Terror because they are of different genus, however Centrals are not bothered about that and you can get some crazy crosses!

So to narrow it down... a Blue Acara no matter what the sex will not successfully breed with a Firemouth, and its unlikely they will even try as BA's need to be paired and bonded, whereas a Firemouth is Promiscuous.

And future issues is 2 x 8" fish that are arguing over the same territory in different ways, causing communication errors...which can result in unhealthy fish or deaths depending on the species.

 

[kaivalagi]

Yeh Convict and Firemouth will happen, but you wont see the others crossing.

I'm not a fan of mixing Centrals with South Americans personally, everytime i have doen it, it has never worked out, the behavior is just to different...much like mixing Africans with New Worlds, although CA and SA are more closer related, it still seems to screw up over time.

Of course popel do it for 6 months and say...its fine!... its when you have adult fish that are tryign to establish territory when you get the problem.

Souths are far more tolerant of each other than Centrals, plus Souths like to pair off from groups, wheras most centrals will breed with anything, includign other species.

Central American Cichlids will not breed with South Americans, and if they do, the eggs will not fertilise, alot of people have a misconception on this as they seem to think Blood Parrots are Central/South cross, but if you look deeper, its pretty well known they are 100% central american crosses (Midas x Red Head x Midas x Red Head)

Souths will not cross outside of there genus, meaning yes a Blue Acara MAY cross with a Green Terror, or yes a Heros Efaciatus MAY cross with a Heros Severus, but it is still alot more effort than it would be for say a Midas to Cross with a Red Devil or a Convict to cross with a Honduran Red Point.....plus you wouldnt get a Severum x Green Terror because they are of different genus, however Centrals are not bothered about that and you can get some crazy crosses!

So to narrow it down... a Blue Acara no matter what the sex will not successfully breed with a Firemouth, and its unlikely they will even try as BA's need to be paired and bonded, whereas a Firemouth is Promiscuous.

And future issues is 2 x 8" fish that are arguing over the same territory in different ways, causing communication errors...which can result in unhealthy fish or deaths depending on the species.

Thanks for the detailed response, very useful!