remembering again, why I gave up ( for the most part ) on South American cichlids...

[Magnum Man]

I have been this route, when I had fish before...
back story...
I still had a yellow acara, from a failed mixed cichlid tank, from a couple years ago... it was a survivor, as it had to get separated to begin with, as it terrorized everyone, even as a Juvenal fish... eventually, after it's stint in a temporary 10 gallon, it got a 30 gallon tank, it shared with a silver dollar, which it treated like a dither fish... then one day it laid a big clutch of eggs, so in my mind ( I was weak ) and thought I should get her a male... it took a while, before I was able to find them again...

I bought 2, in hopes of getting a male, but they came in at half the females size, and aren't sexable yet... well she kept the 2 new fish, hiding behind the filter... so, out came the tank divider...

now those 2 smaller fish chase around all the time, and the dominant one keeps the other hiding behind the filter... if I'm going to keep them, looks like I'll need to remove all the hard scape, and add another tank divider... I had to do this with several fish in my previous keeping of fish and eventually I ended up with like 20, 10 gallon aquariums... I swore back then, I wouldn't go through that again... I think I'm swearing off cichlids again...

 

[GaryE]

Cichlids take space. We over generalize from East African/Lake Malawi fish with their crowds, and if people don't do research, they get into trouble with more complex African and South American species. I will never again keep any acara, or any mid sized SA cichlids. I might get into dwarfs again, but my interest in West African fish says probably not.

 

[Magnum Man]

fish don't seem to change "their spots" I had cichlids, that would terrorize everyone in their tank, so I moved them into a more aggressive tank, and they proceeded to get beaten, to the point they had to be removed, if I put them back their previous tank, and even while tattered and beaten, they proceeded to terrorize everyone again ( this was 30 years ago ), and this is how I ended up with 20 small tanks...
when I got back into fish again 3-4 years ago, I wanted to set up community tanks, not cage fighting tanks...

 

[Back in the fold]

I dearly love Convict cichlids but so far I’m resisting the urge to get a pair . Yes , I know , they’re Central American but close enough . Never really had African cichlids grab me in a big way . I had Kribensis , Neolamprologus brichardi and some shell dweller I can’t remember the name of and I liked them but I feel no burning urge to get them again . South American cichlids grab me though . I love their attitude and their habits . Would love to get a pair of Ports .

 

[Magnum Man]

the convicts I had 30 years ago, bred so frequently, that the closest 6-8 fish stores around back then, were selling my offspring, and that got so bad, I ended up having to segregate...

 

[jaylach]

Mayhaps I was just lucky but in the 1980s I had a 30 gallon tank with different SA cichlids including blue and yellow acara, convicts, Jack Dempsey and green terrors with never an issue. A big factor was probably that they all went in the tank at the same time and were all very young juveniles. The probably set their territories when small and just stuck with it.

I also had hardscape specif for each species. For instance there were several caves attached to the back glass with suction cups back when they still actually worked. The convicts, often VERY aggressive, spent most of their time other than feeding around these caves so that was their territory and the other species were not interested.

The largest were the blue and yellow acara but there was only one of each so I guess that the 'breeding ground' territorial aggression was cut down.

I also often fed live food such as crickets and feeder guppies/golds so that may have buffered some of the natural aggression. Actually I think the live food MAY have been the biggest factor as they used a lot of aggression hunting. LOL! My kid's friends would hunt crickets in the summer as long as they got to watch my fish destroy them. Kids are cruel beasts. Also, the blue and yellow acara were larger and had much more interest in the feeder golds while the others, being smaller, were more interested in the feeder guppies. This possibly cut down feeding aggression as the different fish had different food interests.

Had the same setup in a 55 gallon when I moved to Ft. Worth Texas in 1987 and had the same results.

In both cases there were also corys, a rope fish and a pleco. None of these were ever bothered. Again, especially with the rope, there was hardscape specific for the critters. With the rope it was a cave made from broken up slate. The rope could easily fit but the others could not so the rope was ignored as it was no territory threat. Sigh, biggest mistake I ever made with a rope was getting one to eat out of my hand. Once hand trained it would not eat on it's own.

Bottom line is I did this kind of mix of species twice with no issue. I can't say for fact what was the biggest factor in this but it just worked. Likely it was a combination of all of it but I THINK the two biggest factors was all going in the tanks very young and the live food as in crickets and feeder guppies/golds.

 

[Back in the fold]

That’s awesome Jay ! Sounds an awful lot like setups I’ve seen and feeding crickets just had to relieve some of their natural cantankerousness . I fed grasshoppers after I pulled off the jumping legs and earthworms . Lots of earthworms .

 

[Magnum Man]

well, I'm making a modification to one of my built in tanks, so that I can add, dividers, and then maintain this tank with multiple baffles... since the 2 new fish, seemed to get along, when they were running from big momma, but then started fighting, as soon as they were separated... one seems to want to hang right at the baffle, and the other gets chased behind the hob filter...

maybe the picture that @Innesfan posted of eggs laid on one side of the baffle, and fertilized through the divider, from the male on the other side, might not be as unusual as one might think...

sorry, was thinking that picture was in this thread ... I looked for a few minutes, again, and didn't find it... maybe @Innesfan, will post that picture again???

 

[Magnum Man]

my paneling here is tongue and groove, so I removed the screws from 2 of the boards, and replaced those with swag hooks, with the hook part fixed to the screw part, so they can be removed, by hand, and those boards can be slid down for feeding those sections, and other maintenance...I figured nets or other tools, can be hung on the hooks... trim pieces need to go back on...

this picture from the other side ( both long sides are open for viewing ), and it shows one of my dividers, I still need to remove the hard scape l, and add a 2nd divider...

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I have been very limited the cichlids I have kept is has been only 4 species. Since my water is basically soft and neutral pH, I have only kept one African, Pseudocrenilabrus nicholsi from the Democratic Republic of Congo. These spawned for me and I have been told that they are, inch for inch, some of the nastiest cichlids out there. I was gifted a pair so I could observe mouth brooding.

Rarely seen in the hobby, P. nicholsi is a stunning but pugnacious little fish that is nevertheless well worth seeking out. Some males develop long extensions to the ventral fins.

https://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/pseudocrenilabrus-nicholsi/

All the rest have been SA fish: Symphysodon aequifasciatus (Discus which gave me eggs but no fry), Pterophyllum scalare (double dark black) which spawned successfully and Pterophyllum Altum (wild and TR). Had I had more time and room, I would have done a tank of wild red shoulder angels.

Aside from the above fish, I am pretty ignorant re cichlid species. I was happy with the few that I did keep. I no longer have any cidhlids.

 

[Magnum Man]

with much difficulty I found @Innesfan 's picture, but I think his commentary was worth as much as the picture...

maybe they don't have to get along. to reproduce???
now just need to wait and see if one of the new fish ends up being a male

 

[Magnum Man]

this is one of the pictures of big momma, with a clutch of unfertilized eggs

 

[GaryE]

I had successful South American Cichlid communities until breeding started. Lone Cichlids are often okay, although what's missing in a lot of these crowded set ups is the longevity they'd have in better conditions.

Cichlids helped pay the bills here back in the day. I've bred dozens of species. I used sell articles on them, and that was how I financed a few things. The SA Cichlids I preferred were Apistogramma and the broader Geophagus group.

East Africans were easy - too easy to be fun. @TwoTankAmin 's Pseudocrenilabris nicholsi were one of my first central African species, and they were beautiful fish. Mine weren't crazy aggressive, but not easy to breed either. They took some time.

Now, all I keep are 3 Central African Parananochromis species - ornatus, gabonicus and brevirotris, some juvenile West African Anomalochromis thomasi and juvenile Chromidotilapia kingsleyae. I hope to add some Pelviachromis with my next few trips, to Africa, but also to Europe where hobbyists might sell me some.

 

[Back in the fold]

@Magnum Man I love that picture of Big Momma guarding her eggs . I love that cichlid look that just dares you to get close . Stick your hand in there and find out what I mean . She will give you a good nip .

 

[TwoTankAmin]

This is what my DD Black angels did to me.

And then they hatched because i pulled the leaf and eggs so they would not be eaten.

And then 2 weeks later they did it again. That was when I knew angels were not the fish I wanted to spawn.