Synspilum Red Head American Cichlid

[andimav]

Hi guys and gals.
I have seen a pair of these fish and love them, however cant find much about them on the net.

I was wondering what other mates they could have in the tank with them?

I have a tank with convicts in and also a few malawi's could this pair go in with them?

Thanks

 

[ox5477]

I hope that those convicts and malawi's are not in the same tank because if thats the case, then one of those species is gonna be real unhappy. They like very different water conditions and because of this, can not be kept together

 

[ox5477]

This is copied from another post and I think this is alot of good info for the fish your talking about:

Vieja synspilum

Scientific Name: Vieja synspilum

Pronunciation: v--h sn-sp-l

Common Name(s): Fire Head, Quetzal Cichlid

Geo. Origin: South Mexico, Guatemala, Belize

Habitat: Still or Slow-Moving Water with Root Tangles

Diet: Omnivore

Gender Differences: Dimorphic

Breeding: Substrate Spawner

Temperament: Peaceful

Conspecific Temperament: Aggressive

Maximum Size: 17"

Temperature: 76 - 82°F

pH: 6.8 - 7.8

Water Hardness: Neutral

Difficulty: 2



Red-Headed Synspilum
Photo Credit: Otty

Images: Photo 1Photo 2Photo 3Photo 4Photo 5




Comments:
A popular species, the outrageous coloration of this large growing cichlid make it easy to see why this one will remain a favorite amongst fish keepers! Adult females will max out at around a foot in length, while the much heavier, longer males will develop a pronounced so-called, 'nuchal hump' with size and dominance. This omnivorous species will show it's best coloration and appreciate a large variety of high quality, veggie based foods as the foundation of it's diet. Stock as an established, compatible pair, if more than one is to be kept in the aquarium to avoid aggression problems.

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From this post, it sounds like these guys get pretty huge, so convicts would not be the best tank mates, and might wanna consider housing a breeding pair alone as the post suggests. Prob can keep larger species such as oscars and sevrums but wanna avoid anything smaller most likely, and of course, as with all cichlids, the more space, the better, prob atleast 55G to 75G per full grown adult would be optimum.

 

[RadaR]

These guys are cool. Althought they get big (neer heard of a 17" one though, 14" yes) they are relatively peaceful. Convicts im sure would be fine but not a breedinbg pair. Silver Dollars would be fine. Oscars in my opinion would be too boistorus, Severums would be fine. As said before the tank does have to be BIG.

 

[andimav]

Nice one
They are a "proven pair" ( still not exactly sure what that means ) and currently about 8inches, i will be putting them in my tank along with some convicts, a severum and few other cichlids. Convicts are both big and small, breeding and not so. I am trying to cut the number of convicts i have so i can stock the tank up with other "interesting" fish like these red heads.
I was wondering about oscar as realy would like to put 1 in the tank as i think they are nice fish but if you say mayb not to i may have to re-consider. I am hopefully guna put a red devil and another severum in there when convicts are down or even gone all together.

Info a great help, many thanks.

 

[RadaR]

Hey. Just to let you know a proven pair means they have bred before. Oh and I wouldnt choose a Red Devil as they are really aggro, more than the Oscar.