What Is He?

[thelastbetta]

Got this big boy for $1.99 at my LPS. It didn't say on the tank and the lady helping me had no idea what he was. I wouldn't have got him but the lady said they were going to flush him if he wasn't sold soon because he was taking up too much room in the tank.

Anyway he's big.. orange.. I think he may be a Cichlid of some sort but I'm not too sure.

Also something I'm worried about is that he's constantly hiding in one corner of the tank. I've not seen him move from it thus far.

 

[helterskelter]

Oh.... it's a cichlid

and it looks like a red devil.....
You may guess from the name it's not a very socerial fish.
Also a shop should never kill a fish for no reason. that realy annoy's me when they do that just to make space..

google images

 

[efish]

id say a midas cichlid or a red devil too.

i dont think they would really flush him, they probably just said it so you would buy him

 

[helterskelter]

To many shop will though, if a fiah is taking a whole tank for one fish when they could have 100 neon's selling daily then they have the reason...

However i do work for a shop and know that were ok, anythng to bad live's in the sumps with anything that will tollerate each other!!

But if the line worked, then that saves the shop the problem now.
They are loverly fish in theor own right i quilt like then, bit they rearly do need to be with large hardy fish if your gonny try to keep them with anything.

 

[thelastbetta]

Are they considered a shy fish? Whenever I come into the room he'll swim into the corner and stay there. He wont move from the corner and just peers out. I know he's come out because when I got home from work there were four dead rosy reds dead in the tank.

 

[vancouver]

They are an extremely aggressive cichlid.. you'll need a very large tank to keep it long term.. what size tank do you have and what other fish do you have?

It's probably just shy because it is new to the tank.

 

[thelastbetta]

He's in a 90 gallon alone..

 

[-*-MicHAeL-*-]

I would say red devil but im not 100% sure as it maybe a midas. A 90 gallon tank is definetly fine.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

btw, if those rosy-reds were in the 90g as feeder fish, then you should know that they really aren't necessary. that fish doesn't need to eat other, smaller fishies--plus the use of store-bought feeder fish is a fantastic way to introduce disease and parasites into your tank. there's a pretty comprehensive overview of the pro's and con's of feeder fish posted at the top of the Oddballs forum.

try feeding large cichlid pellets; Hikari makes some good stuff. also, if you have trouble getting him to eat while you're standing there, try feeding him some frozen bloodworms (or even live earthworms). most fish go crazy for those.