16 replies to this topic

[golden_dase]

Anyone have experience with these fish?

What would be ideal tank requirements? Eg: Substrate, decor, compatible fish etc... ?

I will be emptying my 5fter soon... and looking at keeping these fish!!
Was gonna do an african cichlid tank.... but changed my mind coz i've done that already. haha!

[rule_breaker]

i have both in same tank:P
i have lotsa hidey holes now but before i had allmost bare tank with plain gravel ( fine black if you want more detail) run 24-28deg and i have not had any issues regarding compatability but my gt is only just growing his hump now and RT is a baby still so yeah but i think gt way better looking

[*S*T*A*R*S*]

i guess you could try them both together?? might work might not.. im not to sure i haven't kept them enough...

red devils, convicts will breed like rabbits ???

i like the american cichlids (malawi is SOO much better)

Cheers

Arron

[golden_dase]

i like the american cichlids (malawi is SOO much better)

HUH?? You like american cichlids but say Malawi is soo much better?

Thanks for all the advice so far...

BTW, are clown loaches compatible with the Terrors? What about silver dollars?

[*S*T*A*R*S*]

HUH?? You like american cichlids but say Malawi is soo much better?

Thanks for all the advice so far...

BTW, are clown loaches compatible with the Terrors? What about silver dollars?

some people like one and not the other.

i like americans, dont get me wrong they are great fish and i have kept and breed a few

but i prefer malawi... its not a bad thing to prefer one over the other..

for example (and not looking for a debate) i think holdens are better than fords. but like both... but then Lancer would beat them both! hahah lol

anyhow i would like to know how your tank goes and maybe some pics down the track!

Cheers

Arron

[golden_dase]

Yeah... i know what you meant mate! Just stirring ya for fun!

I'll definitely post pics though..

I'm going to transfer my current marine stuff in the 5fter over to my new 3fter first... so at the moment, im just researching species for my soon to be empty 5fter!





BTW, regarding the lancer beating a holden/ford.. are you sure?
The head accountant at the company I work for has a 6ltr 2007 VE SS... and he's just twin-turbo charged it... it does 10s 1/4 mile in street trim...

[golden_dase]

Anyone else with advice on these fish?

[rule_breaker]

Anyone else with advice on these fish?

Just wait till you see how mine behave on saturday.. You will even get to see them mid water change when there is less room.. So far the only fish ive had get bashed is my blue acara and its ever since her male jumped outa the old tank where i used to live that she hasnt fought back is like she doesnt care... Before then she was fine. I havent seen any nice males around to add in

[rule_breaker]

new thought for the day:
some people i notice confuse red terror (Cichlasoma festae) and red devil (Amphilophus labiatus) i have kept both and all i can say is red devil = welll, lotsa swearwords.
its just hard to find tank mates for them as they are so aggressive, i havent seen one living peacfully in a comunity tank unless its 1/3rd of the size of its tank mates. in which case it gets picked on.. so IMO red devil is something to aviod, im yet to see anything negative about red terrors though.

[Mudjimba]

G'day Kevin,

Green Terrors/Red Terrors are truly spectactular fish, but both can be nasty. What is your plan, to get some juvies of one species and grow them up for a pair, or purchase both species as juvies, or go straight in for older fish(young adults) ?


GT's(Gold Saums) are one of my favorite fish and I have had a breeding pair in a 5 foot for some time now, only other occupant is a BN catfish. These fish breed every 6 weeks or so ( you could imagine how many GT fry and juvies I've had(300-500 each spawn). But I find this tank fascinating, the pair used to be a trio, with two females but that got a bit "crowded" and my male wanted to breed with each female in only a couple of weeks. This I found limited the natural parental activity, which is what I wanted to observe. They are a great pair and very little agro occurs(some very minor lip locking indicates to me a spawn will occur in the next 24 hours), meaning no dividers etc has been necessary. They spend alot of time together, and share babysitting duties when fry are present, when one leaves the other instantly takes over...great behaviour.

The GT also is a very personable fish acknowledging me each time I walk in the room. My male is stunning with long bright trailing dorsal and anal fins and the red/orange is so bright on this pair.
So if you are looking to create a wetpet tank I'd highly recommend the GT( Gold Saum).

Now the Red Terror is a different story, I'd need to find out the answers to my above questions before I can reply, as this fish also has a fierce reputation, but can work in many situations.

apologies for the long (hopefully not to boring) reply. I await your response to my questions.

cheers

[Fox]

Hey Kevin,

Come and see me about some U.S cichlids, We have a few in-store: GT's, RD's, RT's, Chocolates, Firemouth's, Convict's oh and another one...................................................WOLF CICHLID......... We only have about 8 left @ 7-8cm.

[golden_dase]

Mudjimba! you are a legend! that was the info I was chasing!
I'll be purchasing a few juvies and see how they get along... i'm thinking of adding clown loaches too coz they can grow to 30cm... and might be able to be kept with the GTs or RTs.... any advice on that?

What sort of substrate will be suitable? fine sand or natural river gravel? and colour of substrate?

My filters will be more than efficient.. eheim classic 2217 and a 5ft top-mount filter.


and Aaron... definitely gonna go see you soon! i need supplies etc..


Thanks again guys!
Kevin.

[Mudjimba]

G'day Kevin,

good choice in getting the juvies and watching them grow. In the breeding tank I have the larger size CFM sand and this works a treat, they sift through it, keeping it clean although it can get spread over the breeding rock. I also have a large female in a six foot and juvies in a separate tank both with that brown gravel mixed with a small quantity of smooth black gravel ( I like the look of this). I've found the juvies colour up sooner with this darker substrate and the large female has exceptional colour over this also, although she did spend summer in my pond after removing her from the pair(trio). Her colour and health was amazing coming out of the pond.
I set up some rockwork and placed fake plants ( they even fight with these), and this seems to give ample chillout space when she needs time away.

Cannot help with clown loaches, they've always scared me But as you say they grow large and should give an intersting contrast to GT/RT.
Sailfins Gibbiceps are a great fish that suit the American setup your thinking of.
If your planning both GT and RT, you'll obviously have to limit/lessen your numbers as they grow, but I'm sure your on top of that. Maybe just ending with a couple of fish, no pairs, and a couple of cats.

Filtration sounds perfect, I am an Eheim fan myself, never had a problem( except one Jager heater but thats another story)

Just to throw a spanner in the works have you thought of an Eartheater tank.......

cheers

[golden_dase]

I'm thinking of buying 4 GT juvies and as soon as theres a pair, i'll remove the other 2 and "sell to good home" etc...
Regarding the clowns, i have always liked them and based on other info from the web, they'll be compatible with the GTs if introduced together at an early age! so i'll have about 4 clown loaches in the tank as well!

my decor will be "natural looking" with preferbly a dark substrate, some plastic "silk" plants, some rocks, some driftwood etc...

Thanks for the helpful advice matey!

I'll post pics when i've started to build the 5fter setup!

Cheers!
Kevin.

BTW, whats eartheater? catfish? LOL!.. sorry, im not good with "terminology"!

[Mudjimba]

Sounds great, look forward to seeing the pics.

Eartheaters= Geophagus(Geos), etc. Check for Dens thread in the pics forum.....stunning.

good luck

cheers

[golden_dase]

Ah.. ok!

But i've settled for GT or RT though...

On this forum, im known for changing my mind regarding tank setups etc..... dont make it worst!!!! LOL!

Cheers!
Kevin.

[Tha_Muffin_Man]

I had a 4 x 18 x 12 I was given and I took my Terrors out of their home, and moved them in to an experiment tank. I always wondered if a darker planted tank would be better for fish and I can say it was a screaming success.
They were kept in a slightly salted tank that was brown to look at. It was full of wood and a grass that was almost moss like (it is too long ago for me to remember the name). Kept at a constant 27 the tank was never very clean. I tried but the wood took up a lot of room so the subtrate was never perfect. Weekly water changes for a while then fortnightly. Two cheap internal filters and this tank was awesome to see, when you looked close.
I did not have a lot of money back then the setup and tank was not ideal... But still something fun that I could afford.
Four went in, all around 5 cm. Two dead and I had a breeding pair left. They had hundreds of fry, only two lived in to adulthood of around 3.5 (around 15 made it to about 1.5 cm's). You guessed it two died (back to two) and this cycle went on for about six generations before I lost my tanks . I sometimes had to feed the fry to help them along; weather this helped or not I am not sure...
Awesome and very pretty fish, very hardy and easy to breed in these conditions. I loved them and miss them. I cannot find my photos I am sorry. I can remember more detail (like pH kH temp, lighting and so on) if you like...