Unexpected Cupid behavior… well duh, that's because they are not Cupids

I finally got my Cupids… I had trouble getting some, and they are one of the last fish added to the tank… I planned originally to get 5, but ended up with 4, thought they were kind of a shoaling fish, and the 1st day they did hang together…. These are pretty young, where they are wearing stripes, and not developed the target, and started coloring up… after a day, they have tried to move as far apart as the tank allows, almost always, about a foot apart from each other… a little picking, and chasing if someone gets to close, but no huge squabbles, obviously can’t sex them yet, but no obvious coupling… they seem to have the same type of arrangement with the 3 similar sized electric blue acaras… I was expecting these to group together, probably in the middle of the open sandy area… so their behavior doesn’t seem to match what I’ve read…
Picture from day one… ( behavior as expected ) now, they are all separate

Hello Magnum. Are these a cichlid? Pretty aggressive aren't they?

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they are a Cichlid... listed as peaceful ( but they are a Cichlid ) & supposed to shoal, pretty much only splitting up when coupling...

I just reread Seriously Fish's listing on them...

Hello again. What else do you have in this tank?

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Are they Julidochromis marlieri ? Just to make sure...

They are monogamous fish, and they form pairs that stay together for life.

I'm not sure if a pair will tolerate another one in the same tank.

@10 Tanks ... 1 angel fish, 2 ( probably male ) Bolivian Rams ( suspected males, as they are on opposite sides of the tank ) 3 electric Blue Acaras, the 2 Giant Oto's, & now 2 little Super Red Plecos, & 1 Mystery Snail... are the current tank mates, this is a 45 gallon tall tank...

@MaloK ... they are supposed to be the fish I listed the Seriously Fish listing... I suppose they could be something else, but exhibited expected behavior when introduced...

Strange because I would not expect pair bonding fishes shoaling at all.

I kept both wavrini and cupido for a long time, though I could never coax them into breeding. They will group in large tanks with large numbers, ideally of no other Cichlids. With four, I'd expect them to spread out and mind their own business. They'll swim together sometimes, but they acted like all other Geophagines here - social but not tight.

How pretty they turn out will depend on their origin - they are very variable across their ranges. Some can be stunning - others just interesting.

They act very much like angels. This isn't in terms of swimming, hovering etc, but in terms of social behaviour. If the group is too small, a pair formed will eliminate competition, but in a larger group, they claim turf and that's respected. They are easily pushed around by other regional Cichlids, and I would never keep them with Cichlids from other regions. They are on the low end of the territoriality spectrum.

They never bothered tankmates here, including much smaller tetras.

Almost all Cichlids shoal before maturity hits. I find juvenile of sub adult eartheating Cichlids, like SA Geophagines or African Chromidotilapines are very social, when young. But once they cease to be juveniles, the shoal is done forever.

I have 8 and they hang out together most of the time; i think a pair has quasi form as frequently two (one large one small) will go off on their own but they mostly hang out together; there were (and are) very shy. When i added 7 m .egregius that reduce some of their shyness. The m. egregius (also wild caught) bred about 6 weeks after i added them even though they are quite small. I've not seen the cupido breed yet.

(the aquarium floor space is 4ft x 4 ft).

Well, things have settled in better in this tank, as far as the Cupids go… I don’t know if I’d call them a shoaling fish in my tank, they are all more independent, and freely swimming over the whole tank… right now, no one is holding a territory… they are Cichlids and do chase around a bit, but are now just as likely to be 4 inches apart, as in opposite corners of the tank.. surprisingly the Bolivian Rams are pretty tolerant of them, and adding more Cichlid numbers to the tank has the Rams less territorial between each other as well… overall I’m pretty happy with the tank dynamics right now…

Back full circle… looking good

There's one problem - those are not B. cupido. It's a Geophagus sp.

GaryE said:

There's one problem - those are not B. cupido. It's a Geophagus sp.

Click to expand...

Yea but why spoil it for him.
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btw this is a picture of my b. cupido for comparison; note the lines on the face and lack of orange as well as a different body shape:

Well they were listed as Cupids… I just assumed they were juvenile

I thought Geophagus, was the “group” not the specific species… so any idea what these really are???