75 gallon

[thetim6]

Ok. I'm going to a not so LFS today, it is a ways away. I'm goign to take them a female jack and a male convict, they are not well loved in my tank, and i want to give them a stress free life, if possible. Anyways, this store has a very large selection of fish, and i was thinking of purchasing a fish. i will have these fish in my tank after taking back the previous two

1 green terror
1 red devil
a pair of convicts
1 blue channel cat
1 pleco

I'm thinking about trying my hand at breeding, not including the convicts, they dont take any work. Could i house a pair of red devils or green terrors in the tank with the other fish, and if i were to breed one of the two species which would be better with the listed tank mates. I'm thinking more along the line of the green terrors, they wouldntget quite as big as the red devil when fully grown, i know for sure that my red devil is a male, but not to sure about my green terror, any sexing tips for them?? I'm pretty sure its a male, it displays beautiful color, but havent really ever seen too many good pics of green terrors, or heard of how to sex them. Oh and i am in America, so if you think maybe it is too late for your post to help me because it says it is six or so ( dont know how behind i am timewise) it is only noon here, thanks for any help

 

[semper fi]

a way to sex the fish is by either their finnage. the males will have pointier and longer fins than the females. the most effective way is to vent the fish. cichlidmaster could answer your questions on this fior you as he has done it quite often.

bad news if you are going to breed the red devil you will have to wait for about two years. the devil does not mature until about two years of age. how are you sure that you have a male? males can be sexed by the nuchal hump, but females can grow the nuchal hump in captivity also. the males have a blunter face than the females while the females are pointier. the green terrors also mature about two years of age also. so if you are going to breed these, you have got awhile. you can speed up the maturing, but it is not reccommended. takes away some of the quality of the fish.

 

[thetim6]

ok. i assumed the red devil was a male because of the really pronounced hump that it has, it is not even a year old yet, and my green terror is a year and a half still so i guess i am goign to be waiting a while. i havent ever vented a fish so if anyone could give me some pointers, and how can you keep the fish still to vent it? and is it possible to vent fish before they mature. also, if i can establish what sex my fish are and get one of the opposite sex, would it be better to wait until the fish are mature, or try to pair them off now.

 

[semper fi]

imo it is better to let the fish grow up together. they can get quite aggressive when they are maturing. watch out for the water splashing in the tank!

to vent the fish you have to make sure that your hands are constantly wet so as not to damage the slime coat. net the fish and then turn the fish upside down. they will have two small holes. i have never vented a fish before but have seen cichlidmaster do it once. i may get this backwards, soif i do anyone out there feel free to correct me. the males will have two perfectly round holes and the female will have one round and one slightly oval hole. one being the pooper and the other being the egg chute. if you look under member's pics i have some pics fo my male and female red devils. the nuchal hump usually does not appear until they are ready to mature though and is quite obvious.

 

[thetim6]

wow i just got home from school, and it is already 9 oclock on this forum. my lfs said they would be getting in a shipment of south and central americans on wednesday, but they dont know how big the fish will be. my gt is about 8 inches long, so is it going to be really hard to pair it off ??? as i said im not sure about sex, so i guess ill try and find some more info on venting, wish my camera was working, id post some pics. if it is possible still to pair off a almost full grown fish, is there any pointers?? if it is going to end up in the death of a newly added fish then ill just hold off, or forget about it. i dont want to stress my fish too much when venting them, and im guessing my gt is almost fully grown, red devil surely isnt (only about 6 1/2 inches and young) so is there anything like color variations, or fin structure that would give off sexes? my gt's dorsal goes back with a tip to right about the point where its tail fin ends. but my female convict does the same thing, as well as the male, so i wasnt sure if this was a possible way to sex.

 

[semper fi]

if you look at the lengths of the fins, that can help out some. the males are usually longer flowing than the females. depends on though if they are being nipped or not. will try to get cm in on the venting to help out with questions.

 

[thetim6]

alright, thanks. i replaced the gravel in my tank with sand. it looks great, just put back in the slate rocks and such. it looks really realistic, which was what i was going for. the fish seem to like it, terror and devil going crazy everytime i put a new rock in there, its really cool, they are checking out all the territory. anyway, they arent being nipped, all of my fishes fins are in pretty good shape, they dont seem to nip at aynthing other than the large dorsal fin of my pleco. and if i am able to breed terrors, would i be able to raise the fry in a tank with convict fry?? dont see why there would be a conflict, but just wondering. i am setting up a 29 gallon later today to put my convict babies in and i will keep breeding them so if you know of any problems i would have let me know

 

[cichlidmaster]

Here is a link to a very good article on venting fish. Keep in mind that vents vary from fish to fish as will be described in the article.

I will be happy to try and answer any questions you may have regarding venting after you read the article......

Venting Fish

Be patient as it may take a few minutes to full load.

CM

 

[thetim6]

ok... i think it is going to be hard to tell if i only have one of each species?? so the males is smaller right? do you konw of a site that has pictures of what male and female gt looks like when vented?