Chiclids co exhisting

[Pleco lover]

Can you keep kribs with rams?

 

[Essjay]

it is not advisable.

Unless a tank has a large footprint, two different species of cichlids would not be able to form their own territories, so fighting over boundary issues could well happen.

Kribs and rams should not be kept together. They originate from different continents and cannot understand each other's signals. Each species will expect the other to understand them and will be stressed by the lack of understanding.

 

[Colin_T]

If the tank is 4 foot long or more then yes you can have a pr of rams and a pr of Kribensis. But if the tank is 3 foot or less, then just keep 1 species.

 

[Jeremy180]

Correct me if I am wrong, but aren't most cichlids less aggressive if kept one to a species? Not saying that it would work, in fact if the tank is under 4 feet long I would advise strongly against it, but I am assuming that if pairs are avoided, it can avoid some, but not all Cichlid aggression problems.
Edit: note that a few cichlids do prefer pairs or harems, but I don't think the ones in question would mind being kept singly.

 

[Byron]

Correct me if I am wrong, but aren't most cichlids less aggressive if kept one to a species? Not saying that it would work, in fact if the tank is under 4 feet long I would advise strongly against it, but I am assuming that if pairs are avoided, it can avoid some, but not all Cichlid aggression problems.
Edit: note that a few cichlids do prefer pairs or harems, but I don't think the ones in question would mind being kept singly.

Generally speaking, with neotropical species (and those non-rift lake African species) you do not want more than one species in any given aquarium. It can sometimes work with larger tanks, but even then it depends somewhat on the individual fish. A male cichlid is territorial, whether females are present or not. This is also why gourami and cichlids should never be combined; gourami males are similarly territorial. It varies depending upon the species, somewhat, but following the expected norm is always better for the fish.

As for maintaining a single specimen, this will not influence the above. And it should also be noted that the territorial aspect is inherent in the species, and carries over to other non-cichlid species. I had a male Bolivian Ram (Mikrogeophagus altispinosus) in a 5-foot 115g tank for almost nine years. There was not the slightest doubt that the entire tank was "his" space. There was never any physical interaction beyond a bit of pushing of the cories during feeding, but it was his space and the upper fish (some 100 or so various characins) knew it.

 

[Cichlid4life]

just don't do it, they are going to show aggressive, but one is more aggressive than the other.

 

[Jeremy180]

Generally speaking, with neotropical species (and those non-rift lake African species) you do not want more than one species in any given aquarium. It can sometimes work with larger tanks, but even then it depends somewhat on the individual fish. A male cichlid is territorial, whether females are present or not. This is also why gourami and cichlids should never be combined; gourami males are similarly territorial. It varies depending upon the species, somewhat, but following the expected norm is always better for the fish.

As for maintaining a single specimen, this will not influence the above. And it should also be noted that the territorial aspect is inherent in the species, and carries over to other non-cichlid species. I had a male Bolivian Ram (Mikrogeophagus altispinosus) in a 5-foot 115g tank for almost nine years. There was not the slightest doubt that the entire tank was "his" space. There was never any physical interaction beyond a bit of pushing of the cories during feeding, but it was his space and the upper fish (some 100 or so various characins) knew it.

My mistake, I was assuming from all the posts I had seen through the internet of a Cichlid pair being OK in their community until they bred that the breeding was related.
Maybe it was actually the pair hitting maturity that caused the mayhem, in which case a single fish would make no difference.

 

[Colin_T]

Territorial issues among cichlids occurs when the fish mature or start breeding, mainly breeding tho. Males and females can become territorial but males are worse than females.

Rams and Kribensis are not especially aggressive for cichlids and if the tank is 4ft or more and has plenty of hiding spaces at each end of the tank, they should be fine.

 

[Cichlid4life]

Territorial issues among cichlids occurs when the fish mature or start breeding, mainly breeding tho. Males and females can become territorial but males are worse than females.

Rams and Kribensis are not especially aggressive for cichlids and if the tank is 4ft or more and has plenty of hiding spaces at each end of the tank, they should be fine.

But then there is the possibility that the tank has a leak, what do you do, you put all of the fish in a bucket or two, and if you only have one bucket, the rams are stuck with the kribs, and trying to stop them will result in a lot of stress.

 

[Byron]

My mistake, I was assuming from all the posts I had seen through the internet of a Cichlid pair being OK in their community until they bred that the breeding was related.
Maybe it was actually the pair hitting maturity that caused the mayhem, in which case a single fish would make no difference.

There are two issues involved.

First, male cichlids are territorial, period. This is programmed into the species DNA. It has nothing to do with females or pairs. How it plays out in an aquarium depends upon the species (some are more territorial than others) and the individual fish. But they are territorial and putting two species together (even if only one fish of each species) in the relatively small confines of an aquarium is risky at best.

Second, ther is the pair/spawning issue which is related but distinct. The aggressiveness of the fish, male and female, generally increases if they spawn. And a normally peaceful pair tolerating other fish can become much more aggressive to other fish if they spawn. So the pairing/spawning brings out the aggressiveness that exists within the individual fish.

 

[Cichlid4life]

There are two issues involved.

First, male cichlids are territorial, period. This is programmed into the species DNA. It has nothing to do with females or pairs. How it plays out in an aquarium depends upon the species (some are more territorial than others) and the individual fish. But they are territorial and putting two species together (even if only one fish of each species) in the relatively small confines of an aquarium is risky at best.

Second, ther is the pair/spawning issue which is related but distinct. The aggressiveness of the fish, male and female, generally increases if they spawn. And a normally peaceful pair tolerating other fish can become much more aggressive to other fish if they spawn. So the pairing/spawning brings out the aggressiveness that exists within the individual fish.

the aggression is so that they can raise the fry in safety, if they don't show aggression, other fish will feast on the fry.

 

[Jeremy180]

Sounds like (to use a loose and imperfect analogy) that different species of the less aggressive cichlid are like cats and dogs.

Many of the social cues of the two species do no match up in the least, and while there are some individuals that can get along, this hardly means that it's a good idea to put a random cat and dog together in a small room and hope for the best.

 

[Cichlid4life]

cats and dogs are very unpredictable, like cichlids, but they may be peaceful, while cichlids will always be aggressive, it only depends on how much of aggression will be used by both cichlids as a solution?

 

[Jeremy180]

I did say it was a loose and imperfect analogy.
For one thing, dogs are social animals that like to be in groups whereas cichlids are almost universally not.

 

[Cichlid4life]

I did say it was a loose and imperfect analogy.
For one thing, dogs are social animals that like to be in groups whereas cichlids are almost universally no

they like social groups of one male and a thousand females in a 1,268,464,957 trillion gallon tank!