T-Bar/sajica Cichlids

[Louiseness]

Hi all,

I'm currently in the process of moving house, and am planning on getting a new tank when we get to the new place. I'm currently running a 100L community (3ft x 1ft x 1ft) so I'd like to go a bit bigger (depending on what bargains I find on Ebay!). House is a small terrace so probably something like 4ft long is the best I can do.

As much as I'd love a flowerhorn or something gigantic and mean, I don't have the room! So I was wondering about t-bars/sajicas? All I know is they're similar to convicts but less aggressive, and prettier imo.

So what else can you tell me?

I've only ever seen them in Wharf in Nottingham, where they're about 2 inches long and presumably unsexable. Presumably they're going to want to breed/fight (although I've never had anything but cherry shrimps breed in my own tanks) Do I buy a few then wait for them to pair off like angels? Or can you reliably pick a male and female to go together or...? I don't really care if they ever breed but obviously I don't want turf wars.

Here's the information about my local water: Severn trent
Will they cope? I currently keep neons, cories, gouramis etc with no obvious problems.

Tankmates? Will they eat my cories and bristlenose? What else can I keep with them in a 4ft tank?

OR...failing that, any other interesting, smallish fish along similar lines that work. Not really fond of the look of firemouths but I'm open to suggestions!

Thanks!

 

[balajake]

Hi all,

I'm currently in the process of moving house, and am planning on getting a new tank when we get to the new place. I'm currently running a 100L community (3ft x 1ft x 1ft) so I'd like to go a bit bigger (depending on what bargains I find on Ebay!). House is a small terrace so probably something like 4ft long is the best I can do.

As much as I'd love a flowerhorn or something gigantic and mean, I don't have the room! So I was wondering about t-bars/sajicas? All I know is they're similar to convicts but less aggressive, and prettier imo.

So what else can you tell me?

I've only ever seen them in Wharf in Nottingham, where they're about 2 inches long and presumably unsexable. Presumably they're going to want to breed/fight (although I've never had anything but cherry shrimps breed in my own tanks) Do I buy a few then wait for them to pair off like angels? Or can you reliably pick a male and female to go together or...? I don't really care if they ever breed but obviously I don't want turf wars.

Here's the information about my local water: Severn trent
Will they cope? I currently keep neons, cories, gouramis etc with no obvious problems.

Tankmates? Will they eat my cories and bristlenose? What else can I keep with them in a 4ft tank?

OR...failing that, any other interesting, smallish fish along similar lines that work. Not really fond of the look of firemouths but I'm open to suggestions!

Thanks!

I don't have any but they are peaceful fish, easy to breed too. males tend to have longer fins than females. get as big a tank as you can because once you get the cichlid bug you will just bigger species lol. your other fish should be fine too although i'm not a fan of gouramis as i've always found them abit mean. cories should be fine and your pleco. i have 6 cories in my tank and my cichlids never bother them , i have lots of cover but they are always our swimming with the big boys in the tank. plecos can more than hold their own too

you are right to avoid the firemouth. from personal experience they are little devils. i have 2 and my male is the most agressive fish in my tank, he starts all the trouble and usually gets his bum handed to him. hes not that big either, in a tank with a texas, a dempsey and a green terror who are all bigger than him and hes the aggresor

 

[talisker]

i've bred them before they are nice fish not as aggressive as convicts they are a bit more picky choosing mates than convicts, you can normally sex them quite small, the females have a yellow tinge to the dorsal while the males are red.
i would suggest getting 5 or 6 and wait till they pair up and rehome the rest, i kept mine in with a few community fish and never had any problems apart from the odd chase when they were breeding.

 

[minnnt]

Simply stunning fish.

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/384030-125l-sajica-cichlid-tank/

 

[Louiseness]

Thanks all! This all sounds like good news to me.

I'm planning on getting rid of most of my existing community (gouramis etc) and going for some new tankmates along a more biotope-y theme (although that sounds really stupid with super hard water I know!).

So cories, bristlenose.....what else would you guys suggest?

 

[onidrase]

Some schooling fish should add some movement to the tank, things big enough not to get eaten pretty much. I can't think of much suggestions on biotope setups, I usually just pick whatever works, I'm no good when it comes to knowing where fish come from (yet)

 

[Louiseness]

Awesome. The question is, how big is too big to get eaten?

 

[onidrase]

Awesome. The question is, how big is too big to get eaten?

Typically anything above 2.5 inches is safe with most cichlids that only get 6 or so inches long. Wider bodied fish are always safer than slim bodied, though.

If you're getting a breeding pair, though, you need to be careful of anything you put in the tank with them, as cichlids of all types get very aggressive when defending babies.

 

[minnnt]

Columbian red fin tetra's.