Thorichthys Ellioti

[markandhisfish]

hi as the title says really just setting up a new 100g tank with a cichlid theme saw this fish and fell in love. has anybody kept them and if so what are they like ?

 

[juanveldez]

have not kept them but I can probably surmise that they are simmilar in behavior to T.Meeki

lots of rock work, driftwood and plants would be the way to go with them they are a robust cichlid while not aggressive, I keep M. Trifascta (rainbow fish) with mine, also some odessa barbs. could also get some others I am sure. wouldn't go with festivum or angles as they are too placid and will stress out too easily, perhaps some geos of some sort but that would mean leaving part of the tank as open water so that the geos could behave in their own way sifting and swimming around but if done right the aquascape would look pretty good.

 

[duncs]

My ellioti were the most aggressive cichlids I've ever kept. Two of my six were battered to death within four days of me getting them, even though the tank was literally crammed full of rocks and planted bogwood. In the end I was forced to get rid of them.

I've heard some people suggest ellioti are reasonably placid.. and some suggest they're insanely aggressive. It seems to go either way so I would suspect that there are actually two different species in the hobby with different temperaments. Another alternative is that some of the "ellioti" available in the hobby are actually hybrid fish with T. ellioti and T. meeki parents.

If you do try to keep them, you'll need at least a 48" tank.. preferably 18" width. Plant it as heavily as you can with reasonable flow.. and let us know how you get on.

I have a couple of pics of mine in the "Member's Cichlids" thread in this forum.

edit: I've just seen you're contemplating a 100G. That would be superb. Get a group of six, possibly even eight, and continue with the instructions above ^.

Good luck!

 

[markandhisfish]

already have the 100g just in the process of setting it up. will be planting it well and having lots of bogwood rocks etc even a big old mangrove root

 

[juanveldez]

reading some papers from 96 and again in 2006 there seems to be a debate and it is this


T Ellioti is actually T Maculpinnis supossidly they are taxonmically identicle so perhaps for research puposes you could check under T Maculpinnis.

http/www.cichlidae.com/article.php?id=143

http/www.cichlidae.com/section.php?n=fca&id=48

 

[markandhisfish]

ok thanks for the links i will check them out as the 1 harsh lesson i learnt a while ago is to research a fish before i buy it .