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Blue dolphin cichlids2007-11-24 23:10:20

i am looking to start another large tank,and recently i saw blu dolphin cichlids ,they caught my eye, i have always had red devils and have 1 now but he lives by himself, i want to get a second tank and was thinking about having blue dolphins as my centerpiece i heard they are not very aggressive , does anyone have any experiences with theese fish.

thanx

Answers:

Moorii a very nice fish, but a little different then the New Worlds you may be used to - they do best in groups rather than pairs, and as adults the aim is to have one or two males with a bunch of females (so it's always helpful to start off with extra juvi's to ensure you get a good ratio).

As slow growers you can't buy small fish and expect large fish a year from now - growing these guys out takes long term commitment. But on the bright side they can be started off in a smaller tank, as long as there are plans for at least a 75 gallon in the future.

They aren't very aggressive and are actually pretty timid for a cichlid. They'll do best kept in species tanks, but can be mixed with mild, carefully selected Malawi Haps (or non-cichlids like synodontis catfish that won't bother them). As a centerpiece for a mix n' match Malawi tank though, going with something tougher would expand your options for tankmates, and keeping them singly means missing a lot on what they are about (but then, that goes for any cichlid). In the end, a colony of Moorii is way nicer then those random mix n match tanks anyway.

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i know a little about them i know there territorial but peacefull for a large fish like that

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I have six of the cyrtocara moorii growing up with a group of haplochromis ahli in a 20 g long right now. They are about to be moved to a new 55 g along with their tankmates. They are definitely a different looking fish as they become more mature. They are only about 4" right now, but will get to almost 10" and require a lot of space to spawn and interact.

See this page for more info:

http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/ci...

Even in the fairly close quarters that the 20 has turned out to be since they have grown quicker than I anticipated, they get along with no more than minor skirmishes amongst the 3 males. One is definitely the boss, but he hasn't hurt anyone or torn any fins yet.

I wish I could say as much for the ahli (electric blues). I started with 8 and am down to 5 now. One male and 4 females. Three males bit the dust over the past month and a half. I couldn't pin the deaths on one particular male until he was the only one left. Now he is just as happy as a clam with his 4 girl harem.