juvies or adults?

[TaTeR ToT]

i would like some opinions, i am wondering which yall think is better, for the initial stocking of a cichlid tank.
also, share your ideas for managing aggression in a cichlid tank.

buying juvie cichlids and raising them together,
OR
buying subadults or adults and letting them hash it out until they come to an aggreement so to speak.

i personally tried the second one, and it didnt work, they never came to any sort of aggreement

i am wanting some personal experience on the matter.
i feel this thread could help others when thinking of how they would like to initially stock their cichlid tank and also how to manage and stop aggression in their cichlid tank.

put your personal experiences here

[stevenallenbarnard]

cichlids are gonna fight no matter how you introduce them to each other. I've tried both and it always works out the same way.

[aggrocichlidfan]

i would say juvies because you can tell there potential in color
and they will grow at the same rate with each other and if there aggro theyll prolly get along better
but thts my 2 cents hey man what you gonna do woith your dovii i need one thts about 4" can i buy him?

[newb]

I would get the sub-adults. Thats what I did and never had a problem. I never had REAL aggressive fish, but I had a green terror, jack dempsey, severums, oscar, and never had any real problems.

[Darbex]

subs

[TaTeR ToT]

all good info.
keep it coming:)

[mikeb144]

In M/O fry or juvies will give you longer to enjoy them together. When they reach breeding age things will change, aggression levels will rise and changes will have to be made. Good Luck

[finfan]

i'm no cichlid expert, but for me getting juvies worked best... but i only had different varieties of lake malawi cichs

[wesleydnunder]

I've gone both ways and it's worked out both ways. It's really a crap shoot depending on the individual fish stocked. I don't like advocating overstocking, but I've found that in a heavily stocked and heavily filtered cichlid tank there are too many fish for the really aggressive ones to focus their meanness on any one fish for very long. I've read this same method in Paul V Loiselle's book, The Cichlid Aquarium.

Mark

[TaTeR ToT]

I've gone both ways and it's worked out both ways. It's really a crap shoot depending on the individual fish stocked. I don't like advocating overstocking, but I've found that in a heavily stocked and heavily filtered cichlid tank there are too many fish for the really aggressive ones to focus their meanness on any one fish for very long. I've read this same method in Paul V Loiselle's book, The Cichlid Aquarium.

Mark

very good info, ive read the same, i believe overstocking can be accomplished safely if you have enough filtration.
i have seen a 215g CA cichlid tank, with over 20 full grown adult super aggro tank bushters, jags, butti, red tiger motos, loiselli, red devil, festae, grammodes, huge texas cichlids, and black belts, and it worked well.
althuogh he had a proclear 300 wetdry, 2x fx5 canisters, and 2x ac110 filters., but it worked well.

[Rico]

i think it all the depends on the types of young adults. if you try something like midas, trimacs, dovii, or black nasties you will most likely have a problem (thats if they are 5"+). i had my trimacs in a 75g with green terrors and alot of convicts. once they hit the 3" mark i moved them into a 125g with a jag pair that was 4-5" and a jumbo pink convict. that only lasted about 2 months. first my male trimac killed a chuco intermedius. then he killed my female jag and thats when i took them out and put them in a 75g of their own.

[Rico]

have you tried putting "Big Grey" in the 125g with any tank mates?

[TaTeR ToT]

very true, i found that out the hard way, my midas doesnt play well with others lol

[TaTeR ToT]

yes, he chased non stop for 3 days, all the other fish in the tank couldnt come out of the rockwork, so he went into his own 50g.
he nuckin futs,lol

[Rico]

i tried it too when i first got him. i put him a 125g with a 7" tex, 6" pink con and that rd female i got from you. by the next morning he had almost killed the tex.