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Do you think that a Salvanis cichlid will do ok in a 125 gal with 2 oscars and a Jack Dempsey? All 3 are about the same size right now, no more than 2 inches. I was just wondering if the Oscars and Jack Dempsey would bully it around when all of them start growing.

if anything the oscar will be the one to get bullied. Salvanis are not really known to be the agressors but they do not stand for being bullied and could quite easily dominate the tank depending on the Jack's disposition.

By all means marry; if you get a good wife, you'll be happy. If you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher.
Socrates-
I happen to have become a philosopher

Thank you WiseIves. I didn't know that Salvanis were at all agressive. I was told that if they were in a large enough tank, they would be like a large Bolivian Ram and not bother anything. I didn't know they would return agression. Thank you for the info.

I'll just say in the right set up, probably a single fish in with other large peaceful fish they will most likely be peaceful as ciclids go. Apair in their own tank with no other aggressive fish will probably result in a mostly peaceful situation and they will not mess with other tankmates unless they are spawning or are guarding babies. Keep in mind that these fish get rather large & keeping an oscar, JD, & Savani would require a large aquarium and will result in huge amounts of waste mostly due to the Oscar and JD who are both notorius as mess makers.

BTW, no prob with giving out the needed info to help my fellow aquarists plus osmeone will probably disagree

By all means marry; if you get a good wife, you'll be happy. If you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher.
Socrates-
I happen to have become a philosopher

One situation to prepare for in advance is this: if your Salvinis begin breeding, then fireworks are likely to result.

Basically, Salvinis plonk their eggs down on their chosen site, and dare the rest of the fish around them to do something about it. They may be small (at least compared to Dempseys and Oscars), but they work as a coordinated team to deal with threats. However, they tend to wait until other fishes are stupid enough to have a go, whereupon they launch an immediate attack - the male takes the head-on route, and while the interloper is facing the male, the female smartly nips under the interloper and aims for the soft underbelly. Once the interloper faces that kind of determined effort at repulsion, the message is quickly learned that Salvinis in bright breeding colours are to be avoided!

The other small-ish (i.e, around 5 inches) Central American that causes trouble when breeding is Neetropplus nematopus, which is bought by some Cichlid fans because it looks like Tropheus duboisi from Lake Tanganyika. There the similarity ends - for one thing it's a lot cheaper, and for another, it forms Central American style monogamous pair bonds. The difference between Salvinis and the "Poor man's Tropheus Duboisi" is that Salvinis stick close to the nursery, while Neetroplus nematopus goes off on "Search and Destroy" missions launching pre-emptive strikes at potential threats.

You are, needless to say, in for an entertaining time with the Salvinis.

One combination I do NOT recommend, given the above, is Salvinis with Neetroplus nematopus in the same tank. If they happen to start spawning at the same time, you're looking at Cichlid armageddon in there.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Cali, I think jbe0404 was only talking about adding 1 salvini to the tank if I read his post right.

I agree though if a pair were added it would spell bad news. I'd also keep an eye on the oscars as they get bigger. you'll probably be ok but if by some chance you wind up with a male and female that decide to breed then you could run into problems. also, if you wind up with 2 males they may decide to not get along and fight quite a bit. now granted a 125 should be enough space for them but I'd definitely keep an eye on them, especially as they get to around the 6-8" mark.

I wouldn't add any more cichlids either but I would add a nice sized school of some type of medium sized dither. perhaps a school of 8-10 giant danios or 6-8 silver dollars. or if you can find them in your area there are some gorgeous rainbow species that grow into the 6" range (such as millenium rainbows---gorgeous ). I'd also recommend to get this school of dithers as quickly as possible and try to find them at a decent size so that they should grow quickly enough to not get eaten as the oscars start to grow. the species I mentioned though should be quick enough and/or shaped oddly enough to be difficult for any of your cichlids to swallow.

Dither fish? Best choice i my view would be Astyanax mexicanus Characins. Because they live alongside many large Central American Cichlids in the wild, and have co-evolved with them for quite some time. They'll grow big enough not to be eaten (6 inches), they're very fast swimmers, and smart enough to stay out of trouble in the presence of bad tempered Cichlids. Don't forget that Astyanax mexicanus shares its natural waters with Guapotes and other 'bad boys', which makes for a robust dither fish. It may be boring to look at, but it's tough, and in an aquarium containing large Cichlids, a tough, fast fish is what's needed. Dither fish don't come much faster or tougher than Astyanax mecxicanus, because they've not only evolved to avoid being eaten by the Cichlids, but sometimes make their living in the wild as egg thieves from spawning Cichlid pairs, and a fish that can pull that trick off and live to tell the day (albeit by using overwhelming numbers to ovecome the Cichlids) isn't going to be fazed by being put in a shoal of 6 alongside the Oscars.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002