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Hey just wonderd if you guys could give me an idea of how fast these fish grow, i have a red terror and a texas and they are both 1 and a half to two inches long now, and also wich one grows faster? Thanks.

it all depends on how you take care of them, what size tank are they in, how much food do you feed them and how many times a day also type of food, do they have cover to relax in, there are many factors to consider before an accurate guess can be given

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freejoe is correct in that there are several factors that will play into how fast your fish will grow. one of the key factors is which species you have. there are 2 species sold as texas cichlids...the blue/normal texas (Herichthys cyanoguttattus) which has smaller blue spots as opposed to the Green texas/Pearlscale cichlid (Herichthys carpintis) which has larger spots that are green or sometimes blue.

There are also 2 species commonly sold as red terrors and I've also been seeing a 3rd species sold as red terrors lately. the 2 more common "red terrors" are Cichlasoma uropthalmus (the Mayan cichlid, false red terror) and Cichlasoma festae (the real red terror). Watch your fish when it shows it's vertical bars...if the first 2 vertical bars just behind the gill plate intersect and form a "Y" then your fish is a real red terror (festae). if none of the vertical stripes intersect then your fish is probably a mayan cichlid. the 3rd species I mentioned above is the barred midas, or midas in juvenile barred form. I have seen these sold occasionally as red terrors. these will also not have any intersecting vertical bars here are a few ways to distinguish the barred midas from mayan cichlid. the mayan cichlid will have a more elongated body that's not very tall similar to say a salvini. also, the eye spot on the base of the tail will be very large. the base body color will be a greyish but it will start turning a pinkish color very soon. a barred midas will have a much smaller eye spot at the base of the tail and a much taller body compared to the mayan.

now that all that's out of the way, with proper diet, water changes and tank size a texas cichlid will probably grow in the range of 3/4" to 1" per month. if your red terror is actually a barred midas it should grow around 1" per month, but if it's a real red terror (festae) it will only grow about 1/2" per month on average. I don't know how fast a mayan will grow.

hope that helps

I have them in a 75 gallon tank with a couple other small fish, and i feed them a mix of oci cichlid pellets and flakes. My texas is the common kind not the green type and my red terror has the y shaped bar, i checked for it when i bought him.