what is the meanest AFRICAN?

[dbcb314]

we have a topic up here that deals what is the meanest fish, but i want to narrow it down some more. everyone knows the doviis, jaguars, red devils, midas, trimac ect are the meanest cichlids around, but what is the meanest AFRICAN cichlid? know one really mentions them much.

for me, the meanest i have kept was the auratus (aka golden mbuna). it killed many of my fish once it reached maturity. my other africans would fight just to establish a pecking order, but known of them would destroy a fish. the auratus did. it killed for fun.

so, whats the meanest african you have kept/heard of?

[nattybrack]

I had an auratus as well, mean bugger! He basically split the tank into thirds, 2/3 was his, 1/3 was everyone else's. Every now and then, one of the other fish would trick/push another fish into his territory, what a show. yikes! Although, I've heard the chipokee is even meaner.

[Jinks]

like ive said before.. my g/f's male bumble bee was pretty bad ***.. its was 6-7" :( miss that bugger hehe.

[AikidoGuy]

tilapia buttikoferi. its the african equal to the midas and trimacs

[jimbo]

A full-grown male Chipokea in lets say a 35, would be the only fish in that tank, no matter how many fish you would add. That’s what I have read.

[Kirin Fang]

My Auratus (one of my favorite cichlids; I love the Melanochromis genus) isn't too aggressive, but it is a female. She's very territorial, but she usually just darts at it and scares it away and then goes back to minding her own business. But then again, most of the other fish in the tank are bigger than her even though she is mature and close to full size.

I've never had a mature male Auratus so I can't say for sure they're the most aggressive, but from what I've heard and from what I've seen at my LFS, they get my vote.

[dbcb314]

one of the things goin against the auratus is that it doesnt really get that big, but for its size, it is real aggressive

[oscarlvr]

i have to agree with audio guy, pound for pound nothing tuffer than a buttikoferi. if a buttikoferi grew as big as the other Chipokea i would not put my hand in the tank, now a close second imo is a jewel, wich are also very aggressive.


Robert

[gaymin]

I don't think a 24 inch Dovii could kill a 12 inch Buttikoferi

[qtaquaman]

As far as I know it's Chromodotiplia guntheri guntheri. They're killing machines, there is no way anything can be housed with them and the will regularly kill much larger fish. At only four to six inches full grown they eat things like chickens and cattle. They're banned in 48 states and Vegas uses them for gambling (fish fighting).

[AlwaysConfused]

I have an aratus and bumble bee cichlid and they are crazy, everyone else (zebras and johanni) schools for the most part, but those two are loners and they just slam anyone who tries to mess w/ em. I have a little kenyi and he tries to challenge the aratus and gets wooped

[labont865]

As far as I know it's Chromodotiplia guntheri guntheri. They're killing machines, there is no way anything can be housed with them and the will regularly kill much larger fish. At only four to six inches full grown they eat things like chickens and cattle. They're banned in 48 states and Vegas uses them for gambling (fish fighting).


I would have to agree the Guntheri is definately the most aggresive Cichlid. And is one of the most aggresive fish in the world. It doesnt have extreme ability to inflict damage but its aggresion more than makes up for it and it will easily kill any similar sized fish, and even considerably bigger fish.

[jonah]

tilapia buttikoferi. its the african equal to the midas and trimacs
That's it.

[Seattle206]

Question.

Why are most cichlids such punks? They chase and scare away all other fishes that get near them. For example I had a pink convict what would chase my pacu and blood parrots all day, and my oscar lip locks with the parrots and nips my pacu. Even the blood parrot tried to pick battles with a dovii that I had for a week. Years back I had a frontosa(spelling?) and it killed my red-belly piranha the next day. Whats the deal with them and their flaring up around the gillls? I mean they are far from full grown and have all that space to swim around, yet they still fight? Sorry for jacking your posts.

[Seattle206]

I'd like to see a full grown Chromodotiplia guntheri guntheri in same tank of a full grown african tiger fish. I dont think it'll touch the atf at all.

Is this a Chromodotiplia guntheri guntheri? looks like a little pipsqueak. I dont think it can do much with such a little mouth. I mean if the AFT gets anoyed one bite and its sushi already.

[Orbital]

My two most aggressive cichlids have been Kingsizei and Kenyi. My Kingsizei chases and attacks fish 2-3 times his size. :rolleyes:

[Paroon Shark]

i just got the alto compressiceps yesterday...my tank is all set up and they seem very happy. but they definatly arent as aggressive as ide hoped..i put a guppie in today and he lasted a 1/2 an hour b4 i just took him out, they didnt even bite him.
so count this breed out! :p

[qtaquaman]

Not only would the guntheri touch the tiger fist it would fight to the death even its own. It may not win but it will never let size or aggression of another fish deter it from attacking. Most fish prefer to avoid a fight by displaying, the guntheri doesn't waste time doing this. Both the african tiger fish and the heralded tilapia buttikoferi can be housed with other fish if the tank is large enough, but nothing at all can be housed with the guntheri.
I read about a guy who got his hands on six of them as juviniles, he put them in a tank with a bunch of larger aggressive cichlids and left the room for only ten minutes when he came back only the guntheri remained. Of the dozen or so other fish a third were dead, a third had leap to their death and a third managed to leap into an ajoining tank where they cowered against the far glass as the guntheri tryed to get at them.
At this point the guntheri proceeded to attack each other.
This guy started feeding with feeder fish and mice but apparently this was insufficent an had to rend chickens as food.

[JSchmidt]

Ounce for ounce, I think demasoni are pretty mean. Fortunately, they don't get very big, but they as aggressive and cantankerous as any african I've seen. If they got as big as kennyi or auratuses, they'd kick their tailfins! Nasty little buggers... but beautiful.

Jim

[Seattle206]

After hearing about this guntheri cichlid I must own one. Where are they found in wild? They are illegal in 48 states? Is that 48 warm states?

[qtaquaman]

:mad2 I would guess from a private breeder. If they're beeing used for gambling then they may be legal in nevada, as I believe when I read about it it was in casino. Research on the internet as much as possible but I'm guessing it would take some work.
It was quite a while ago that I read the article on them and I seem to have gotton some of the details mixed up, likely withsome of the hundreds of other fish articles I've read over the past couple of years-pretty much non stop.
Here is the actual article it should prove helpful.

http://www.apistogramma.com/cms/Articles/General_Dwarf_Cichlid_Articles/Chromidotilapia_guntheri_guntheri_--_West_African_Devils/

[Seattle206]

how big do they get? Mauling humans when they are in the waters? After reading the articule it makes the piranhas reputation look like chicken sh*t. For reals though I wanna know how big they get. I'd be so cool if I could have a 10,000gallon dome with tropical trees and plants growing out of the water. I'd have caimans, snapping turtles, lizards, birds, and 40 of those guntheri. I wonder if they would attack the reptiles since it seems like they arent scared of anything.

[labont865]

I think they average 4-8 inches

[Seattle206]

what the hell? In the aquaria central profile it says that the Chromidotilapia guntheri guntheri is a very peaceful fish.

[~*LuvMyKribs*~]

For the agressiveness/size ratio i would definately vote L. Ocellatus to pack the most punch for thier size. They are mean little *******s! They always bite me when i stick my hand in, even if its nowhere near thier shell. They'll attack the siphon, not to mention each other. The dominant female just killed my other breeding female for some reason, only to fill her shell in with sand when she got it :confused:

The dominant male is a real j*rk too.

[NatakuTseng]

buttikoferi hands down for me, they keep right up with Jaguars and such just as well as any other central american. As to the comment about someone keeping a Pirhana in with a Frontosa...WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?! Frontosa's first off are quite peaceful colony breeding RIFT LAKE cichlids from Tangyanika that dwell in open water where the pH of the water is 8 or above and VERY hard water. Now lets look at the profile of a pirhana...Rivers in south america....SOFT ACIDIC water. I don't think they are very compatible at all.

[Paroon Shark]

i just got the alto compressiceps yesterday...my tank is all set up and they seem very happy. but they definatly arent as aggressive as ide hoped..i put a guppie in today and he lasted a 1/2 an hour b4 i just took him out, they didnt even bite him.
so count this breed out! :p
i gave them a week or two and the guppies wont last ten seconds....the guppies that are too big for them to eat the will bite it untill its dead and leave it floating. ther crazY!!

[CalgaryFishGuy]

my yellow lab thinks 2/3 of a 65 is his...the other 12 fish get the other 1/3.. although it seems to be laying off a bit..it killed it's tank mate(another yellow lab) only weeks after I brought them home from the LFS

[melanochromis]

for me the most aggressive cichlid is plecodus straeleni from tanganyika,it´s a scaleeater and are equipped with large jawlike teethts like piranhas! and it is extremely aggressive and will attack and kill much larger fish

[Goosteady]

I gotta bump this thread. Can't find any info on the Guntheri anywhere!!!

[Patton8645]

I havent seen 'em all but I have seen a Banded Jewel Cichlid... Sweet day in the morning, what a pyschotic fish!! My cousin got me into cichlids, He has, errr had a 6 inch Dovii. Which was our pride and joy, I would frequently visit to watch goldfish and other such hapless prey be destroyed. Even the occasional medium sized midas or oscar just for some fun... might as well have been goldfish! they ran and ran until BAM, you can even hear that snapping, sucking, vaccum popping sound while completley submerged! So one day my cousin calls me up, says he has a real badass he found at our local exotic fish store. I run over and the fun begins, the poor little Banded Jewel was only about 4 inches long, we were preparing to see a total massacre. The Dovii has an eerie intelligence to them, you can see them studying you, by now he knew the drill and was ready for a feast, the jewel had no idea what was in store for him. We net the little guy in and he spots the water wolf heading right for him, with lightning speed he finds cover and we think oh crap he is gonna hide there forever -- when out of knowhere the jewel DARTS right back out as the dovii shows his back and CLAMPS onto his entire port fin,... the dovii goes NUTS and erupts into a flurry of twists and turns, slamming into everything trying to rip him off,... within seconds he was off and so was the doviis fin, the entire thing right up to the stub. The dovii fled for cover of his own but the little jewel wanted no armistice. The jewel would execute LIGHTNING fast attacks and then RUN as the wolf responded as if in slow motion, over and over until we just couldnt take it anymore and chased the jewel around with a net for about 10 mins before we finally caught the LIGHTNING fast ******* and removed him to an adjacent empty tank. Despite our best efforts the dovii's wounds were fatal. The last several hours of the dovii's life were spent trying to swim through a corner of the aquarium, just kept pushing his nose into it, getting nowhere, like a shell shocked soldier wandering aimlessly... The experience was like nothing i have ever seen before. I WANT ONE OF THESE FISH! I drove over to the fish shop and the owner told me that the banded jewel was a stow away in a batch of regular jewels. ****! So, anybody know where to find these guys?? In my researching I found that they are also called Five-Spot African Cichlid, and the scientific name is Hemichromis elongatus. If Anybody that reads this knows where to get them, please let me know! Thanks a bunch!

[Patton8645]

Oh and about the guntheri, everything I find on the web suggests they are docile, save for that linked article... I wish there was more on them though, sounds pretty badass, especially becuase I am only 2 hours from nevada! (apparently they are legal only in nevada.) It all sounds a little fishy to me,... pardon the pun.