nicaraguan cichlids

[andruboz]

i am interested in a pair of these colorful fish.. some sites say they are less aggro than other cichlids. if i gave them plenty of places to hide, could they share a 75g with an oscar?

the oscar is fairly mellow. gets along with a smaller red tail shark and a chinese algea eater right now..

jeff rapps has them right now at $4.50 a piece. i would try to get them local because i wouldnt know what to get with the other 41 bucks to make it to his minimum order level.

[ChilDawg]

I would not bet that two would be able to share space with the oscar. One, maybe...and that is if and only if you do a lot of water changing. According to AC, they get to be 10" a piece, and the min. tank size for them would be 50g. Also, AC has them as more aggressive than Oscars, so your Shark and CAE might be in for a little shock if you even added one.

[AikidoGuy]

i have six juvis of the species. mine are fry from the ones you can see on www.aquamojo.com and are the grandchildren of the ones on tangled up in cichlids. Im growing them out untill i get a good pair. a pair will use a 55gallon all by themselves. they are a beautiful beautiful fish when they reach adult hood. As adults they may hang with an oscar but only in a very large tank. they will work well in a tank with firemouths, chocolate cichlids, sajicas, synspilum, centrachus, convicts. and fish of that nature. the females are alot more colorful than the males but the male can reach 10" mine are with 3 clown loaches and a red tailed shark, i know for sure i have 2 males and 4 females, im just waiting for them to pair up the pair and the shark and loaches will reside in a 55gallon tank filtered by 2emperor 400s. i just recently got to see the ones in the pic below and they are alot bigger and much more impressive looking than even in that picture.

grandparents
http://www.tangledupincichlids.com/images/nicarag.pr.jpg

parents
http://www.aquamojo.com/misc/Nick7.jpg

[andruboz]

i found out my lfs will have some next thursday. they said they would be coming in juveniles at about 1.5" and since they wont be showing much color yet, they wont be able to sex them.

so that raises some new questions. if i want a male and a female, do i just bring home 3 or 4 and hope for the best? trading the extra males or females for something else? how long will i be able to keep them in a 20 gallon long or 30 gallon long before they out grow it?

[gregga]

I agree with Akido's post above.
I currently have two 5"adults (unfortunately both females); two 3" males that I'm growing out; and six 2" juveniles I'm growing out as well. Terrific personality and beautiful colors. Absolutely one of my favorite fish...........Gregg

[AikidoGuy]

at 1.5" itll be tough to sex but look closely at the tail and lower fins(easiest spot to notice early) the males will start to develop spots and will eventualy become black. my two males are almost 3.5" the females are noticebly smaller and they were all born at the same time. Youl like those fish as adult they are beautifl!!

[Tiger15]

I am also relatively new to Nic and have three females for a few months. All three are females and have colored up nicely in only 3-inch size. I wonder if their color will get more intense with age and what will be the utimate size

I am keeping them with my African Rift Lake cichlid because their water requirement is similar. Interestingly, Lake Nicaraqua is also a rift lake with alkaline condition like Lake Malawyi and Nic look remarkably like a cross between Tropheus or Mbuna in shape, and Red Empress in color and marking.

I found that Nic is extremely hardy as I had one in a sick fish tank for a month and had undergone multiple antibiotic and anti parasitic treatment and the Nic came through OK when all other fish died.

Jeff's picture appears to be enhanced as I can see the color is unnaturally orange including the substrate. Mine looks like this and is natural (copy and paste to see picture):

"http://www.geocities.com/bluespeacock/nicaraquen2.jpg"

[Ekliptix]

I love my Nics. Click on the link for the pics

http://www.cichlidgallery.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=CentralCichlid

[AikidoGuy]

http://208.51.130.220/~mojo/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=Photo;action=display;num=1045756597

[moby goby]

Tiger15:
I find it interesting that you keep your Nics with Rift Lake cichlids. I've seen that one other time, but I always thought that the water parameters of Nics and Rift Lake cichlids were different. Can you give nme some details of your tank? The size of the aquarium, the other inhabitants, etc. I currently keep my female Nic with 2 Severums and some barbs. Thanks.
Bob

[Tiger15]

According to this article, http://www.cichlid.nl/Cichlids%20of%20Central%20America/Main.htm , Lake Nicarqua has a pH 7.5-8.8 , KH 2-4.5, and GH 25. So the alkalinity is up there with Lake Malawi and somewhat lower than Tanganyikan. In comparison, the African rift lakes have the following parameters:


Malawi 6-8KH 7.7-8.6pH 6-10GH
Tang 16-19KH 8.6-9.2pH 11-17GH


Most CA cichlids require alkaline water like Rift Lake cichlids. I keep mine in 75 gal tank at the low end of aklainity of pH 7.4 and GH 12 .

[Mattimeo]

I've seen MUCH nicer nics than those pictured... I don't think that the pics are colour enhanced.

[AikidoGuy]

yeah those pics arent enchanced at all. they are only juveniles in both Jeff Rapps pic (which is probably old) and Mojos pics, and mine as well. I saw Mojos nics a few weeks ago and they are much larger and are colored up MUCH nicer than in those old pics. They are beautiful looking fish when they reach adult hood.

[jumpin joe fish]

Can nics be kept with severum, angels, loaches, silver dollars? I have just added them to 125 gallon tank. They are very small and I am afraid they will kill the other fish when they grow out. What do you think?

Joe

[Nolapete]

Nics don't belong with oscars, don't belong with africans, but are docile enough to keep with severum, angels, loaches, and silver dollars. Nics are some of the most laid back cichlids. My group of 5 was 7"-9" and never bothered anything.