largest size cichlids

Peacock bass, which I believe is a cichlid is concidered one of the top sport fish in central america - I think that one and the dovii may well be the biggest. I have read some reports about 30"+ which should put them in 15-30lb class depending on how fat they are and if they are ready to spawn.(just my guess)

According the scientific community the largest cichlid is:

Boulengerochromis microlepis

http://www.science.uwaterloo.ca/~pverburg/29-5.jpg

It hails from no other than Lake Tanganyika.

Eat your hearts out SA/CA cichlid fans

Whats the size of that?

What scientific community is this? I've heard that they max out at 30". Peacock bass can hit 36".

Outa the two u said i think the dovii is definitly the bigger out of the two. i don't know the max size of a dovii, but i know it gets pretty big. jags get big. they max out at around 18in. making them a pretty good cichlid for a 75g tank. peacock bass and any other bass get huge. i think most max out at around 3ft.

I am pretty sure BigOh is right. MAN would I love to have a tank for a group of microlepis.

I have also heard of a 36" peacock bas but... never once seen a picture. Cichla temensis are the big boyz.

Boulengerochromis microlepis, is consistantly large in size. Cichla have a wider range of sizes.

Ad Konings himself deemed this the largest cichlid at 70cms and larger.

ttl

Lake Tang rules!

Originally posted by blee358
Outa the two u said i think the dovii is definitly the bigger out of the two. .... jags get big. they max out at around 18in. ... peacock bass and any other bass get huge. i think most max out at around 3ft.

Click to expand...

Although dovii get big, they can breed at a smaller sizes. In other words, they don't need to be 2 feet long to mate. I have seen 20-21" dovii but nothing longer. I'm sure they can get 28", but they grow really slowly once they hit large sizes.

Peacock Bass need to be large in order to breed. Peacock bass, fly up in size. I mean they grow with Oscar like speed. 24" in the aquarium is a realistic size for Cichla. All though Fishbase.org has the C. temensis listed at 99cm. I feel its like stories of 30ft SA snakes. They just don't exsist.

You are right Jags get big. IMO bigger than alot of people give them credit for. I have seen 22" Jags. Give them time and the tank space and you will grow a monster. The particular fish I am refering to is at a local aquarium. Its really old.

Remember although Cichla look like bass (small mouth), bass themselves are not cichlids so they can't be considered. I would pay to see a 3 foot Cichla.

24" Boulengerochromis microlepis are caught all the time.

ttl

The IGFA record for cichla t. appears to be 27lbs !! It didn't list the length , however the record largemouth(which I believe is much plumper and fatter is around 22lbs and over 24") and a 27lb striped bass (which I think seems more of the cichla shape, maybe slightly skinnier) usually runs around 40+ ". So 36" seem about right.

What size tank do you put that in?