So I've had 4 Tomato haps for about 3 and a half months now. 1 male and 3 females. They are in a 40 gallon breeder and have been doing well. Water parameters are fine: 7.6PH, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, about 20 nitrate. (API master test kit) Temperature is 76-78f. Seachem Prime is the water conditioner I use. I use well water. I feed them a pinch full of Aqueon Cichlid mini pellets twice per day and give them a pinch of Seachem Chlorella flakes every 3 days or so. I also give them a pinch of frozen beef heart about once a week.
Lately, they've all become fairly aggressive with each other. The male is almost constantly chasing a female and it doesn't seem like he is trying to mate, but I could be wrong. All 3 of the females have spawned once before but I only stripped one of them of eggs and ended up with 8 fry that are in a separate 29 gallon. The females have also started to get aggressive with each other.
I'm guessing that the cause of aggression is from the tank being under stocked, there is a good amount of hiding spots but I can tell that the smallest female is getting stressed. It looks like she is the one who gets chased the most. None of the fish have damaged fins yet and I don't see any lacerations on their mouths.
My question is: What are some good tank mates for these guys? I'm thinking that I should add 3, maybe 4 more cichlids to the tank. My only problem is that I can't really find any Tomato haps for sale in stores and I'm not willing to buy online because there may be a big size difference. It's also been hard for me to find any good info for these guys online, they seem to be somewhat uncommon. What are some other species that they can be kept with? I'm really worried that one of them is going to get too stressed and end up dying. Added a picture for size reference.
Lately, they've all become fairly aggressive with each other. The male is almost constantly chasing a female and it doesn't seem like he is trying to mate, but I could be wrong. All 3 of the females have spawned once before but I only stripped one of them of eggs and ended up with 8 fry that are in a separate 29 gallon. The females have also started to get aggressive with each other.
I'm guessing that the cause of aggression is from the tank being under stocked, there is a good amount of hiding spots but I can tell that the smallest female is getting stressed. It looks like she is the one who gets chased the most. None of the fish have damaged fins yet and I don't see any lacerations on their mouths.
My question is: What are some good tank mates for these guys? I'm thinking that I should add 3, maybe 4 more cichlids to the tank. My only problem is that I can't really find any Tomato haps for sale in stores and I'm not willing to buy online because there may be a big size difference. It's also been hard for me to find any good info for these guys online, they seem to be somewhat uncommon. What are some other species that they can be kept with? I'm really worried that one of them is going to get too stressed and end up dying. Added a picture for size reference.
