Cichlid Experiment

Tilapia buttikofferi grows to 12 inches .


Thats only in its first year :D

I have had a 15" female and an 18" Male. Very thick bodied. Super aggressive. They each had an entire 6' tank to themselves. I sold the male and the female died after 10 years.
 
the butti prolly doesn't feel threatened yet. that prolly y it hasn't attacked anything yet. so, say a similar size fish is introduced or one of the tank mates gets bigger, more closer to his size. then prolly will have issues. i had one before was housed in a 75gal, with several other africans. once he outgrew everything, it were on a killing spree, one at a time. i also have seen these fish over 12inches. big males. i feel that since yours is larger then the rest in tank for now, might be the reason he isn't interested in the others.

my advice for "if you do get a female", is to set up the other "breeding" tank, and keep her in there first for awile, and beef her up. then introduce the male into "her" tank. use a divider for first couple days, if nasty fighting occurs.

if you put him in the "breeding" tank first, he will kill her without a divider. because then that tank is deemed his. and will fight for his home, to all comers.

well gl. and take this info as you will. :dance2:
 
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