Jaguar Cichlid

C

Cloud-9

AC Members
May 11, 2003
216
0
0
Reidsville, GA
Visit site
I just bought a very small Jaguar Cichlid. Total lenght of about 1".

Do these fish grow fast? Also, how big a tank will I need to keep this fish when it reaches maturity?

I had a juvenile at one time in the distant past but did not keep it long enough to grow it out. I had to relocate and had to give up my big tank. I hope to keep this one for good.

Thanks
 
You could keep a lone fish in a 75 gallon tank for life. Growth depends on a lot of things, including diet, and enviroment. If you want to ensure rapid growth, do a 50-75% water change every week.
 
a female would be fine in a 75, but males can be up to 20" (i have seen them at 18") so a male will need something more like a 125. my female is now about a foot long. she only gets pellets. this is the safest thing to do. live food of any type can introduce parasites and diseases. all of the big cichlids i have seen that have hole-in-the-head were fed live. it also helps keep their aggression down. mine is in a 55 and i cannot keep anything with her because she is territorial over the whole tank. you will need lots of good filtration. for my tank 2 whisper 60s are doing great. feed a variety of high quality pellets. with my animals (mainly my jaguar cichlid and my water turtles) each time i get a couple new types of pellets they go through a growth spurt. the last time i added 2 new types of pellets to my jag's diet she grew about 2" in about 2 months. i am very bad about doing water changes so if that helps mine would have grown even faster. i dont think the water changes are any more important if you are trying to get fast growth out of yours. just a good diet. and i would discourage 50-75% water changes, it is way too easy to mess up the pH and temp when changing that much water and then cause a lot of stress to the fish. i know 50%+ water changes are possible, but i think it is better to do more like a quarter to a third water change. if it will start to take frozen food (it is probably too small so far) but beefheart is a good growth promoting food. i feed: from tetra: jumbomin, cichlid color sticks, and cichlid sticks, and from hikari: cichlid bio gold medium and cichlid gold large. obviously you should stick with the sizes more appropriate for your jag. use a stealth heater. it is made of shatter-proof thermal plastic (big cichlids have a habit of breaking things in their tank, especially heaters). dont worry about plants (live or fake) for now they are fine but once it gets some size to it they will be destroyed. mine loved the big piece of slate she had that i would lean up against the glass, but it would be too easy for her to move it and possibly break the tank. the best decor is PVC pipe T-connectors of appropriate diameter. they love them. that and gravel is all mine has. i will probably think of a few more things. i would love to answer more questions if you have them, so if you do just post them or even pm me. noen of the pics of mien really do her justice, and i dont have any yet of her setup with the PVC pipe. here she is:
IMGP0523.jpg
 
Last edited:
Bigger is always better, but a Male Managuense can survive in a 75 gallon. I've had some form or another of Managuense in my home for over thirty years...grown out in a 300 as well as a 1600 gallon pond. Very few will reach the max size of fish in the wild.

I disagree with you on concerns about large water changes. I was a big supporter of food being the main factor in growth until I heard Dr. George Barlowe, author of the The Cichlid Fishes speak at an ACA Convention. He did numerous experiments with Midas Cichlids. He made the observations that the constant clean water did more for growth by diluting the natural phermones in the water and thus inducing growth spurts. The increase in food in a basically small body of water (tank) was more detrimental because of the increase biological waste. Good food is important, but not as much as clean water. There is close to 7000 gallons of fresh water with cichlids in my home. Most of the tanks get 30% as suggested above. The fish that I show or try and breed get 50-75% weekly...sometimes more. I have never had a problem.

If there is a wide swing in the pH of your water in the tank as opposed to that coming out of the tank it could be due to two things. First is that you have to adjust the pH in the first place. Mine comes out just like it goes in the tank...hard and 7.2 The second could be that the biological balance in the tank is off. Too much waste built up can affect the pH...meaning your system will have a wide swing in pH.

If you can't afford a special heater, try putting the heater inside a slotted piece of PVC. It works just as well...and the fish can't break it. My 20" Umbee tried to smash it daily. It works great.

One more thing on food. Be very careful about feeding beefheart. Fish were not designed to be able to digest large portions or even frequent feedings of beefheart. It is bad for their liver. Try fresh seafood, shrimp, catfish fillets, or even scallops for a protein boost.

Here's one of my four Managuense at 15"
Jumbo%20508b.jpg


Jumbo%20509b.jpg
 
Thanks for the information and beautiful pictures

Yes, I believe that is the fish that I have. Those fishes in the photos look great. I had a male Jaguar years ago, about 5.5" inches of total lenght. He looked like the ones in your pictures, except he had a longer shape to him and smaller spots. Could there be variants?

How would I go about obtaining a big tank, say 125g, on a budget? I live in a small rural area. I have talked to Glasscages, but the delivery is very, very expensive. The price of the 125g tank is reasonable, and being person who makes a living working with tools, I can make a better stand than what you see at the shops. The big cost part is the shipping. But at the local dealer, the tanks are way more than what I could order. So you see the dilemma?
 
Cloud-9 said:
Yes, I believe that is the fish that I have. Those fishes in the photos look great. I had a male Jaguar years ago, about 5.5" inches of total lenght. He looked like the ones in your pictures, except he had a longer shape to him and smaller spots. Could there be variants?

How would I go about obtaining a big tank, say 125g, on a budget? I live in a small rural area. I have talked to Glasscages, but the delivery is very, very expensive. The price of the 125g tank is reasonable, and being person who makes a living working with tools, I can make a better stand than what you see at the shops. The big cost part is the shipping. But at the local dealer, the tanks are way more than what I could order. So you see the dilemma?
Click to expand...

Thanks. Usually younger Managuense will have a longer body appearance. As they get older they get thicker. There are also variations in the fish itself. Here's a picture of the parents of the one above. Note how different the father looks. He was bigger at 17".
Mom%20and%20Pop%20Managuense.jpg

Your best bet would be to keep an eye in the classifieds for a tank. The rule of thumb for a used tank is about a dollar a gallon. Make sure that it holds water. If you buy a used tank and it's dry, carefully check the silicone seal to see that it's not torn or dry rotted. It's not 100% but don't take it for granted that it will hold water. Your other option would be someplace like aquabid. You might luck out and find someone close by that is selling cheap.

Good luck.

Mo
 
mo, is the one in your pic 15" and male? what sex is mine (i had one webstie forum say male, another female, what do you think? i can post more pics if you want) i would have thought that the big lateral black spots would fade on a male by the time he was 10" or so, am i wrong? i agree that a big male could survive in a 75 and that it would be acceptable, but i think it is not ideal, and i think forums should suggest ideal, not just what is possible. and of course they dont all hit max wild size, even fish in the wild dont all reach their max wild size, but keeping them in a smaller tank than ideal will definitely not help to get them to their max wild size. i personally have found such large water changes to be a bad idea for most hobbyists. they are too likely to mess up their water, including cleaning too much at one time. that is why i dont suggest such large water changes, and discourage them. have you found that your jags grow better with the frequent large water changes? or are you assuming so based on the doctor's findings with midas cichlids? i just want to make sure you have observed it. the stealth heaters arent any more expensive than other high quality submersible heaters which you would need for the PVC pipe setup anyways (plus the small price for the PVC pipe), so i think it is better to go ahead and get the stealth heaters.
 
The 15" is definetly a male. I looked at your photo and originally thought male as well. Post more pictures. I need to see the unpaired fins on the bottom of the fish and a good profile if possible. I think you have a male...

Agreed on the tank size. The bigger tank would be better..ideally. But in a pinch I like the footprint of the 75. Wider and the size let's me maintain the water qualtiy where I want. I do truly believe...based on personal experience that water changes bumps their growth. For example...I just finished my fourth 50% water change in a week with my Green Umbee tank. I'm trying to induce breeding, but the fish really thrive after each water change. THe rationale is sound. The fish release phermones in the water. Based on the size of the water (tank size) they grow accordingly. Lots of fish, less water, slower growth. Fewer fish, more water, faster growth. I only need to look at my pond as an example. I had a batch of Pearsei. I put three in the 150 with the lone adult male and the rest in the pond. The pond...in addition to being a big body of water...ges a 50% water change weekly. After two months the Pearsei in the pond...all of them...are at least a third larger than the ones in the tank. I have never seen the stealth heaters. i use the Titanium in most of my tanks. That's as stealth as it gets. Post the pictures...
 
do you have any experience with bichirs? (Polypterus senegalus). i thought a 125 had the same width as a 75, 18". some of the pics are a little older, but ill post any that show the fins. the middle one is probably the most useful. i just realized, the middle pic also shows the stealth heater pretty well. black, so it probably looks better than the shiny metal titaniums. on a black background all you would see is the little red dial.
IMG_2044.JPG

IMGP0617.jpg

IMGP0622.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom