I jsut got four baby midas, about 1.5 inches big, and they are worse than when you first bring home blood parrots. I walked down to my tank this morning and saw them all swimming around and I got closer and they had a mad dash to the caves. Will they grow out of it before they hurt themselves? They are really nice midas, and I do not want anything to happen to them!! THANKS
Midas Question
- Thread starter nemo282
- Start date
They are an INCH big! I don't think they'll outgrow it in a week, considering there were like 20 in a ten gallon petsmart. I eventually want to have a big male and some femals. From the group I'll determine the nicest one. I have two white and oranges with white eyes, about the same size, i think one it male and one is female b/c of the pointed fins, I would love for them to be the breeding pair, but there is a slightyly larger orange one. They are very nice to eachother, i dont think ill have problems, they are just being dumb and scared.
LOL Sorry I was trying to say they will out grow that scared behavior in a week or two not that they will out grow the tank in that amount of time Out growing that tank will take months. You can barely keep one full grown midas 55gal so breeding pair won't make it.Get a bigger tank 75gal on up should be good for what you want to do. Good luck on your goal.
midas cichlids form monogamous pairs. they do this by eliminating other fish, including conspecifics (other midas cichlids) in the area they perceive as their territory. eliminating is a rough process and the result will be shredded or at worst dead fish, leaving only the pair remaining. in a 55 gallon tank, you can be absolutely certain this will happen. same for a 75. in a 120, there "may" be a subdominant male left over.
do yourself and the fish a big favor and when pairing begins, REMOVE the unpaired fish. instead, add 3-4 "target fish". look it up on google.
almost all LFS's keep such fish in a VERY overcrowded condition. they expect that they'll move the fish out to your house in less time than it will take for the fish to kill each other or die from the stress. it's not a signal that the fish can or should be ok at your house if kept crowded like that.
fish maintained in tanks which are too small or in conditions which are too crowded, develop severe stress syndrome. these fish do not exhibit proper color, do not develop proper fin form, do not exhibit proper metabolic development, do not exhibit normal behaviour, do not develop proper musculature, do not develop properly functioning organ systems and as a result, slowly lose their inherant resistance to disease. this results in a significantly shortened lifespan and along the way, lots of diseases for which the poorly conditioned fish is a good target.
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You could keep them together longer if you added some kind of a target fish. I generally use something in the Metynsis family...Silver Dollars. The tank size you are using will ultimatley force you to pair down the tank mates.