salvini(hard to keep?)

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vilhelm

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Dec 9, 2001
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I wonder about salvini,this is a rare fish were i come from,i saw some at my lfs(it is not often),and they are very nice colored!How to keep them?
Tanksize? tankmates?how aggresive? and so on,(thanks for replay)
 
Hello Vilhelm,
There is nothing special to keeping salvini opposed to any other nandopsis group. In fact due to its relative small size it quite easy to keep. Males will get to be about 6 inches and females slightly smaller perhaps 4 inches... so a 48" tank fine for a pair. They are from the slow waters of Central America and favor areas with thick vegetation so you might get away with keeping some in a nice planted tank. They are territorial so tank mates should tough... also if you go with a breeding pair, tank mates might want to be avoided. They will do fine in a wide range of water.. from slightly acidic to moderately alkaline (ph 8.5 or so) . Normal packaged cichlid food will be fine however a varied diet composing of good deal of live foods such as brine shrimp, bloodworms, insects, ect.. seem to be needed to bring out the color of the fish.
 
I have set up a salvini breeding program in an attempt to get double reds with lots of blue. I've gotten near double red, but I need more blue lineage.

Yes, they are hyper aggressive. I had a 4 inch pair chase around a 7.5 inch urophthalmus male and a 7 inch managuensis female (they paired up and made hybrids, which I fed off). They were hailing on those 2 so badly in a 90g, that I had to remove them. The salvinis were only 4 inches, the female has another inch or so to go, and the male can almost triple in length (I've seen an 11 incher, and have heard about 12 inchers).
 
ok matt.So there isnt a swedish myth about aggresive behavor then? If compares to for.ex convicts or midas how are they then?I mean a scale1-5 of aggresive behavoir.if convicts is 3 and midas are 4.
 
On a scale of 1-10, I'd rate convicts a 4 or 5, simply because they take little to no territory up, even when breeding. Out side of breeding, I'd give salvinis a 7 and midas a 7.5 (they are peaeful if kept in large tanks, but even then, in large tanks I've had salvinis relentlessly beat other fish to death), but when breeding, salvinis are worthy of a 9.5-10 IMO. A pair of fish less than a foot in the wild can take up a territory that is more than 8 feet in diameter, and even larger cichlids that share it's habitat know to stay clear. In aquaria, they act like giant neetroplus neematopus, and will actively fly around the tank attacking anythign that gets in their way. Midas are the same deal, 9.5-10 when breeding.
 
the more i read these post and ppl tell about the aggressiveness of the midas the more i know i must have one. i have some from jeff rapps coming thurday
 
i kept a salvini with midas, reddevil and flowerhorn cichlid. The salvini used to keep hiding from those aggressive fishes, even remain hiding during feeding time. Unfortunately oneday somehow the flowerhorn caught and killed it.By the time i returned with a seperate aquarium from pet shop for salvini, it was almost eaten up by the flowerhorn.It was a very sad day.
 
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