Cichlasoma salvini

[promise]

Been doing some research on these little guys as someone in the city i live in has around 50+ to get rid of for $5 a fish.
will these guys I.e 1 go in with my non breeding convicts? it says in the research i have seen that this is fine.

just want to know if anyone has any experience with them.
they will go into the 80g

[Lab_Rat]

Sals are great fish, but they're hit or miss temperament wise. My girl is very well behaved (for now). She's sub-adult and gets along well with my nics, sev, EBJD, though she's kicked the acara's ass a couple of times (he totally deserved it though). I will keep a close eye on her. I've heard other cases of sals being wicked nasty. They really do need a good amount of space, and I think having her in a planted tank helps.

[promise]

I was hoping you were the one who responded as i vaguely remember you talking about yours before.

yeah i read they like a well planted outer edge tank with lots of swimming space, going to go view them tomorrow, the guy has over 50 juvie's so i may take a couple of them, been reading up on them all afternoon and being a CA cichlid it will supposedly fit straight in with my cons and possible 6" oscar. not sure on that one yet, a friend had 2 after me telling him when they became of age they would kick the pants out of each other but he knew best, anyways i digress

been doing a lot of reading up on these guys and am still un-decided as to wether i will grab 1 or 2 of them, probably just the one and see how things go from there.

thanks for the reply though.

[coolingeffect]

they are super cool fish, ive never had them but they are gorgeous. They look kinda boring when they are little but they turn into some really nice looking adults. If i hadnt gone with the ceibals and geos i likely would have picked a pair of those up.

[promise]

I wanted to add some colour and the next logical step up or down whatever way you look at it is to go for a pair of these guys, super colourful and from what lab says it could go either way i may end up with a tank full of happy fish or a tank full of manky looking things :hmm3grin2orange:
im liking what i have read so far and they are definitely do-able in the tanks i have if things should take a turn for the worse so im covered in that sense.
just want some colour in my 80g.

[Lab_Rat]

My girl went from this:
[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

to this:
[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

in a matter of a few months. When I came back from my trip I was amazed how much she'd changed. I'd recommend trying to pick a female as they seem more likely to work out in a cichlid community tank.

[promise]

Thats what im thinking, getting rid of the male cons will help an awful lot too. easiest way to tell a female from male would be the fins right?? or is it like most CA and looking at the breeding tubes/vent

Your girl is pretty, i like her an awful lot.

[Lab_Rat]

Thanks! I looked for the red on the belly. It's easier to see in her baby photo. She's a lot more colorful irl, the flash really washed her colors out in the pic.

[promise]

here they are
im going round to see them tonight and probably will come home with 2 of them.
[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

[openbook]

Nice video!
I think I have a salvini female but it doesn't have much color, it's basically yellowish gray with a little red and blue on the gills and some blue spots on the fins. You could check out the pics on my community thread- [Only Registered Users Can See Links.]
I wish she had some more color like the other pic or like the fish in the video. Well just have to wait and see.

This fish has the hugest appetite and has grown incredibly fast. She's gone from 3-4 inches to 5-6 in only a couple months. She will nibble at my fingers if I hold some food at the top of the water. The only problem now is she's almost the same size as my green terror. So now green terror doesn't like her. The green terror is chasing her around fast, it has gone on for 2 days now. Hopefully things will settle down eventually.

Good luck with the salvinis!

[Lab_Rat]

Cool, sals are neat fish. Mine might be a male, I've been looking up how to sex them since both can have the red. Seems females have a spot on the operculum which mine doesn't have...

[promise]

I just picked 2 up, no signs of red on these ones as they are just starting to colour up but yeah the guy showed me both parents and both the huge male and the female have flame red across their stomachs, he was saying that it has something to do with the top fin on the male being from the front to the back with a red or a blue on there. we tried to sex the juvie's but its early for them so not 100% he said about 80% sure they were fems

he certainly knew his stuff, he has a new batch just hatched still with mom and dad in the tank, has a batch of fire-fin cichlids nearly ready too so i may have to go back and acquire some of those for a separate tank but then maybe not :hmm3grin2orange:
yeah he has lots of tanks set-up in the basement and each tank is an awesome set-up

i set the little guys up downstairs divided from the cons just so they can get acclimated fully without having to escape them guys. had them in a bucket dripping for around an hour and half
i am going to get rid of my large male tomorrow then i will have 4 female cons and hopefully 2 female salvini's in the tank, a guy here in the fort is after a large male so i fired him an email hopefully he will be here tomorrow to pick him up.

[promise]

Just found this, hopefully it helps you out in sexing the lil one.


Sexing is relatively easy as the male is colored more vibrantly and has dorsal and anal fins that are more pointed than those in the female. Female Salvini Cichlids have a bluish-black patch on the middle of their dorsal fins, and are equally beautiful.

[Lab_Rat]

Congrats on the new fish! I really like my sal, they're cool fish.

Just found this, hopefully it helps you out in sexing the lil one.


Sexing is relatively easy as the male is colored more vibrantly and has dorsal and anal fins that are more pointed than those in the female. Female Salvini Cichlids have a bluish-black patch on the middle of their dorsal fins, and are equally beautiful.

Yeah, I saw that, but it seems like there is a lot of conflicting info out there. I'm not sure if my fish has what would qualify as a patch in the middle of the dorsal fin and the goofy fish won't flare for me.

[promise]

i just read another part that says because of hybridization and inbreeding both male and female can have this spot.


i just went down stairs to check on them and found my littlest female con in with them she snuck past the divider to see what they were i guess.
little bugger:hmm3grin2orange:

heres the new ones only about an inch and the last one is of the female con trying to get back in past the divider

[Lab_Rat]

Nice looking fish!

[promise]

Thank you.