# C. salvini compatibility.



## TempestGarden (Jul 22, 2005)

Someday when I get a large tank together (at least 75 gallons) I definitely want to get at least on of these fish. There are others that I have my eye on as well but I am not sure what I could put in there with it. Anyone have any ideas? I also like stuff like Green Terrors, Jack Dempseys and many species in the Amphilophus genus.

So, I guess I am looking for similar sized tankmates that won't kill each other. Any ideas?


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## Joels fish (Nov 17, 2007)

Sals are probably on par with GTs for aggression IMO. They hold their own with larger cichlids in general and aren't horribly aggressive except when spawning. Males get around 8" at maturity and are a bit more aggressive than females so that's something to consider but any cichlid of similar size normally works with them. They do tend to be reclusive so hiding spots are needed particularly if they are kept in a community. I have kept them with GTs Severums Firemouths Cons and even Geos without incident. Amphilophus species could be a different story though since most will out grow them by several inches and are much more aggressive.


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## Hrafen (Feb 19, 2005)

Jack Dempsey. Convict. Texas.


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## Kellem (Mar 19, 2009)

I kept and bred Salvini for many years and can tell you that you need to respect there aggression especially males.
Good news is...they are quite shy and stay hidden most of the time.

Whenever i had community tanks that included GT's,JD's,convicts,firemouths the male salvini was always the dominant fish,females would be lower in the pecking order.

There are noticable differances between the sexes,
females have a black spot on gill cover where males have a red spot and females have a break in there dorsal fin and more of a red wash where males have more of a green wash.


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## TempestGarden (Jul 22, 2005)

Kellem said:


> I kept and bred Salvini for many years and can tell you that you need to respect there aggression especially males.
> Good news is...they are quite shy and stay hidden most of the time.
> 
> Whenever i had community tanks that included GT's,JD's,convicts,firemouths the male salvini was always the dominant fish,females would be lower in the pecking order.
> ...


Thanks for the info... not just you but everyone who has responded, of course. 

BTW, where in VA are you? I am just curious.


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## phishes (May 17, 2005)

They are great w/ most CA or SA cichlids. I would stray away from Amphilophus speciies like red devils or midas. They exteremly aggressive. Some good tank mates would be JD, convicts, nic, GT, blue acara, firemouths, rainbows, cutteri, HRP, and astatheros robertsoni.


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## bernie comeau (Feb 19, 2007)

Kellem said:


> I kept and bred Salvini for many years and can tell you that you need to respect there aggression especially males.
> Good news is...they are quite shy and stay hidden most of the time.
> 
> Whenever i had community tanks that included GT's,JD's,convicts,firemouths the male salvini was always the dominant fish,females would be lower in the pecking order.
> ...


I agree 100%, you have to respect their aggression, and even more so their abilities. Especially the males. My sals, especially the males, like to pick fights -----and they fight to WIN, not just to threaten and maybe exchange one blow. My male sals have defeated breeding cons, even while they had wigglers. I have a small young pair of sals that a little while back defeated a similar sized pair of jewel cichlids and booted them right out of their territory.And my much larger cons ( the sals were lighter then the female con!)---- looked like they were going to have some problems with the sals soon. I had no long term plans for this pair of sals in this tank so I removed them. Now my con and jewel pairs have enough of a handfull defending from just a female sal. BUT actually sals make a pretty good boss compared to some of the larger CA ----my sals don't chase fish much; tend to be a little lazy. As long as other fish are not breeding or defending space, they don't seem to care to much about them.

With enough tankmates, my sals are not shy at all and do swim around all over though they are always scared of strangers when they enter a room, at least for quite some time.

The traits mentioned by Kellem are not too consistent nor reliable in sexing salvinis. A blotch or spot on the dorsal fin is generally the most reliable way to sex salvinis. Females pocess a black blotch or spot on the dorsal fin and males lack this spot. Almost 100 % reliable( though of course there will always be few odd exceptions).


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## rmcder (Jul 9, 2005)

As usual, I feel compelled to mention my homicidal female sal, who will not allow ANYTHING in a tank to go unmolested. Once the other fish shows any signs of submission, she will hound it day and night, until she "removes" it from her tank. I keep thinking that if I can find something that would simply stand its ground, she'd be ok with it, but so far she's just a buzzsaw with scales!


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## bernie comeau (Feb 19, 2007)

rmcder said:


> As usual, I feel compelled to mention my homicidal female sal, who will not allow ANYTHING in a tank to go unmolested. Once the other fish shows any signs of submission, she will hound it day and night, until she "removes" it from her tank. I keep thinking that if I can find something that would simply stand its ground, she'd be ok with it, but so far she's just a buzzsaw with scales!


No doubt, even females can be very aggressive fishes. Of course every individual is at least somewhat different, but the circustances/conditions are at least as significant. I really do think that 30 gallons has at least something to do with your experience. Small tank to house salvini, at least once mature, especially with tankmates.

Of course once a cichlid owns a tank introduction of new fish is not a simple matter. And once a cichlid has lived as a lone specimen for some period of time they often tend to make poor tankmates with other fish. Solitery confinement, for some significant period of time, tends to make cichlids go "psychotic".

If your CA cichlid is truely exceptionally aggressive, then other CA, especially of the same sex, are poor candidates for tankmates. As would small defenseless, dither fish. In a larger tank, 4 ft. or larger, I really do think that the vast majority of female sals would tolerate tough sturdy non-cichlid and/or aggressive mbuna, in the very least.

And especially if your CA is exceptionally aggressive, you NEED suffecient tankmates to spread the aggression. Never mind notions of stocking density, you need enough tankmates to spread and dissipate the aggression.


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