# Chocolate Cichlid



## cage623

I have been keeping CA cichlids now for 5 years. Recently I changed things up and cleared out one of my tanks and got a new chocolate that is about 2" right now. It is in my 72 gallon bow front for now. I am wondering how fast they grow? I have heard they are slower growing cichlids so I was wondering if this was true. I know they get about 12" long and am wondering if it will be able to stay in this tank or will I need a larger tank?

Thanks.


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## cage623

I forgot I have a couple of other questions:

When can you normally tell the sex of these fish? What should I be looking for as far as being able to sex it?

I'll try to post some picks when my wife gets back on her trip (she took the camera with). But that will not be for about two weeks.


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## cage623

:roll: ...still nothing? I must have scared everyone away by replying to my own post.


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## dwarfpike

Don't you know only crazy people talk to themselves?? But since I'm crazy too ...

Males will get a nauchal hump, though at what size it starts to develop I couldn't tell you ... I have read they will breed at the 4-5" mark though, so I image that's when the male's head shape would at least start to change.


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## Malawidolphin

I have a 5" Chocolate that purchase about a mont ago at 4 ". He hasn't just grown the 1" in length but has thickened and his fins trail almost to the end of his tail fin. I would think the 4-5" inch mark for breeding is a little young. Mine has very vibrant emerald green hues and burgundy fins when he is happy and content. I think they grow at a very steady pace as I have seen big changes in just the 4 weeks. Time will tell!


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## cage623

Malawidolphin said:


> I have a 5" Chocolate that purchase about a mont ago at 4 ". He hasn't just grown the 1" in length but has thickened and his fins trail almost to the end of his tail fin. I would think the 4-5" inch mark for breeding is a little young. Mine has very vibrant emerald green hues and burgundy fins when he is happy and content. I think they grow at a very steady pace as I have seen big changes in just the 4 weeks. Time will tell!


I was wondering if your Chocolate is a pig. Mine sure is! I have to be careful not to feed him too much because it would eat any amount of food that I put in the tank. I have only had my chocolate for about a week now and obviously have not noticed a change in length but I have seen him fill out some.

Also is your chocolate very personable? Mine goes crazy when I go by the tank. Of course this could really just be because of the above statement. My chocolate really loves its food. 

Thanks you guys for any help. If anyone else has anymore chocolate cichlid experience or advice I would really like to hear it. Thanks again.


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## Malawidolphin

My chocolate would grab the pellet shaker and go wild if he had arms! :lol: He looooves to eat so I have to be sure the other fish are getting some. He/she is very personable, comes up to the glass and often puts his body verticle with his belly to the glass and looks at me from this strange angle. I call him "Buddha" (booda).


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## cage623

:lol: That's great, mine has been doing the same thing! It will stay at the top of the tank until it has a mouth full of food and then go back to the bottom and chew then go back up for more. Sometimes I even put in the cichlid sticks that I still have from my other cichlids and it will grab one even though it will not be able to fit the whole thing in its mouth. And it will then swim around with part of the food sticking out of its mouth. It kind of looks like it is swiming around with a cigar in its mouth.


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## RyanR

Hoping to get a chocolate or two to play with our severums.... any idea how chocolates behave with other chocolates?

-Ryan


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## cage623

I believe that, like most cichlids, they can be more aggressive with their own species (especially if you end up with two males). But I don't have any real life experience with them more than a week and a half. Plus I only have one. Maybe someone else out there that has experience with multiple chocolates would have a different experience. So anybody else wants to share they are welcome to.


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## Malawidolphin

When i purchased my Chocolate he was in a tank with another Chocolate and a Oscar. He had killed the Oscar and the other Chocolate was hiding where ever it could. ( it was about an inch smaller than the one I purchased) I probably would have bought both had I not witnessed him beating the **** out of the other Chocolate. (the dead oscar was only about 3 inches, shoudn't have been in there). I did go back to see the other Chocolate who was swimming about happily but was still too small for me to risk buying it.


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## RyanR

Well,

We just picked up a "free" chocolate form our LFS!

Why free? Oh, he's just a wee bit ill... with whatever killed off *all* of the other chocolates at the store. This little guy's still has a little spunk left, so we have a little bit of hope. LFS owner thinks it might be a case of velvet. He/she is bathing in acriflavine in our quarantine tank for the next couple weeks.

Any thoughts or tips here? Think happy thoughts! 

Thanks!
-Ryan


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## cage623

As far as tips go I got a couple. When ever I had a sick fish in the past I always went with a little increase in the water temp. Also add in some salt (follow the recommendations on the label) and do water changes everyday. You can also check out some meds if you think it is needed. I know that this is kind of generic information but IMO it works very well. Good luck with the new chocolate.


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## RyanR

Thanks, Cage!

Temp up, salt in!

It's doing pretty well. Appetite is up, fins are unclamped, and we're swimming around. Very encouraging. I'll probably get a water change done tonight.

Any idea how big the little guy should be before being moved into the "big" tank (after a proper quarantine!) with our two 6" Severums? Would they harass the chocolate at his current 1" size?

Long term plan is to get another "big" tank (75 or 90 gallon) and split up our sevs, the chocolate will go in one with a severum...

Thanks!

-Ryan


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## TheFishGuy

I've got three chocolates at the moment, an older one and two younger ones:

The bigger guy 6-7 inches stays kind of on his own, he lost his mate a while back and has been somewhat anti social since then.









I picked up these two to try and bring him out of his shell, they're about 3-4" and very very social with each other but not the bigger one....










As far as how social they are with the other fish, they're about right in the middle. Meaning, they're not as social as my oscars but they're not as anti social as say my catfish :lol:

And yes, they're pigs, the bigger one usually waits to eat but he's emotionally scarred....

I'd also say they're in the medium range for growth rate too. They don't grow as fast as an oscar but not as slow as a green terror. I'd say 5/8" a month or so... maybe a little more...

I used to have a rather huge male quite some time ago who wouldn't eat unless I was the one feeding him LOL

hope that helps a bit


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## Al'Thor

Here's a pic of my Chocolate.









Mine also eats like a pig, and she grew like a weed. Close to an inch a month! She's probably the most docile fish I've ever owned. I used to have her in a 180gal with an Oscar, JD, and an Uaru until she started getting pushed around by the Oscar. She never fought back. Mine only has a slight greenish tint to her in a certain light, and is normally a deep 'Chocolate' color. She's pretty interactive with me and is a camera hog as well. Right now I moved her into 90gal with a Dollar Sunfish and all is well.


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## RyanR

Pretty chocolates, FishGuy! You're not far from where I am (Athens, OH)!

Al'Thor, Beautiful! how long did it take for yours to grow to 8"? Did it grow up in the 90 gallon tank?

Our's is doing much better, spending much more time out and about. Little guy sucks down big flake food like something out of a Terry Gilliam cartoon. 

Thanks!
-Ryan


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## TheFishGuy

Try food sticks!


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## Al'Thor

RyanR said:


> Al'Thor, Beautiful! how long did it take for yours to grow to 8"? Did it grow up in the 90 gallon tank?


Thank you! She spent the first couple of months in a 55gal before graduating to the 180gal. She lived there for a few more months before I moved her into her 90gal. She got to 8" pretty quickly, somewhere around 9 months.


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## cage623

Thanks for all the personal experience you guys. It has been very helpful. The pics are also great. It is nice to see some pics of these guys because they are not as common as other species around here.

My wife just got back from her trip so I now have access to the camera. I am hoping to take some pics and post them in the next couple of days.

If anyone else out there has anything to add (info, experiences or pics) that would be awesome.

Thanks again guys!


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## Malawidolphin

Here is a photo of my Chocolate "Buddha". Hey TFG, why is my chocolate so different from yours? Are there more than one kind? this one is almost 5", How can they be sexed?

























Karen


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## DirtyBlackSocks

I think there are actually two species of chocolate cichlid off the top of my head but it's been a long time since I've looked into them - I actually just picked up a little 3" guy that looks like yours Karen and he's a little chameleon, changing colors as he swims around literally every few seconds.


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## TheFishGuy

Yours is not all that different. It depends on their mood as to what colors they want to show. They aren't that easy to sex unless you've got a pair. Atleast for me they're not easy to sex.

I know this is a male:


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## RyanR

Yep... there's Hypselecara temporalis.... which is the "usual" one in aquarium land... and then there's the Rio Negra Chocolate, Hypselecara coryphaenoides. The genus Hypselecara is hiding in the "profiles" section. So tough to tell the differences since they can all change color quite a bit depending on mood, and also as they grow... it seems based on our teeny little one. When I threw some blood worms in the tank, our chocolate went from light green to dark brown and black.

As for sexing, I'm guessing they're like other New World cichlids, with the males having long flowing dorsal and ventral fins, and the females a bit shorter. I dunno. :roll:

-Ryan


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## TheFishGuy

Finnage is not a reliable way to sex unfortunately... When a male and female chocolate are right next to each other you can see the difference, but I can't seem to sex them by just seeing one or the other :lol:


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## cage623

Well now that my wife is back from her trip I have our camera back so I took some pics of my little chocolate. So here you go:





































So what do you guys think? It is about 2.5 inches I would say.


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## RyanR

Pretty!

Our's looks very similar... but only a little more than an inch long. Too small to photograph!

We're pretty excited: On Saturday ours will have been in quarantine for two weeks, safe to say has a clean bill of health, so he'll go into the big tank! 

Thanks to all for the tips!... and encouragement with the pics of pretty chocolates!
-Ryan


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## cage623

Hey RyanR,

What else do you have in your big tank that the chocolate is going in? I was wondering because I wanted to see what others are keeping as tankmates with them.

And as a side note, I found my chocolate way easier to take pictures of than my other cichlids. I think it was because it is way slower and doesn't seem to dart around like my others. I can't picture these guys being able to catch anything in the wild to eat. I guess mine doesn't have to be too fast to catch pieces of flake and pellets. :lol:


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## RyanR

In our 75 gallon, we have two 6" male green severums, a big ol' plecostomus, some red-eyed tetras, and a New Guinea rainbow left over from our old tank. I'm banking on the severums not giving the chocolate any trouble for a while.

In the fall, I'm hoping to get another 75 gallon tank set up... with the chocolate and a severum in one 75g tank... and in the other tank will be the other severum... and a "blank". Not sure what to fill in that blank with yet. 

I guess chocolates do best with peaceful tankmates.... our little guy is pretty zippy, just too small to photograph. They're supposed to be carnivores that especially like sucking down unsuspecting insects... which I read "somewhere" is why they seem to like point up towards the surface.

-Ryan


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## TheFishGuy

They've got you fooled when they're lolly gagin' around the tank..... Then you go to net them and it's off to the races...

Here's what I keep with my chocolates: :lol:

1 Synodontis Eupterus 6-7 inches 
1 Leiarius longibarbis 8-9 inches 
1 Glyptoperichthys gibbiceps 12-13 inches 
2 Astronotus ocellatus (common or green) 10-11 inches 
4 some sort of saum GT's 3-5 inches 
4 Aequidens pulcher 3-5 inches 
12 Archocentrus nigrofasciatus All varieties 1-6 inches 
3 Uaru amphiacanthoides 2-5 inches 
6 Amphilophus Citrinellus/Amphilophus labiatus ? 6inches 
3 Hypselecara temporalis 
7 Hypsophrys nicaraguensis 2-9 inches 
4 Archocentrus spilurus 1-2 inches 
1 Herichthys carpintis 2-3 inches 
3 (green) Heros severus 6-8 inches 
3 (lemon) Heros severus 2-4 inches 
1 Satanoperca daemon 5 inches 
5 'Cichlasoma' octofasciatum 2-3 inches 
4 Tilapia mariae 4-6 inches 
1 Crenicichla sp. "Belly Crawler" 3-4 inches 
1 Amphilophus robertsoni "Bob" 9 inches 
1 Thorichthys meeki 3 inches 
2 Parachromis managuensis 2-6 inches 
5 Salvinii 3-5 inches 
1 Male Cutteri 5 inches 
2 Giant danios 2 inches 
2 Clown Loaches 2-3 inches 
2 Bocourti 11-12 inches 
1 Synspilum 11 inches 
4 Silver dollars 5 inches 
1 Paratilapia polleni 4 inches 
1 Tilapia mamfe 5 inches 
4 Vieja Regani 3-5 inches 
4 Vieja maculicauda 5-6 inches

97 fish..... holy carp....


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## cage623

Hey TFG,

I think it would have been faster to list the fish you had not had as chocolate tankmates. :lol:

For now I have mine with a GT and a firemouth. I am just hoping that I don't have a GT that is really aggresive. I know that they can vary a great deal when it comes to how mean they can get. As of now it acts like it is a tough guy but is a little smaller than my chocolate and doesn't seem to want to mess with it.


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## DeadFishFloating

Hey TFG,

Hows about you let some of the guys know how large your tank is and wack up a couple of pics to.

Just for them to oooh & aahhh. I don't really need to see any more. :wink:

:roll:

:drooling:


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## TheFishGuy




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## cage623

Does anyone else out there have experience keeping chocolates with a green terror?

My guess is that this is possible to work out but it will mostly depend on the personality of my GT. Right now at like 2.5-3" they are getting along fine, except for occasional gill flaring during feedings. I really hope that this works out because I am becoming attached to both of them.

Any personal experience shared would be really appreciated. Thanks.


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## TheFishGuy

What size tank is the GT and Choco in again? The GT should be fine till about 8" when they tend to go balistic... If it's a female you'll be fine...


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## cage623

Right now they are in a 72 gallon bow front. I am hoping to get something larger before they get much over 6 inches. Like around a 90 gallon or so.

Right now they seem to be growing fast and eating a ton! Because they get a little pushy around feeding time I have been putting food at opposite sides of the tank and they each seem to stay on different sides of the tank to eat.

I am really starting to like these fish. Even though the chocolate is a little shy I still love watching it. I just wish I knew the sex so I knew what to name it.


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## RyanR

Like a fool, I almost lost our chocolate... put him in the 75 gallon tank, and apparently didn't acclimate him enough.  I guess the quarantine tank was still a little saline (I used some aquarium salt in the treatment of velvet) compared to the main tank. After a couple hours, he wasn't very happy. Sort of "bla" and listless at the surface... was easily scooped up and put back in the quarantine tank. Figuring he lost some electrolytes, I added some more aquarium salt, full recovery 24 hours later... and we're almost back on "speaking terms" again. He was snubbing me for a while. Scary.

Tonight I gave the little guy one of the big cichlid sticks that I feed the severums. He carried it like a cigar back to the "sunken wrecked car" decoration* that he lives in. A few seconds later, I saw half of the stick shoot out the side of the car, and then get sucked right back in. Kind of funny to watch! :lol:

-Ryan
*The hospital/quarantine tank has all the dregs when it comes to decor... sort of an unplanned post-apocalyptic theme.... which I suppose it's not the most cheery place to be if you're not feeling well.


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## DirtyBlackSocks

My chocolate cichlid sort of swims around the geophagus tank I've got him in like he's the king of it - very personable fish, always interested in what I'm doing when I'm in the room.


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## cage623

*RyanR*

Good to hear that everything turned out with your chocolate and thanks for sharing your story. When I first got my chocolate it would also swim around with a stick in its mouth and then spit out some and quickly suck it back into its mouth. Now (even though it is not much bigger) it can easily fit one whole stick in its mouth. In fact the other night I saw it grab one stick and then quickly go for two more. Of course they didn't fit in all the way and it had two different sticks in its mouth.

*DirtyBlackSocks*

I don't know if I would quit call my chocolate "personable" but he does seem very interested with what I am doing when I am in the room around the tank. I think this is mostly because when I seem it dancing at the top of the tank I almost alway put in at least a little food. What can I say that little chocolate has me wrapped around its little fin.

Both of you thanks for sharing.


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## DirtyBlackSocks

Mine literally follows me back and forth across the tank and has taken it upon himself to defend a 1" L260 pleco I've got in the tank from anything that comes near it's area...it's constantly turning sideways to look at the pleco then chasing off geophagus and going back to stare at the pleco...

I've never seen the behavior in other fish, but I guess it's not uncommon in Central American tank busters. Still very cool to see peaceful fish with personality's instead of your regular discus and angelfish floating around doing nothing.


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## RyanR

Definitely seems pretty typical of the more peaceful New World cichlids. No experience with the "aggressive" ones...

Our severums are like puppies. They know when I come home work, and they're always at that side of the tank waiting for me. Just wagging their bodies in excitement They'll usually "follow" me around when I'm poking around the tanks. Got them to start grabbing food out of our finger tips this past weekend.

Our tiny chocolate was fairly personable like this too, before I stressed it out this past weekend. Before, it would swim right up to the glass whenever I walked into the room. Now I've got to rebuild that trust.

These guys are very unlike other fish (non-cichlids) that we've kept or seen. I don't know if you call it "intelligence", personality, or whatever... but there's something special about cichlids. 

-Ryan


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## cage623

*RyanR*



> I don't know if you call it "intelligence", personality, or whatever... but there's something special about cichlids.


You said it! I had a few different community tanks a few years back that I thought I liked at the time. Now that I have had a couple cichlid tanks over the last few years I really know what it is like to enjoy keeping fish. I don't mean to offend anyone out here that has and enjoys community fish tanks. I am just saying that I would much rather keep cichlids anyday.

When I had community fish I always liked how colorfull they are and thought that they were kind of fun to watch. After having cichlids I would totally agree that they seem to have a personality and seem to actually interact with eachother and with me as well. When comparing community fish to cichlids, I will alwasys see the community fish as just "stupid" fish. I say this because their actions don't seem to have any thought behind them. Cichlids on the otherhand seem to do things for a reason and actually interact with people, eachother, and their suroundings.

Anyways I am really starting to get off topic (not like that is a bad thing). So... does anyone else out there have chocolate stories or pictures to share? Also what do you think of the tankmate that I have my chocolate in? Will this work?


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## DirtyBlackSocks

This video has some bits of my chocolate in it though the main focus is on the geophagus:

http://s85.photobucket.com/albums/k45/D ... I_0340.flv


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## cage623

DBS,

Thanks for sharing the video.

I just took a few pics of my chocolate today and wanted to update on how things were going. It seems to be doing well and eating a ton. The only concern that I have right now is that the GT and Chocolate might not work out together. They have been trying to stay on opposite sides of the tank but from time to time will get in each others faces. I hope that this is just their way of sizing each other up and will not escalate beyond a little gill flaring. It is weird because it seems like the chocolate seems to be the one that is instigating most of the aggression. What do you guys think of this? I have been keeping a close eye on them and if worse comes to worse would most likely find a new home for the GT.

Anyways on to the pics:


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## cage623

DBS,

Thanks for sharing the video.

I just took a few pics of my chocolate today and wanted to update on how things were going. It seems to be doing well and eating a ton. The only concern that I have right now is that the GT and Chocolate might not work out together. They have been trying to stay on opposite sides of the tank but from time to time will get in each others faces. I hope that this is just their way of sizing each other up and will not escalate beyond a little gill flaring. It is weird because it seems like the chocolate seems to be the one that is instigating most of the aggression. What do you guys think of this? I have been keeping a close eye on them and if worse comes to worse would most likely find a new home for the GT.

Anyways on to the pics:


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## cage623

What is going on with all the double posts lately?  :-?


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## scottp125

Cool to see all the chocolate lovers here! 

Mine, Choco, has been in my 80g for about 8 months now and is about 4.5". I haven't seen any development near the head area yet as some described. I am pretty confident that Choco is male by the pointed anal fin and breeding spots on the rear&anal fins, as opposed to the rounded, but seeing posts here give me some doubt. A gut check is good. 

I've been thinking about adding a mate for Choco lately. Most likely that mate will be in the 2-3" range initially. Any suggestions on introducing them? Should I just do the prearranged marriage deal and throw them together?


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## HONDO

i sawa really beauyiful chocolate yesterday at a lfs. it was a nice brown with some red streaks (very faint) but i wanted to buy it. if i had space i would have.


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## DirtyBlackSocks

scottp125 said:


> Cool to see all the chocolate lovers here!
> 
> Mine, Choco, has been in my 80g for about 8 months now and is about 4.5". I haven't seen any development near the head area yet as some described. I am pretty confident that Choco is male by the pointed anal fin and breeding spots on the rear&anal fins, as opposed to the rounded, but seeing posts here give me some doubt. A gut check is good.
> 
> I've been thinking about adding a mate for Choco lately. Most likely that mate will be in the 2-3" range initially. Any suggestions on introducing them? Should I just do the prearranged marriage deal and throw them together?


I would most definitely start out with a divider in the tank. Chocolate cichlids are the nicest fish in the world until you see them in a tank with another chocolate...they won't tolerate eachother.


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## scottp125

bummer...I'm assuming then that the female could only be introduced once she's mature...


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## DirtyBlackSocks

I'm honestly not familiar with how to properly pair off chocolate cichlids, I just know that they're absolutely vicious when it comes to conspecific aggression. Most likely you would need a large tank to place a few specimins in until a bonded pair forms, then move them to a smaller tank.


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## cage623

*scottp125*,

I first must say that I have no experience with pairing chocolates but I would agree with DBS. They are known for their conspecific aggression. From what I have read they are worse (as most cichlids) when you have two or more males. The real problem, I would think, is knowing what you have at an early age. It is my expereince that chocolates are very hard to sex.

In a hypothetical world if you know you have a male you would be good buying a few (3-4) females and letting him chose. This would be hard though and you could have trouble if you end up with one or more male in what you thought were females.

I think a 80 gallon would work for a pair but it wouldn't work well, IMO, for setting one up in. Just because they would really need thier space before they pair up.

Don't let me talk you out of it though. I am just trying to let you know there would be risk, but that comes with any cichlid that you try to pair up. Hopefully someone else with some personal experience or more knowledge will be able to help more. (Where is TFG when you need him?)


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## DirtyBlackSocks

If you can get a definitive sex on both of your chocolates you can just place them in an 80 gallon with a good strong divider until they start showing breeding behavior - let them loose and see what happens.

Unfortunately, at least out here, it's very hard to come by full grown chocolate cichlids. I'm sure in adult specimins - assuming you can find a group of them - you could just compare vents and deteremine which is a female and which is a male.


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## scottp125

Thanks for the comments...gives me some more to think about... 

here is Choco in all his glory...


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## Malawidolphin

Does Choco alway disply that coloring. The only time my" Buddha" displys that coloring is when I first turn the lights on. He also showed that coloring from stress when I first brought him home. He is always a beautiful emerald/burgundy color now and is very interactive when I am near the tank.


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## DirtyBlackSocks

Try throwing some live blood worm or some sort of beetle/cricket in the tank, they'll darken right up...they also get VERY dark when in breeding dress - but the coloration you're posting right there is standard for them when they're in mellow mood.

Dark coloring is a sign they're very excited about somthing - I haven't ever seen one that will consistently keep the dark coloring.


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## DirtyBlackSocks

Try throwing some live blood worm or some sort of beetle/cricket in the tank, they'll darken right up...they also get VERY dark when in breeding dress - but the coloration you're posting right there is standard for them when they're in mellow mood.

Dark coloring is a sign they're very excited about somthing - I haven't ever seen one that will consistently keep the dark coloring.

When they're stressed they will also darken up, but show a notable washed out green stripe across their forehead and gill plates.


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## Malawidolphin

Well I can agree with you about the "Mellow Fellow" idea because he is vey mellow. He will step up and put others in their place as need be but other than that he just chills 8)


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## cage623

*Malawidolphin*,

Great looking chocolate. I would say that for the most part mine has the same coloration as yours does.

I think I have already kind of asked this question but does anyone have a good way to sex these guys? For example the picture that *Malawidolphin* posted above has some really long fins, which in some cichlids would indicate male. I didn't know if this holds true for chocolates or not. If anyone knows if this works to sex them or has anyother way it would be great if you shared it with us.

I also can't believe that this little post that started out about my new chocolate has gotten this big. That is awsome! I guess I should really give all the credit to the fact that there are so many of you guys that really like the chocolates that you have. They are, as I am learning, great cichlids. :fish:


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## TheFishGuy

My big chocolate just died... Now I'm stuck with these two parrot looking chocolates  They look... squatty?


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## DirtyBlackSocks

Boooo, that sucks


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## cage623

TFG,

I am really sorry to hear that you lost your chocolate. I would imagine that it doesn't matter how many fish you have, if you lose one that you have watched grow it is hard to know that it is now gone.


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## TheFishGuy

We do grow very attatched to our fish


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## scottp125

Malawidolphin said:


> Does Choco alway disply that coloring. The only time my" Buddha" displys that coloring is when I first turn the lights on. He also showed that coloring from stress when I first brought him home. He is always a beautiful emerald/burgundy color now and is very interactive when I am near the tank.


He varies depending on the background. He goes from the emerald in the lighter areas of the tank to the dark camo in the video when against the black background by the plants...

He also does a reddish hue when by my red rocks.


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## cage623

I didn't really think of it until you said it but mine does the same thing. It will for the most part have similar coloration to the pic you posted. However, when it goes in the tunnel I have in the tank it will become really dark in color. I really didn't think of this because it doesn't spend too much time in the tunnel. Mostly only goes in there after it has stuffed its mouth full of food and needs a place to go chew. Then once he has a little more free mouth space he will go back for more.

Here is a pic of it coming out of the tunnel I am talking about:


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## RyanR

TheFishGuy said:


> We do grow very attatched to our fish


Sorry to hear about the loss... we've (I've) gotten very attached to our cichlids as well. Shook me up for a couple days after stressing the you-know-what out of our chocolate a couple weeks ago.

-Ryan


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## DirtyBlackSocks

Always suck to lose an old fish - but I'd venture to guess that in your care he died of old age rather than any malady's - so there's not a lot you can do.

The upside to having your pets die off is it leaves space for new ones


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## TheFishGuy

Thanks guys, actually I got my fathers day present kind of late. An 8" pictus cat, three more clown loaches and a red bay snook


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## cage623

Are they going in the 800?


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## TheFishGuy

Yep


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## cage623

Does that mean we could be expecting some new video footage? Not to be pushy.


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## ksane

I just got one of these Chocolate Cichlids today, he's 4 1/2". I've wanted one for a long long time and wouldn't even let myself believe that's what he really was until I asked someone who knows better than me (thanks if you're here, Rush!) I found out the hard way that just because they're labeled something, it doesn't mean they are. I love this guy. I'd like to be able to put him with 1 of my Oscar tanks (I'm pretty sure both are amle Oscars), but if the Chocolate is male I don't think that's going to work. I've got too many male Cichlids in their own tanks. 
Is it even possible that a male Oscar and a male Chocolate would ignore each other in a 250 gal tank? The 10" Oscar tolerates the 3" female Severum fine. I guess I just need to try it and pray, huh?


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## Tongue33

Beautiful Chocs. I have a few Coryphaenoides.


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## dwarfpike

Pics of the coryphaenoides!!! Pics pics pics pics!!!


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## RyanR

Pics of the coryphaenoides for sure!! 

Everyone else: Where do your chocolates "sleep" at night? Our's "plays dead", right at the surface. :roll:

'sup with that? Earlier in this thread, when I thought I "killed" ours... turns out he was very probably doing his "sleep" routine. I almost gave him CPR. :lol:

-Ryan


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## cage623

*RyanR*,

My chocolate 'sleeps' in the tunel that I made. He shares it, not willingly, with my pictus cat.


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## RyanR

Thanks, Cage!

Our chocolate has gone from sleeping adrift at the surface to a more conventional hide out for the night: a big old sunken ship decoration. :zz:

-Ryan


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## cage623

*RyanR*

Well that sounds much less frightening.

I am glad that for now my chocolate and my GT seem to have stopped their gill flaring. I say for now because I know it could start up again at any moment or get even worse. I really enjoy both of these fish but know that the long term out look is never going to be great for them because I believe both of them to be males. Plus with cichlids being so unpredictable you never know what they are going to decide to do next, I think that is why I like them so much in the first place.

I am going to try to post up dated photos of my chocolate soon. Until then everyone else is free to keep the chocolate posts coming.


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## RyanR

Indeed! We're happy to see him acclimate to the hustle and bustle of our suddenly overstocked tank (a blackbelt rescue sort of pushed us into the red a bit sooner than we thought!).

Our chocolate is such a character... still only a couple inches long at most, yet at feeding time he cleverly weaves his way through the severums that simply dwarf him, then he'll grab a big floating cichlid stick (I stopped breaking them in half for him!) like a dog bone, then he'll zip off and gobble it. Rinse and repeat.

Just a funny little fish. 

Good luck with the chocolate and the GT. Could work out OK, you never know. I found that feeding our cichlids floating pellets one at a time for each fish kind of helped curb the aggression between our two male severums... keeps them from fighting for food, or guarding a bunch of it... and it's more fun for me. The floating sticks also help get more food into the fish and less of it winds up on the gravel. The pecking order seems to be pretty strong as to who gets to scavenge where at the bottom of the tank.

-Ryan


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## Voodoo Chilli

I got my first chocolate cichlid yesterday. He's tiny-- probably not quite 2 inches TL, but he's not got a scratch or torn fin on him and has already begun showing lots of personality. Very underrated species, in my opinion.


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## Orca33

hello everyone first time on the discussion boards. Very nice place lots of good info.
Im from dallas Tx

I currently have raised cichlids for close to 13 years now, keeping all sorts of combinations of cichlids together with lots of success, I think one of the keys is too have lots of deco in the tank that break up the veiw so the fish cannot see each other as well. They tend to leave each other alone more. I have a green terror and a chochloate living together just fine, they are both very dominate males. From time to time the power will shift to the chocolate being the more boss of the tank, then a couple weeks later the Green terror is the king. I have a lot of hinding places that help a bunch. So far they have been living peacefully for over 9 months now. It also helps that I have no females for my two boys to show for, but none the less they just keep to them selves. Now here is the interesting part, I introduced them all together with another choclate and 5 firemouths all as babies. Since then the only real aggression that I had to get in between was the two chocolate cichlids. Luckly I had another nice tank I could put the other fish in. But let me tell you!
They tore each other up real bad. The loser had some seriously deep wounds from fighting all over his head and body. I was worried I might of gotten to the battleground a little too late! But they are very tough fish both made full recoveries and are living happily in their own seprate tanks.

here are a few things that have been successful for me to curb aggression.
Keep them well fed with nutrious foods.
Good clean water all the time.
More filtration the better.
Lots and lots of places to hide.
Decide who is going to be the top dog early on and add your fish accordingly. here is my combination that I have.
Larger the tank the better (consider this, I have my cichlids in a 160 gallon. 50g for the GT and 50 for the CC.) 60 for the rest of the fish.) 6 firemouths they do better in small packs.
pairs of six large clown loaches, a frontosa, pair of jewel ciclids and a male peacock cichlid.
The fire mouths really are the key to keeping eveything balanced. They work as a group any time a larger more powerful fish decides to try to bully. For some reason any time a fish tries to be overly dominate, it goes for the alpha fish in the harem. In this case that would be the fire mouths. No one large single male cichlid can over take the fire mouth group, they simply get overwelmed and keep to themselves. And the best part of it is the firemouths are more show than go and when you have 6 angry FM in your face thats enough to back down too.

Ill post some pics later on
anyways cool pics on here of the chocolates.
Charlie


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## cage623

*Orca33*

Welcome. I can't wait so see some pics of your set up.


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## RyanR

This thread was too much fun to let it slide down to infinity... so I'll punt with some pictures of ours. 

This is the guy that we rescued last spring. Perhaps an inch long then, and all of his tankmates at the LFS had all succumbed to velvet disease. He was the last chocolate "standing". His last sibling had passed right when we got to the store. The LFS gave him to us. A little acriflavine, salt, lotsa water changes for a few weeks, and six months later he's about 5" long and doing great. A funny little guy. When he was in the other tank (and smaller!) he held a good sized swath of territory against a much larger black belt. He'd just show off his giant mouth, and the black belt would get frustrated and back down. :lol: The most recent "interesting" episode was when I bought a couple BN pleco's for the tank he's in. One of them was in the tank for about thirty seconds before it wound up headfirst in the chocolate's mouth :? ... with just the tip of the tail sticking out. Fortunately, the chocolate passed that bony meal just fine... and surprisingly his appetite never wavered. Gave me about 48 hours worth of worry though! :lol:

Hope everyone else's chocolates are doing well.

-Ryan










*Dinner time with the severums.....*


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## Voodoo Chilli

I bought my first choco back in July. I love the little guy. He's probably pushing 5 inches, so I guess he's not so little anymore. I'm amazed by his personality (he's already eating from my fingers) and by the huge changes in color he goes through.

I need to get some pics of him online to show him off.


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## TheFishGuy

I just picked up six more and six rotkiel severums...  Cute little guys


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