# green terror project.



## donk232 (Sep 5, 2012)

6" 125 gallon tank. i want 1 not super aggressive male gt to go in the tank with my other fish.
1 convict
1 seng bichir
1 saddle bichir
1 featherfin catfish
a few danoes
1 rainbow shark
1 black shark 
1 gt
i bought 4 gts at about 2" i cant tell gender but i have my guess on each. so im just waiting for them to grow. one is a silver saum(male), and 3 gold saums(2 male 1 female). Every one is being fed NLS and brine shrimp/spiralina treats.
here are pics along with gender guess. plz help me sex.
small male








large male








male silver








female


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## thanemesis (Jul 21, 2012)

they look like females at the moment but looks like they are still to young to say


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## thanemesis (Jul 21, 2012)

i personally wouldnt put a terror in with anything other then terrors because they are very territorial and will destroy anything in its housing area and they are bullys .. just be aware of loosing some of your fish is a strong possibility and is inevitable


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## thanemesis (Jul 21, 2012)

male terrors like most cichlids have a big lump on there head .. thats the real only way to tell .. not by fins or a certain pattern


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## donk232 (Sep 5, 2012)

Yeah I assume the gt will potentially be a terror. So they all look like females? I thought 2 looked the same and one was less colorful. Then the silver Saum just minds its own business while the other 3 chase each other


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## thanemesis (Jul 21, 2012)

thats why they are called terrors ... all your pics are of females .. personally .. maybe when they mature then you will find out if they are male or female


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## donk232 (Sep 5, 2012)

How are all 4females that is less then a 1% likelihood.


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## thanemesis (Jul 21, 2012)

because there is no bump on head to say its a male .. these are 2 inch terrors .. its to early to say if its male nor female but as of now in the pics .. there is 4 females .. fish produce more females then males .. thats just fish evolution .. sorry if your facts are wrong .. montell would tell you the same as tons of other people on this site and others .. if this sounded cocky its not .. just want this person to know facts and not be misled like on other wap websites .. i know because im a member of alot of forums .. monsterfishkeepers .. xd .. < - means a smily face .. vote if you haven't


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## montellp (Jun 9, 2012)

all males dont get the hump or for a while at least mine dosnt
















my old female you can see the color diffrence


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## montellp (Jun 9, 2012)

and notice the orange around the dorsal is thiner on the female


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## thanemesis (Jul 21, 2012)

but they still get the hump ..no pun intended


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## montellp (Jun 9, 2012)

mine has never gotten one i dont think he will he is the domonant fish in the tank over a 9 inch female red terror the only compotition to him and only thing he gets is more color


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## thanemesis (Jul 21, 2012)

thats odd .. my cichlid book said that a green terror has a hump on its head to be a male and that was really the only way of telling .. besides it laying eggs .. then u know its a definite female


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## thanemesis (Jul 21, 2012)

i googled how to sex a terror and number one hit was ... 
Males will start a hump or bump on the head. Females will not. This should be happening in the next few months as GTs are slower growing till they hit about 4-5 inches. Do you have Saums or the regular GT. The regular ones, males will tend to be more colorful as well. They are also very nice fish, seemingly more aggressive than the Saums IMO.


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## thanemesis (Jul 21, 2012)

my terror is a Aequidens rivulatus .. the true green terror ... sounds like donks are fake terrors as i googled terrors and there is 5 terrors all being blue or green .. but one true green terrors is Aequidens rivulatus .. thats how you can tell a Aequidens rivulatus is a male is by the bump on the head .. point being .. terrors are evil and not to be with smaller fish


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## thanemesis (Jul 21, 2012)

As you can see, there is a "true" Aequidens rivulatus, which is yet another species.

Geographically we are talking about different areas too. Peru highlands on the west side for true green terrors, and Ecuador as a rule for saums. see above website for specifics.

Aggression-wise, green terrors (the saums in particular) are extremely variable. You can get a psycho or a peaceful fish, so comparing 'attitude' between species doesn't work.


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## thanemesis (Jul 21, 2012)

sorry .. i been googling green terrors and info on them for the last 6 months .. i have books and everything on them .. i was a previous nurse shark breeder but now im into green terrors and soon to get a true red terror and try to cross breed them .. if my posts seem rude or cocky .. i dont mean to be that way .. hard to say things in type vs words in person ..


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## thanemesis (Jul 21, 2012)

If you purchase a juvenile Green terror cichlid, it might not be green yet. The colors will develop when the fish matures; young Green terror cichlids are always camouflaged by a tan base color with silvery blue speckles. If the colors of your adult Green terror cichlid start to fade, there is most likely something wrong with the water quality in the aquarium. Sufficient filtration and frequent water changes is necessary to prevent the Green terror cichlid from turning dull. 
As recognized from many other cichlid species, the male Green terror cichlid features a large and prominent head with a big hump (a so called nuchal hump). Adult fishes of both sexes have long and flowing fins that add to their beauty. The body of is deep and oval. The caudal fin is rounded. 
Male Green terror cichlids can grow up to 30 centimeters (12 inches) in length, but this is quite uncommon and roughly 20 centimeters (8 inches) is a more reasonable expectation. The largest females grow up to 20 centimeters (8 inches), while a majority of the females stay smaller than 15 centimeters (6 inches). Some studies indicate that a sub-species of Aequidens rivulatus might exist, and this is a dwarf variant that never becomes bigger than 13 centimeters (5 inches)....... all my info came from aquaticcommunity.com/cichlid/grenterror


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## montellp (Jun 9, 2012)

lol i read all up and down on gt better ways to sex then the hump is males get longer flowing fins better color and the banding is more is thicker we all have the same terror rivulatus aka fals green terror cichlid 
this is a real green terror cichlid NOT MY FISH


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## donk232 (Sep 5, 2012)

these are gold saums and the one is a "silver saum" sorry for the confusion. although not real green terrors. they are just known as green terrors here.


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## montellp (Jun 9, 2012)

false silver saums look diff to see








they look just like the gold saum just white edging


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## bluejack23 (Jan 23, 2012)

There are more ways to sex a fish than bump or no bump. Just because a book, the web, ect. Say simething doesnt mean thats the case 100% of the time. I agree with montell about the hump. *** had a few males hit 8 inch with no hump. On the other hand I just posted a pic on my "torn between cichlids" thread of a 3.5 inch terror starting to get a hump. Id say wait till they get excited and yoy will be able to tell by observing sexual organs.


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## bluejack23 (Jan 23, 2012)

+1 montell very good info. I too have read up and down on them and even had a couple breading pairs (all young, no hump)


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## thanemesis (Jul 21, 2012)

> Just because a book, the web, ect doesnt mean thats the case 100%


very true .and this is why there is forums .. to dis-guess topics .. share intel and grow as a aquatics community .. i even seen a few cichlid females with a bump . i just try to do my part and give what info i know to help the person who started the topic .. that dont mean its 100 because almost nothing is 100 percent .. just like on here on the diy section .. i tried to make a overflow box .. did what it said and i couldnt get it to work .. point in hand .. almost nothing verbally , typed or written is 100 percent ... unless ur a mr or mis know it all who thinks they are a god and above other people ..


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## BC in SK (Aug 11, 2012)

Green terror is a common name. Sort of silly to debate whether one is a 'false' or a 'true' green terror, as green terror is what these fish are commonly known as. The 'goldsaum' (and it's white finned variant sometimes called a 'white saum') are most commonly called, and sold by the name green terror.

Montellp's first picture is the recently decribed Andinoacara stallsbergi. It can be easily distinguished from other green terrors by it's reverse scale pattern. Montellp's second picture, according to the Cichlid Room Companion (CRC), is Andinoacara rivulatushttp://www.cichlidae.com/gallery/species.php?id=4 As stated in this profile, fin trim is a polymorphic character.....some populations of A. rivulatus have exclusively white or orange fin trim; some locations have a variety of fin trim colors with in the same population. According to the CRC, there are only 2 species of green terror-type fishes. Andinoacara rivulatus which includes the commonly available 'goldsaum' and 'white saum'; more commonly known as green terrors. And Andinoacara stalsbergi, easily distinguished by it's reverse scale pattern.....not very common in the hobby; not available from most LFS but rather usually obtained from importers such as Jeff Rapps.


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## thanemesis (Jul 21, 2012)

messed up that there is 6 different green terrors .. there should only be one and call the others something else .. just my opinion .. ohh and i have a orange and a white Aequidens rivulatus .. what (brand) is your montell ?


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## Chromedome52 (Jul 25, 2009)

As usual, searching the Internet for information on a subject is only going to give you a lot of conflicting data. On the subject of Green Terrors, I'd say about 90% is incorrect.

Search this forum and the identification forum for posts by Cichlid Power; that's Alf Stalsberg's name on this and other forums. His opinion is that the Red/White Saums are not _Andinoacara rivulatus_, but _A. aequinoctalis_. Since there has not yet been any paper published to re-establish the validity of this name (it was synonymized to _A. rivulatus_ long ago), the CRC uses the conclusions reached in the paper describing _A. stalsbergi_.

Alf has a website http://www.lem.net/alf/css-index-eng.htm with information about these species; unfortunately, the english version on _Andinoacara _seems to have vanished, and there is only a Norse version.


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## thanemesis (Jul 21, 2012)

good info on that link .. thank you .. i couldnt find my particular species of terror but none the less .. it was cool to see people hand catching these fish vs hook and line .. keep the hobby alive and to preserve cichlids because they are turning endangered one at a time .. terrors 4 life .. thanemesis


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