# A. metae -- Yellow Acara -- basic questions



## Shamus (Aug 22, 2008)

Hello!

I bought 4 A. metae on a sort of whim at my LFS in June or July. I say sort of a whim, because I did pull up the species profile from Cichlid Forum on a borrowed sidekick before believing the fish salesman, but I didn't do my normal research.

At the time, I had a bristlenose pleco, Synodontis angelicus, and 9 Penguin tetras in a 40 gallon long. The profile and what I read when I got them home all said that yellow acaras were peaceful. Within three days, all penguin tetras were consumed. The fish beat on each other rather constantly, which makes them seem more like neets or rainbow cichlids in temperament. I thought perhaps they'd pushed green terrors on me, but from all the pics I've seen online, I think I actually have A. metae.

I have a few questions:

1) How big do they get? the species profile on this site says 4", and based on that, I thought they would be good as the sole cichlids in my 40L. Most other sites say bigger than that. I think the majority go with 5", but I've seen claims of them going to 8". If anyone here has raised them to maturity, let me know where on that spectrum they land. The way the ones I've got are growing, I'm thinking that it's not 4.

2) What are suitable tank-mates for A. metae? I usually pair S. Americans with tetras, but obviously that didn't work. I thought that a paradise fish would hold it's own, but the one I got wasn't even an inch long, and was eaten in a day. for compatibility, water is soft and clean, and holds at pH 6.7. Has anyone had success with non-cichlid species with A. metae?

3) how do I sex them? I assumed that out of the 4, I'd get a pair, but I don't think that's happening, and if I have to get rid of some, I just want to make sure I at least keep the opposite sexes around.

Thanks,

Shamus


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## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

One of our pet stores actually had metae's?? Wow, coolbeans.

1) Unfortantely metae's can get up to 10" ... and will eat anything that can fit in their mouth.

2) True acaras are deffinately rough customers too, think green terror in terms of aggression. Rough for south americans, mild compared to centrals. Silver dollars large enough not to be eaten should be good, can go with pike cichlids too. Though I doubt a 40 long would be big enough for other cichlids.

3) sexing is best by venting, fin extensions can be misleading with metae but might be accurate, hard to say with true acaras.


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## Joels fish (Nov 17, 2007)

I was contemplating getting some as well, but haven't been able to find a great deal of info either. What I have found is that average adult size is around 7", They are suposed to be about as aggressive as firemouths, and are predators so anything small enough to be eaten will be. Otherwise care is similar to other acaras. 
For sexing, venting is the only way I know of to properly sex them . Tank mates should be robust but not aggressive themselves and big enough to not look like snacks. Other than that, I can't help you much .


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## btate617 (Apr 24, 2008)

Aequidens metae are great fish i my opinion. I had 6 in a 6' 90gal. pretty peachful I thought, but could be a little nasty from time to time. Had mine for over 2 years before trading out. If you plan on breeding, the only thing that worked for me was...... I got 4 spawnes from mine and before each spawn I had to shock them with about 8 degree cooler water during a water change.I tried to get eggs w/o a shock and never did, but when I thought it was close to time for them and shocked them it always worked for me. And the bigger ones in my group were 6-7" smaller ones around 5". Just my 2cents, hope it helps. Also in one of the pics there is an A. Tetramerus, at least to the best of my knowledge that is what it turned out to be.


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## Shamus (Aug 22, 2008)

Thanks for the information on A. metae

I picked them up at The Fish Store on Roosevelt, which often gets some interesting cichlids. They had a breeding pair of Rainbows there which I passed up for the A. metae. I did that because I understood that rainbows like harder water than seattle tap, though it turns out a friend had a pair that were breeding like crazy in a 29 gallon with water specs exactly as mine. They probably would have been the better choice.

Sounds like I've got too much fish for my tank. I'll probably start looking around for someone that has space, or bring them back to the orphan tank at the Fish Store.

Shamus


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