# Salvini shy



## Japtastic (Jan 21, 2008)

Hi,

My salvini is really shy and I have never seen him move out of one area of the tank, he stays in a cave and only really comes out to eat, very quickly darting in and out, or chase the JD or convict away from his area, he always wins any face off's...

The tank is a 63g with:

JD 3 females 2.5" and 1 male 4"

Convicts 3 females 2.5-3" 1 male 3.5"

Salvini 1 4" female (pic below)

5 Dither red eye tetra

Generally aggresion in the tank is minimal, obviously I will be removing all but the Sal and male JD when they grow up as there wont be enough room for them, I'm happy to remove the extra now if it would help but as every one gets on I don't think it is that?

Is there anything I can do to make the sal a bit more confident or is it just personality?

Cheers


----------



## lil mama (Nov 24, 2007)

I have a female Sal in my 125g and she does the same things and has been for several months. She flirts with my male Firemouth shamelessly. Other than that and eating she hides all the time. The Firemouth and all the Convicts in the tank are out all the time. I would love to know if this is normal behavior too? Thanks for the post Japtasic.


----------



## CiChLiD LoVeR128 (Mar 22, 2006)

Yes, this is normal behavoir. Salvini are very skitish and shy fish. They only come out to chase away intruders, eat, spawn, and other. They should come out though I mean if you have Salvini that is ALWAYS hiding and RARELY comes out then I would say the Salvini has a parasite or disease.

Overtime they should be a little more open. They should come out more and be more relaxed when they come out to eat. I would just say observe them and make sure they look and act normal.

By the way BEAUTIFUL Female Salvini Japtastic!!    :thumb:


----------



## Japtastic (Jan 21, 2008)

Well I'm glad it's not just me 

It's such a shame she is not out because she is so beautiful would be great to see her swimming about :thumb:


----------



## xXGrEeNxTeRrOrXx (Jan 25, 2006)

She is a beauty. I'll say +1 as far as salvini being shy. I have 1 5-5 1/2 inch female in a 75g tank. Her only tankmates are a 12 inch oscar (who rarely shows any type of aggression) and one spotted pictus catfish. I see her occasionally, but I would say a large majority of her time is spent hiding behind a large piece of driftwood I have in the tank. Like you said, it is a shame.


----------



## Big Vine (Feb 26, 2007)

I agree.
My salvini have always been much more 'reclusive' than any other CA I've kept.
It lends somewhat of a mysterious aura to them---predator lurking in the shadows...
BUT...as gorgeous as they can be, it'd sure be nice if we saw them more often!

IMO salvini are best showcased as a breeding pair in a tank all to themselves.
(which gives the added benefit of allowing you to see a bunch of their offspring together in growout tanks...assuming of course that you intend to raise them)

In your particular situation it would probably be fine to leave everyone in there for the time being, but I'd be a little worried about the crapola hitting the fan when the convicts and JDs (but especially the convicts) decide to breed. For that reason, I'd probably go ahead and remove the male con for the sake of avoiding all the headaches associated with breeding cons. More than likely the JDs---if/when they decide to pair up---won't be springing any fry on you anytime soon, so I wouldn't be quite as worried about breeding-related issues with them.

All in all it looks like you've got a good handle on things, and you've got one heck of a gorgeous salvini female! :thumb: 
BV


----------



## fishghost (Jul 27, 2003)

Well maybe my Sals are abnormal, but mine are quite active and outgoing. I've got a pair in with a GT, three striped catfish, giant danios and tiger barbs. They only get skittish when GT is being an A$$ (taking him to LFS on Saturday)


----------



## Japtastic (Jan 21, 2008)

Thanks for the comments guys it has put my mind at rest, Big Vine you spoke to late! The convicts and JD's have had several spawns now producing probably 500+ fry between them! I always remove the fry after 7 days of free swimming and now have several grow out tanks running that the MRS hates!

The convicts always seem to spawn the other side of the tank from the sal and the JD's don't seem aggresive at all about their fry, only if something tries to enter the clay pot that they are in.

Update: I have returned the male convict and 1 female JD and Con just so aggression when spawning doesn't occur, hopefully this will encourage the sal to come out a bit more?


----------



## xXGrEeNxTeRrOrXx (Jan 25, 2006)

fishghost said:


> Well maybe my Sals are abnormal, but mine are quite active and outgoing. I've got a pair in with a GT, three striped catfish, giant danios and tiger barbs. They only get skittish when GT is being an A$$ (taking him to LFS on Saturday)


The difference is you have a pair, and we all have solos. Like BV stated, Salvini are best displayed as a breeding pair in a tank to themselves.


----------



## xXGrEeNxTeRrOrXx (Jan 25, 2006)

Japtastic said:


> Update: I have returned the male convict and 1 female JD and Con just so aggression when spawning doesn't occur, hopefully this will encourage the sal to come out a bit more?


I doubt it will help personally, but it is worth a shot. Hopefully she will become more active.


----------



## CiChLiD LoVeR128 (Mar 22, 2006)

> The difference is you have a pair, and we all have solos.


You should say most of us :lol:. Because I have a pair as well but I also have 2 Females in my 40 gal.

But I agree with BV when they are paired you get the better deal! The coloration is better and you get to see them a whole lot more.


----------



## raycam01_au (Apr 25, 2006)

i have my pair by them selves currently in a 7x2x2.5 tank lots of driftwood and a couple of big pots, they are always out and about patrolling the tank, beautiful looking fishes  i will have a few other fish going in soon 
but imo one of the prettiest fish around  :thumb: :thumb: 
nice pic of yours matey its a stunner
Ray


----------



## Big Vine (Feb 26, 2007)

Japtastic said:


> Big Vine you spoke to late! The convicts and JD's have had several spawns now producing probably 500+ fry between them!


Woops! I should have known.  
Matter of fact, I do remember seeing that you were breeding convicts, but somehow I thought they were in a different (smaller) setup, and I guess I didn't connect the dots to figure out that we were talking about the same fish here, lol. :roll:

I also didn't realize that it was working out well as-is with all the breeding going on in there.
Had I known this, I would have probably recommended just leaving everyone in there. As xXGrEeNxTeRrOrXx said, removing those fish you mentioned probably won't help much...but you never know. Personally I find it best to just stick with whatever seems to be working, but it can often take some adjustments to find out what's best.

Hopefully things will continue to work out in that setup. :thumb: 
BV


----------

