# Mayan Cichlid in Marine Aquaria



## mbargas (Apr 19, 2009)

It is well known that the Mayan Cichlid is frequently found in brackish water, and sometimes in full strength seawater, but what about compatibility? Has anyone kept them with similar sized reef fishes?


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## Bobbitworm13 (Jun 14, 2016)

I have experience with aggressive saltwater fish but not with mayans. A few questions would help me make suggestions on fish. What size tank do you have? Fish only or reef (I doubt theses guys would be good in a reef)? What kind of fish are you wanting?


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## FireHorn123 (Apr 16, 2017)

Im pretty sure die in a full on saltwater tank. As far as brackish I'm not too sure but I think I read somewhere that Mayans can be found in mangrove swamps and can tolerate brackish.


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## Bobbitworm13 (Jun 14, 2016)

Idk about them dying in saltwater, I've seen them on reefs in Miami and my friend caught one the other day fishing for snapper


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## thornsja19 (Feb 4, 2017)

Bobbitworm13 said:


> Idk about them dying in saltwater, I've seen them on reefs in Miami and my friend caught one the other day fishing for snapper


Well, there are species of fish in the wild that can acclimate to other water conditions for a short period of time, but then need to get back to their native waters or they die. For instance, bull sharks. They are a saltwater fish that can survive for a year or 2 swimming up freshwater rivers. But if they don't get back to the ocean after a certain period of time, they still die in fresh water. So I could definitely buy the fact that you've seen a brackish water fish in the ocean before, but idk if I'd be willing to say that that means it could live long term in a saltwater tank


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## Bobbitworm13 (Jun 14, 2016)

thornsja19 said:


> Bobbitworm13 said:
> 
> 
> > Idk about them dying in saltwater, I've seen them on reefs in Miami and my friend caught one the other day fishing for snapper
> ...


Bull sharks can actually go indefinitely in freshwater. There is a golf course in Australia that has bulls in a pond from the late 2000's and they are still kicking. Also, cichlids are close relatives of saltwater damselfish and I have seen tanks with African cichlids and tangs swimming side by side. The cool thing with fish is they can maintain osmotic balance(salinity inside them) for extended periods of time. To treat saltwater ich, a common practice is to lower the salinity to around 1.014 sg.


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## thornsja19 (Feb 4, 2017)

Bobbitworm13 said:


> thornsja19 said:
> 
> 
> > Bobbitworm13 said:
> ...


 I guess that course really doesn't want people getting their balls back out of the water... Hahaha


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## Gohloum (Nov 3, 2017)

Funny I see this post. I have Mayans, Jewels, and Convicts in my pond currently. They are from 100 feet away in the Imperial River here in Bonita Springs, Florida. I have waterfront property and about a year ago, came across something called 'micro fishing' using super small tackle to catch cichlids in South Florida, many of them being invasive species that were released in the wild.

I had a bunch of Sail-fin Mollies, Plattys, etc., but during Hurricane Irma, the waters rose and covered my pond and my fish escaped or died, but I still have my Bristle Nosed Pleco! He decided to hang around. In my first attempt to restock after Hurricane Irma, I took my kids out to the dock and we micro-fished for the current stock. The only thing I didn't catch was Oscars, which was my secondary target after the Jewels.

One of the Mayans I have is considerably larger than the others, probably around 5". Being wild, they are all kinda skittish, but when I feed them, they are starting to hit the surface instead of run when they see me. Unfortunately, I can't give you a lot of behavior on the Mayans, but my pond is fresh water and they are quite happy. Where I live on the river, there is very little salt water and it stratifies and lies below about 4 feet and the fresh stuff on top. This happens more in the winter when there is little rain and it wreaks havoc on the wild Plecos, as they are caught between the colder fresh water layer and can't survive the salty brackish layer. Therefore, every winter, I see a few big Plecos belly up floating downstream. But back to the Mayans, interestingly, I think the Convicts are more aggressive than the Mayans, at least as smaller fish. However, I rarely can catch an adult convict on a pole unless using a live worm. Mayans I can usually get to hit 3" Rapalas, or even surface poppers in the summer. Largest one I caught was about 14" on put up a heck of a fight on 10lbs class spin outfit from a kayak. Around breeding season, you could probably throw anything at them in their general nesting area and I think they would smack it just out of protecting the fry or territory.

... And this part some of you might get a little bothered by, but large Mayans are very tasty! But let it be known that I'm primarily a catch and release guy, I just had a lucky day last summer and boated several large Mayans and tried them on a friend's suggestion and some googling. Apparently large Oscars are quite delicious as well, but I've released the large ones I caught... Jewels are just too small, LOL!


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## mbargas (Apr 19, 2009)

FireHorn123 said:


> Im pretty sure die in a full on saltwater tank. As far as brackish I'm not too sure but I think I read somewhere that Mayans can be found in mangrove swamps and can tolerate brackish.


"Much research has been performed on salinity tolerance in the Mayan cichlid due to its potential as a food fish. In one study, juvenile Mayan cichlids lab- reared at 25° C in freshwater were slowly acclimated (2 ppt/day for four days at a time) to 30 ppt salinity without harm. Many survived when placed directly into salinities up to 37 ppt (Stauffer and Boltz 1994). Martinez-Palacios et al. have extensively investigated the physiology of the Mayan cichlid. They described successful acclimation up to salinities of 35 ppt by increasing salinity 5 ppt every 48 hours (Martinez-Palacios et al. 1990). They found the cichlids to be capable of withstanding direct transfer from freshwater to brackish water of 15 ppt at 28° C. However, half of the fish tested died within six days after being transferred directly to 24 ppt salinity. In order to find the salinity in which the fish grow best, fish were acclimated to saltwater concentrations of 0, 5, 10, 20, 30, and 35 ppt and grown out over long periods of time. They were found to grow best at the 10 and 20 ppt test salinities (Martinez-Palacios et al. 1990)."

From the following article
https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstrea ... s_2004.pdf


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## mbargas (Apr 19, 2009)

For those of you who are interested, here is a brief video of my setup with damsels and cichlids






I am considering adding other salt-tolerant cichlids like the Cuban and Haitian. Maybe also Tilapias.


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## FireHorn123 (Apr 16, 2017)

mbargas said:


> FireHorn123 said:
> 
> 
> > Im pretty sure die in a full on saltwater tank. As far as brackish I'm not too sure but I think I read somewhere that Mayans can be found in mangrove swamps and can tolerate brackish.
> ...


No idea what that means xD


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## mbargas (Apr 19, 2009)

No idea what that means?

Well, it means to me that they prefer salinities in the mid range (10-20 ppt or SG 1.0075 to 1.015) and many of them tolerate full strength seawater. Some even tolerate hypersaline conditions (37 ppt or SG 1.028)


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## joselepiu (Jul 22, 2017)

:thumb: :thumb: :thumb: ...


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## FireHorn123 (Apr 16, 2017)

mbargas said:


> No idea what that means?
> 
> Well, it means to me that they prefer salinities in the mid range (10-20 ppt or SG 1.0075 to 1.015) and many of them tolerate full strength seawater. Some even tolerate hypersaline conditions (37 ppt or SG 1.028)


That's crazy I never knew that thanks!


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## mbargas (Apr 19, 2009)

mbargas said:


> No idea what that means?
> 
> Well, it means to me that they prefer salinities in the mid range (10-20 ppt or SG 1.0075 to 1.015) and many of them tolerate full strength seawater. Some even tolerate hypersaline conditions (37 ppt or SG 1.028)


Here is an updated video of cichlids with damsels






PS: the Mayan was hiding out behind the rocks


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## mbargas (Apr 19, 2009)

next project is to add cuban cichlids (also salt-tolerant) to the tank and see how well they get along


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## mbargas (Apr 19, 2009)

Here's another update. I now have three different cichlids in saltwater with damsels: Mayan, Black Belt, and Cuban. They all seem to be getting along quite well:


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## joselepiu (Jul 22, 2017)

""This video is unavailable.

Sorry about that.""

   :? :? :?


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## mbargas (Apr 19, 2009)

Odd, I don't know why it is not available


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