# H. Multispinosa or C. Panamensis experiences?



## rebel2004nay (Dec 3, 2008)

Has anyone kept Herotilapia Multispinosa (rainbow cichlid) or Cryptoheros (formally Neetroplus, now Archocentrus) Panamensis? If so, can you share your experiences? Were they terribly aggressive? Do you think they can be kept in a large (75g) tank with some tetras, barbs, etc, without killing them? Were they easy to spawn? Did they mess with or eat your live plants?

I'm trying to decide between these two species. I've done a lot of researching, but I still want more information and experiences.


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## duaneS (Aug 31, 2006)

I've kept and bred panamense and found them to very mild compared to most cichlids. They were a bit aggressive with others of their own species (dominant male against other males) but never bothered anything else in the 125 they were housed in.
some phone cam shots
















if you squint you can almost see the eggs in the pot, the female is near.


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## jcushing (Apr 6, 2008)

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/h ... pinosa.php


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## RyanR (Apr 29, 2008)

Rainbows are awesome. Fairly peaceful, beautiful, and *tons* of personality. Small enough to slide under the "territory" radar of our larger cichlids. We have dwarf acaras, and the rainbows are much more outgoing. I'm not sure if ours have paired... I think our "female" is turning out to be a male. :lol:

-Ryan


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## rebel2004nay (Dec 3, 2008)

Duane and Ryan:

Did you guys ever keep your fish with any smaller fish, like tetras? If so, how did your fish act towards them? I imagine they wouldn't try to harm larger cichlids but I'm worried about small fish. Also, did you keep any live plants? I'm a stickler for plants and I don't want a cichlid that's going to shred or eat them (at least not too badly). I'm a little worried about this because rainbows apparently eat a mostly plant-based diet, or so I've read.

I think both of these fish are beautiful. Based on looks, I slightly prefer the panamensis, but I want to take personality and aggression into account as well before choosing.


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## RobD213 (Mar 2, 2006)

*** kept my pair of rainbows with smallish tetras, bascially nothing smaller then will fit in their mouth easily, however they tend to ignore everything else in the tank but manage to stand up to the larger fish when they need to.

I have also found they are an incredibly hardy fish and have out lived the odd disaster in my tank on more than one occasion.

Here is my pair in their hay day. The smaller of the 2 is on her last legs now but the other is still pretty stunning.


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## Hrafen (Feb 19, 2005)

A 75 gallon would take a pair of each with little problem but long term this would probably be your cichlid capacity.

Plants in general terms

Right, Rainbows and plants. Rainbows will eat plants at times. The only plant I have known them leave is Java Fern. Pretty much anything else may well get nibbled. But.... Rainbows seem to prefer cucumber, courgette, marrow. Live Bloodworm and pretty much anything else. The other issue with Rainbows and plants is Rainbows will almost certainly not allow plants near their spawning site. Plants hide predators. They will not eat these plants, they will remove or destroy them. A common Rainbow strategy is to grab the base of the stem and barrel roll.

Archocentrus / Cryptoheros genus and plants. Mostly they don't care about plants. These fish will dig, so there are places where plants will be dug up. They will only dig near their spawn site, ideally a cave. A little further away and the plants will not only be ignored, but will be within zone where Rainbows would not be welcome.

So yes, you can have plants. It is about learning where they will be ok. Hope this helps


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## duaneS (Aug 31, 2006)

I kept small, young, grow out cichlids with panamense without a problem(Tilapia bythobates). The panamense have very small mouths used for grubbing around in the substrate for food, not for catching and eating fish.
And because they spend most of their time near the bottom, midwater swimmers like tetras or barbs would be out of their way most of the time.


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## rebel2004nay (Dec 3, 2008)

Thanks guys, you've been super helpful. After I get my tank set up and cycled, I'm looking forward to finding some of these fish. I might give both of them a try, arranging the tank to create separate territories. Hopefully I can find some rainbows of the orange morph and some nice red panamensis.

Anyone else who has experiences with either of these fish, feel free to comment. There's no such thing as too much (accurate) input.


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## MidNightCowBoy (May 7, 2007)

I have a 75 gallon with 6 rainbows and I'm waiting for a pair. I also have quite a few tetras and the rainbows don't bother with them at all.

Right now I'm a little bummed with my Rainbows as they have become very skittish and lost their nice coloration. When I first got them they were completely fearless and very colorful. Now that they have reached maturity they have dulled down their colors and they run and hide anytime someone walks by the tank. They will only come out when I feed them. I'm pretty sure I have a dominant male as he keeps his coloration and all of the others stay dull. Hopefully he pairs up soon so I can remove the others and then my tank will be how I want it to be.


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## Hrafen (Feb 19, 2005)

Rainbows seem go through cycles, colour rises and fades over time. This seems to be normal for them.


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## Hrafen (Feb 19, 2005)

rebel2004nay, a pair of each in a 75 gallon would imo be fantastic.

The easy way is to set the tank up, break up line of sight a bit and have a central feature, something large because this will help define territory.

Add 6 of each.

Wait.

Remove the excess when you have a pair of each. Careful here, make certain you remove the right ones.

Let the two pairs settle in.

Replant what they dig up into areas they allow plants to be in.

Oh, and a plant tip. The Archocentrus / Cryptoheros group rarely, if ever, bother plants rooted on bogwood or rock.


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## Ichy (Oct 26, 2003)

Hello , I've kept both the panamense( and still ahve them ) and the rainbows ( years ago ). 
My panamense are big time diggers. I've only kept most of my cichlids in species tanks. I have kept them with smaller fish though . I like to add in goodeids as dither. Right now i have xenotoca with some HRP and amecas with some nanoluteus.
I would like to mix my panamnese and nanos someday, i'd like to try it with fry from my pairs in a 110 gallon and raise them up together and see what happens

Sorry for all my babble , jsut wanted to add that my experiance is that panamense in a planted tank might not go too well . I mean mine are serious diggers.... i dont even bother trying to keep their pits filled anymore.... often times they'll even move all the gravel from the back and mound it in front so high ya cant see them


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