75 Gallon Tank Salvini Breeding Advice Please

Hi all. I have a 75 gallon tank with the only inhabitants being a male and female Salvini cichlid. My intention is for the two to grow into a breeding pair. However, the female is super mean and hardly lets the male see the light of day. He does get to eat some before she chases him away, but luckily there’s tons of cover in the tank for him to hide. The female is about 3.5”, with the male being maybe 2.5”. Looking for some advice…would things be different with a larger male, and try trading this little guy in? Or perhaps wait it out? The male isn’t really beat up, just can’t swim freely like she does.

 

I'd go with a bigger, more vibrant male Salvini if possible. That guy looks stressed & the color is faded.
Here's a pic of a mated pair I kept several years ago.

 

Thanks for the advice! That pic is a few weeks old too, when he was still what I would consider brighter. He’s pretty dark most of the time now, which helps him to hide really well. I’ll look into the trade-in.

I'd go with a bigger, more vibrant male Salvini if possible. That guy looks stressed & the color is faded.
Here's a pic of a mated pair I kept several years ago.
View attachment 858068

I see a spot on the gill plate of what looks to be your male. I thought this was a female trait only! It made me second guess if my ‘female’ is actually a male, but she has the dorsal blotch.

 

I see what you mean, both of A201’s fish have the gill spot. But I think the dorsal blotch is a more reliable indicator. Your male looks quite small, maybe the female is chasing him out of her territory in case a bigger, more mature male turns up. So swapping for a bigger male might be an option, or if you have another tank spare you could try separating them for a while. But if you do this the male still may be very shy and hide unless you add some dither fish.

Very nice tank by the way!

 

I see what you mean, both of A201’s fish have the gill spot. But I think the dorsal blotch is a more reliable indicator. Your male looks quite small, maybe the female is chasing him out of her territory in case a bigger, more mature male turns up. So swapping for a bigger male might be an option, or if you have another tank spare you could try separating them for a while. But if you do this the male still may be very shy and hide unless you add some dither fish.

Very nice tank by the way!

Thank you! My other tanks are a 10 and 15 gallon, so I’ll begin the search for the larger, more vibrant male. He was shy in the LFS, but I was hoping he’d do well in a much larger tank with less competition.

 

The quickest way would be to buy several more of both sexes and put them all together. It wouldn't be long before a pair formed then you could rehome the rest.

 

The quickest way would be to buy several more of both sexes and put them all together. It wouldn't be long before a pair formed then you could rehome the rest.

Good call. I’ll have to hope luck is on my side when it comes time to catch them…and this male. It’s not fun with all the plants in there .

 

My pictured male Salvini was in breeding mode displaying those awsome blue & red colors. He was the best male Salvini I ever kept.
The female Salvini color up bright yellow w/ the red belly spot when in breeding mode.

 

My pictured male Salvini was in breeding mode displaying those awsome blue & red colors. He was the best male Salvini I ever kept.
The female Salvini color up bright yellow w/ the red belly spot when in breeding mode.

A supplier here has these so called 'super red' variants. I don't know if the pic is an accurate representation but they certainly look stunning:

American Cichlid – Salvini Super Reds Cichlid (Rio Candelaria) 3cm – Aquarium Central

 

Wow, those are apparently line bred Salvini or juiced.
Really expensive. I think mine cost $3 bucks apiece. Of course that was several years ago.

 

A supplier here has these so called 'super red' variants. I don't know if the pic is an accurate representation but they certainly look stunning:

American Cichlid – Salvini Super Reds Cichlid (Rio Candelaria) 3cm – Aquarium Central

That red is so pretty!

 

That red is so pretty!

Yes. Not so good if they are juiced though...I have seen juveniles (as yet colorless) for sale here for around $5.

The wild ones are pretty impressive anyway. Here are some shots of some from Belize. The close up shot was in an aquarium, the wide shot in a natural lagoon, female with fry, quality not good on these photos as they are from the 1980s, scanned from slides but thought you might be interested...

 

Salvini are one of my all time favorite Cichlids. Not too big, colorful, hardy & only really aggressive towards conspecifics.
If you look into the background of my pictured Salvini pair, there are Black skirt Tetras. Lol

 

If you look into the background of my pictured Salvini pair, there are Black skirt Tetras. Lol

Slimmer tetras probably would not fare so well! But yes, nice fish, I have occasionally considered keeping them again, but my water here is very soft so I am sticking to South Americans...

 

Yes. Not so good if they are juiced though...I have seen juveniles (as yet colorless) for sale here for around $5.

The wild ones are pretty impressive anyway. Here are some shots of some from Belize. The close up shot was in an aquarium, the wide shot in a natural lagoon, female with fry, quality not good on these photos as they are from the 1980s, scanned from slides but thought you might be interested...
View attachment 858112View attachment 858113

Thank you for sharing!

 

The photo of the Rio Candelaria may have had the color juiced, but the fish probably aren't. I've been told that the further north you go, the redder the populations. I've had some plain ones, and I've had a pair with both sexes very colorful.




Eventually some smart aleck will probably decide that the populations represent different species. I think they just represent the variability of this one.

 

The photo of the Rio Candelaria may have had the color juiced, but the fish probably aren't. I've been told that the further north you go, the redder the populations. I've had some plain ones, and I've had a pair with both sexes very colorful.

View attachment 858116

Eventually some smart aleck will probably decide that the populations represent different species. I think they just represent the variability of this one.

So mine, from Belize, should be among the brightest then? They were brightly colored, but not quite like that photo. I am not sure where Rio Candelaria is.

 

Rio Candelaria is in Costa Rica. Perhaps I remembered it backwards, more color as you go South. My fish were simply an aquarium strain of unknown origin, back in the days before people realized that locations were important.

 

The quickest way would be to buy several more of both sexes and put them all together. It wouldn't be long before a pair formed then you could rehome the rest.

I have a similar situation where I picked a pair of salvini who were already breeding in a community tank at my LFS. They stuck together very well for about a week and now that the female is nesting she won't let the male near her cave. My LFS has many more salvini of similar size (have even seen another pair up, nest and protect together), could I add say three more and hope some magic happens? And if so could I then leave all salvini in the tank together indefinitely or might problems arise?

I am also looking to add a pair of nicaraguense cichlids. I feel like this would be the cap for mid sizers in a 90, but I am very new to CA cichlids.

 

I have a similar situation where I picked a pair of salvini who were already breeding in a community tank at my LFS. They stuck together very well for about a week and now that the female is nesting she won't let the male near her cave. My LFS has many more salvini of similar size (have even seen another pair up, nest and protect together), could I add say three more and hope some magic happens? And if so could I then leave all salvini in the tank together indefinitely or might problems arise?

I am also looking to add a pair of nicaraguense cichlids. I feel like this would be the cap for mid sizers in a 90, but I am very new to CA cichlids.

I think problems would occur. How big is your tank?

 

I think problems would occur. How big is your tank?

90 gallon corner, no plants, with a few pacu I'm temporarily growing for fun

 

I remember way back when growing out a Pacu. It didn't take very long to outgrow a 65 gal. tank. Lol. Thank goodness the pet store took him back.

 

I remember way back when growing out a Pacu. It didn't take very long to outgrow a 65 gal. tank. Lol. Thank goodness the pet store took him back.

I've already talked with a few pet stores and they agreed to take them in for credit if they aren't more than 10'' which is probably a few months off.

 

Ok, I replaced the female with another that is about 2” in length. I would have liked to buy more to allow them to form pairs, but the only other LFS that had them didn’t look the healthiest.

I have the male currently in a 10 gallon tank from when I separated him from the previous aggressive and larger female. The male is probably close to 3” now. Do you recommend I put him in the 75 gallon with the female now, or allow her to get a little bigger first?

 

Give the female a week to settle in
then reintroduce the male.