daffodil cichlid aggression?

[Digital]

Is aggression among daffodil common? I thought I had seen that it is a great fish to stock by itself. The aggressive behavior would be towards non species in the tank. I came home and found one of the smaller daffs fairly chewed up.

It survived and is recovering. I bet it takes forever for the lacy tail to grow back, if ever.

Is this normal when keeping these by themselves? I thought this was one of the few species that didn't beat itself up on a regular basis?

 

[Frank Cowherd]

If you get a pair, they will kill all of their siblings, but all of their fry, and there can be numerous batches, will all get along. They live for a couple or more years, so the tank will be stable for a long time. That is until one of the pair dies or jumps out. Then you get a fair number of dead fish until a new pair becomes dominant. You might then still loose a few but it seems the rest will all get along even with any new fry.

 

[Digital]

Thanks, Frank. I have yet to figure out how to sex these. I picked up 4 at an auction. The largest has the best coloring and longest fins. The survival of fhe fittest is one of the hardest parts of the hobby

 

[Digital]

Frank, what do you think? This is a male?

 

[Frank Cowherd]

I cannot say I know how to sex them either. Even when I know there is only a pair in the tank. Fortunately they seem to know.

Nice picture BTW

 

[Jim Anderson]

Frank described them very well. Once they start to breed they will continue to breed and the offspring will defend the new spawns. At the beginning once they pair off they will possibly kill off others in the tank unless you have a large long tank. Very cool pretty fish with great color and long fins. Enjoy and be ready to find homes for all of the offspring.

 

[Digital]

My son almost did a flip when he saw the first batch of fry the other night. They had laid a hidden batch of eggs in one of the pipes. It is neat watching the 3 guard the fry. I'm assuming 1m and 2f, but i can't tell. There is a recovering daffodil and some other miscellaneous haps in the 40g tank next to this one. It is amazing how they do try to position themselves between the neighboring tank and the fry when they get close to the glass. First batch is about 40 fry.