Anyone Keeping A. Robertsoni?

[marge618]

I've been following another forum about A. Robertsoni. Seems to be a beautiful fish. Cichlid-forum has a profile as well. If you have these beauties please share.

How long have you kept these fish?
What dithers or tankmates do you use?

I have a pair of JD. How do they compare?

Oh yeah = Please include pictures!

Later,
Marge

 

[dogofwar]

Robertsoni are also called Blue Sifters. They're very shy and relatively peaceful for central americans. Giving them cover and dither tankmates helps with shyness, but they're definitely not interactive like some cichlids.

My experience is that they grow very slowly. I had a group of four (1" fish) that I kept with some goodeids in a 40g tank. After over a year, the fish were only 2-4". They grow to about 8", but I've only seen a couple of non-wild fish that size...and it takes some time.

I'm not sure that JD's are good tankmates, unless (maybe) they're Electric Blue JD's which are generally more delicate. They would be good with Geophagus, smaller acaras, and other similar fish.

Robertsoni are pretty fish and are available from Jeff Rapps (and probably other places).

 

[marge618]

Robertsoni sound a bit mild for cichlids. They seem to be well named as 'Blue Sifters' spending so much time sifting and moving sand. Are they timid or wary of people or do they just go their own way and ignore us? From the pics they look to be a very attractive fish.

I wasn't planning to house them with JD. Just comparing them as they seem to be close to the same size.

Thanks for the info.

Later,
Marge

 

[dogofwar]

Resurrecting an old thread!

There's one of the biggest and nicest Robertsoni that I've ever seen at SCALES right now. Probably close to 10-11" and pretty beefy. From experience growing one to that size is not easy (or fast).

Someone grab him before he's gone.

 

[Mikeinco]

They do grow very slowly. It took mine 3 years to reach about 7 inches. Mellow for a Central American and takes most foods. A relatively easy fish to keep in a community tank with other Centrals of similar temperment. They show alot of aggression to other Robertsoni's so if you get a group you'll see aggression. Thats really the only way aside from getting a proven pair to form a couple though.