CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

My Midas, Sampson, made me very angry yesterday.

Heh, I'm sure anyone here would agree that midas (red devils, etc..) are a pain.
I knew that this guy was going to cause problems but I didn't know I would have such a problem with it!
I'm so used to cichlids that I am used to setting up new tanks for meanies who can't get along. I'll normally wait a bit and see if it settles and then I go ahead and rehome the problem if it comes to it. Well, last night this bully was just not stopping on my poor severums.

I got the severums when they were so small you couldn't even tell I had fish in the tank. I'm talking barely two eighths of an inch. It is nifty having them at three and a half inches now but something came over me when my midas started trying to kill them! "Those were my babies and I just got you!" Went through my mind. I couldn't stand it! So poor Sampson the four inch midas got tossed in with my thirteen inch Oscars (T-Bone and Pork-Chop) last night. He is fine and dandy this morning so I'll let them hang while I work on getting him a tank. Maybe he needs a lesson in being chased.

I was just amazed at the maternal instincts that came out of me over the severums that I haven't even named yet! Too funny. You never know which ones will grab you by the heart strings I guess.  Now I'm really hoping that my severums are a pair. One has a lot more markings than the other but the other one has faint markings sometimes. Do females have any head markings at all?

My Midas's are in seperate tanks due to the same problem you had.. Severums are a push over and not that aggressive back to a bully like a Midas/RD.. The Midas can be kept with others but at 4 to 5" they just want the whole tank to them selves.. I would love to have more with them and them with others, but it is not to be.. YOU would need a huge tank of 150 gal and up before that can happen AND NO FEMALES!! Spawning triggers more aggression,, and then that is not a guarantee of them all getting along.. I know some one (he joined Stillearninis site recently) who had 5 to 6 monster Midas in a 250 gal tank.. The lead male is like 14".. Can you amagine seeing  a 14" midas??  NOW the tail is not surposed to be counted in a measurement, but  even without the tail, that is still a huge Midas!!  it is not only how LONG but highth here that makes them so big.. MY male should get bigger as I now have him in a 75 gal.. Daddy Midas and his mate were in a 55 gal for years.. He WAS at 12" long+ tail, she is smaller at 9" or so.. Size of the tank does matter on growth I have learnded as I have had Oscars and other big cichlids in small tanks, 55 gal and when I increased the tank size they like grew 2" to 3" more within MONTHS of being in the bigger tank... Can't wait for mine to get this big!! I think!! 

Sampson is fine in with the huge Oscars. They don't chase him and he doesn't chase them so I'll let it go for now. He can take over that tank when I get my Oscars their huge tank. If he starts in on the Oscars though I don't know what I'll do. Those were my first original big babies. I love those guys.