# Schooling cichlids



## SGT Z (Jul 7, 2010)

I just moved my 3 cichlids to a new tank. They are an oscar, blood parrot, and some type of Aulonocara I'm guessing. I've read that almost all female Aulonocara look alike, so I have no idea which kind she is. There were already 6 neon tetras (future lunch) in the new tank. As of right now, they are ignoring the tetras and schooling. It's kind of cute (is it okay for a guy to say "cute"?) seeing these 3 different kinds of fish schooling. They're all juveniles right now, so I'm sure it won't last. I just thought it was cute and wanted to share.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Almost all cichlid fry will school for a while. They grow out of it at different ages. Female aulonocara will make "brooding" schools. After they spawn, all the brooding mothers will swim around together and release the fry all at once to give each one a better chance.


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## SGT Z (Jul 7, 2010)




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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

very cute--


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## Peeps (May 24, 2010)

It's cute a guy says cute, so yes. I love your oscar. Very pretty. Those neons will eventually get eaten by the oscar.


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## Corwin (May 23, 2010)

I like the smaller grey one ... one of these days ill have to try African chiclids. Its really too bad you cant mix African and North American


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## SGT Z (Jul 7, 2010)

Oscar looks smaller in the picture because of the angle he was at, but he's bigger than Goldie now. She still gets annoyed by him. He still follows her everywhere, and the little African Cichlid still follows Oscar eveywhere. They're quite a trio.

The tetras didn't last as long as I thought. All 6 I had bought to help start cycling the tank were in there before bedtime. I saw Oscar try to chase them a few times and fail miserably. They were much too fast. However, today they are all gone. They must sleep at night for him to be able to catch them and eat every one. Oh well, they served their purpose.


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## Hoyo12 (May 18, 2009)

Corwin said:


> I like the smaller grey one ... one of these days ill have to try African chiclids. Its really too bad you cant mix African and North American


lol, you can! Just need to watch the aggression levels and what not. I've done some crazy Cichlid combos, with good results. 


I don't see them sticking together for very long. The Oscar will eventually claim dominance, and rule the tank. But that shouldn't be too big of a deal; never really seemed to be an issue for me, unless someone new was added...


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## SGT Z (Jul 7, 2010)

Yeah, I'm not going to add anyone new. All three were introduced at the same time, so I'm hoping for the best. The parrot I'm not worried about. The grey one I've never named because 4 inches is about as big as she'll get and probably will get eaten someday. I'm hoping that because they'll have been together so long that Oscar will continue to let her tag along with him. Hey, maybe they'll make babies.


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## SGT Z (Jul 7, 2010)

Silly cichlids. The oscar is growing so fast now that he's twice as big as the blood parrot. They still swim together a lot, but about once per day the blood parrot will attack the oscar relentlessly for about 20-30 minutes despite being half the size. The oscar just swims around like a dummie taking it. I noticed today a few grey spots where it looks like he's missing scales. I just can't believe he lets himself get pushed around like that by a smaller fish.


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## SGT Z (Jul 7, 2010)

After 6 months the honeymoon is finally over. Oscar is now the king of the tank, sorta. Oscar has finally reversed the roles and chases Goldie the blood parrot whenever she gets to close. She stays in the cave most of the time now. Oscar has grown quite large now. In length he's probably double the size of Goldie. In overall size he's probably 3 times as big. Oscars sure grow fast! Now, I did say sorta. He nipped at Sucky the pleco today for the first time I've seen, and Sucky ducked into his cave. But when Oscar pursued, Sucky rammed him and then wacked him with his tail. I love plecos. They're like tanks.


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## iowife (Dec 19, 2010)

I have 2 adult blood parrot. I recently added one of the adults and it seems that the two of them stick together in one corner of the tank. The new one seems to lay on the first one that I got but they come out to eat with no issues or fighting. With them doing this, would they be schooling or maybe pairing? I'm still new at caring for blood parrots so i'm not sure what they are doing and I can't find any info on what this might mean. Would anyone here know?


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## SGT Z (Jul 7, 2010)

Blood parrots do pair off. They are usually infertile but will lay eggs. Sometimes the fry grow to adult size, but this is rare.

Mine used to be aggresive until the oscar got big. Now she hides like a normal blood parrot. She has her own corner of a hollowed out log that she likes to stay in that the oscar can't get to. He'd have to swim through the front of the log to get to her, and the pleco definitely won't tolerate that. None of them ever fight at feeding time. I seem to have found a good balance.

I've seen a lot of videos of blood parrots and they seem to do well with most any other fish.


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## Marianne (Dec 22, 2010)

I recently obtained a 10 gallon aquarium....I started with 3 Otto cats and Odessa Barbs. I then added 3 Kribensis and 4 Red Eye Tetras....I believe that the Kribensis (the male?) killed the smaller of the 3 Kribensis a couple of days ago and yesterday, one of my Odessa Barbs had its whole back end bitten off.....The smaller Kribensis (which I believe to be female) has a very large red belly at this time....At this point in time, all the other fish seem perfectly healthy and the Kribs don't seem to be bothering with them.....Could the Kribensis be ready to lay eggs and that is why all this aggression is coming out?


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Exactly. Krib females have pink bellies that get brighter when they are close to spawning. Driving off rivals (esp. females) is one way they pair bond. But in a small tank, the odd one out can take fatal injuries. Keep an eye on them. Once there are eggs or wigglers to protect, the kribs may start eliminating threats to their offspring. I suggest a cave of some sort if you don't already have one.

Oh and to start your own thread, select the category (kribs are cichlids), the click the new thread button on the upper left.


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