Since I'm getting a new tank soon and going to separate my cichlids, I'll probably end up with a single Green Terror in one tank. He isn't mean but getting more and more territorial, and I just doubt any of the other 3 (Oscar, Nic, Firemouth) could hold their own against him once it got serious (well, the firemouth found out already).

So I was thinking about a smaller but tough fish I could put in with the green terror. Maybe a convict would work, but I've always loved the looks of Salvini, so was wondering if there's a chance that could work? I read they can be very aggressive when breeding but would they be the same if kept as single fish? I know there are differences in personality anyway for individual cichlids of one species but a very rough guess would be welcome, just like whatever experiences people might have with salvini.

Never kept these two fish myself, but do tell us how you get on if you do attempt it.

I think it is really trial and error. They might live in harmony, on the other hand, the maybe carnage in the tank

So seems no one's keeping these.

Thank you Penn, I'll probably try to get one once the new tank is set up and will tell how it goes then. Just hope they have any at the LFS so it won't be again like I go to get a certain fish and come back with something completely different, lol. I gave my firemouth to a friend the other day to live with its former tankmate (other firemouth, probably sibling) in a tank of the size my current one is, hoping it has a higher chance there not to be picked on that much resp. being able to hold its own. It had healed quite well already. I gotta call later and ask how it goes. If it works, there is one less worry in case I add a salvini, and more possibilites to swap fish between tanks later in case of trouble.

I have 2 small salvini about 2 inches but they are not aggressive, I also used to have one that got to about 5 inches and it lived with an oscar fine- no bother. Green terrors can be really aggressive. Some are worse than others. If you have a bad one then he will batter most fish except the ones that will batter it

I would suggest leaving the terror in with your fish as see what happens. If he starts nipping the others or making their lives a misery (chasing all the time, or the other fish hiding all the time) then either get rid of him or house it on its own

Oh thank you Delboy, that helped!

Thinking I could try a salvini then even. Meant it to go in with the green terror though because I definitely have to separate that one from the firemouth soon ... well did already but got a different firemouth in the tank now. I wouldn't call him mean at all (yet) but he's neither the kind that would back off ever when being challenged. Also there is trouble ahead soon with the terror and the Nic - with the Nic being way bigger still, they're even now but both keep trying to impress each other. (I keep reading how Nic's are hardly aggressive, that isn't true for mine really.) And can't know how things will be about the Oscar and terror in a year or two, so I better be safe.

Well if I manage to find a salvini and it can't cope with the terror, I can still try to arrange the fish in the two tanks in a way that hopefully would work.

The reason i had no bother with the salvini that was with my oscar was because they were both non aggressive to each other. If your terror gives your oscar grief then he will certainly give your salvini grief too. Only buy the salvini if you can house all your fish with your terror on its own

Salvinis are somewhat passive but get severly aggressive during spawning. Also very suspectable to HITH. I would not keep one with a GT, though i have seen it been done before. Each fish is differenct, you just have to find which ones won't kill each other.

Just my $0.02

Oh anybody's 2ct very much appreciated. I sure don't want a fish that can't hold its own in case it's being harrassed, would be defeating the purpose. I thought they were way tougher than Oscars but seems it's only when breeding.
So I'll probably just forget about it, and if at all, I'd rather try a convict or so. Might be easier to combine plus there are enough around that need a new home anyway.

Thanks all!

I don't think an adult would be harassed by oscars...juveniles yes, but adults no. Although some are passive, others can be highly aggressive and will bully the oscars...a breeding pair of convicts would visioucly attack a larger oscar while a non-breeding pair wouldn't bother. All fish have different personalities and if differs between fish(I've seen very passive salvinis but I've also seen some very aggressive ones) Check out www.cichlid-forum.com for information on the various cichlid species and www.amazonfish.info for those stricly from the amazon.(but it seems like you want to do CA's)

BTW, i hope this post isn't condradictory to may last:laugh:

Oh don't worry about creating contradicting posts, I can manage to be contradictory in one sentence at times

Nah, doesn't have to be CA's for me, I was only trying to think of any New World cichlid I like being smaller than Green Terrors and possibly tough and fast enough to cope with a Green Terror in case he gets say mildly territorial ... means a fish that would not be miserable already with some occasional chasing and would fit into hiding places where the GT can't get (but still would be seen occasionally of course). Everything more extreme than that would mean separation anyway. Oh and would have to be compatible with a rather high ph of about 7.8 (guess that speaks for CA's, or SA's that can do with a wide range). No way would I do a pair of convicts, lol, heard stories about those And I neither want to breed anything. I just know that firemouths are apparently not suiting for me in that matter - quite a big mouth, but will lose then against a Nic already here.

Thanks for the links! Think I'll try to get my new tank here and set up finally and then go and see what's available at all first (convicts are available for free from private most of the time). And then I'll do some reading again as well as bothering the OFL members about it It's tricky anyway .. I once added a fish to my Oscar tank and he'd go completely mad, and some time later I tried adding it again along with a bunch of others because my other tank gave up, and he'd be completely fine with it, go figure lol.

Maybe a jack or a texas? Jacks can be aggressive though.

Cheers,
Art

Hahaha .. those I like too, it's somehow the more fish species we talk about, the more I want! Think those two get too big though for the purpose, I'm afraid for the tanks to be overstocked again.
Anyway, I went to the shop yesterday to check what is available currently, and they had I dunno how many tanks with African cichlids and only one with American ones, all tiny babies. Spent half an hour over some books with the boss of the shop since only half of the species were labelled, and think we figured most out. The guy that knows better had off already.
They had young goldsaum, jack dempsey, firemouths, keyholes, salvini, blue acaras, albino convicts, one t-bar and some west african dwarf cichlids in there. Oh and some kind of geophagus with totally nipped fins, looking quite miserable. I watched them for a while, and the bad boys in there were the jack's, followed by the bigger salvini.
Well what can I say, I went home with a bag for some reason Took one salvini and one pink convict and agreed with the shop owner I could take back whatever doesn't work. I also took the geo cause I felt so sorry for it and figured it might have a better chance for survival with many hiding places and finally some sand to sift through. Will see if I can get it through and back into shape and then find a home for it. No idea which species it is, maybe steindachneri ... it's drab looking and so ugly it is cute.

When I let the babies out of the bag, I threw some pellets in to distract the others, and while the salvini and geo went into hiding instantly, the convict went to the surface instantly and got himself the biggest pellet it could find. It's now strolling happily through the tank, and I'm afraid it might get inhaled by the others accidentally since it's not much bigger than the Oscar's eye It's fast though and has no problem dealing with an aggravated Nic, which is the only one that seems to care at all. So my bets are on the convict to be the most suiting tankmate for the green terror out of those.