The Green Terror is a type of cichlid. It gets its name both from its slightly green colour and its highly aggressive nature. Its scientific name is Aequidens Rivulatus and it originates from South America
This fish is well known for being very aggressive and violent to other fish. While in many cases this is true, it should be remembered that each individual fish within a species is an individual with its own unique personality.
There many mixed reports on just how aggressive this fish is. Some fish keepers have kept them with other small community fish without problems, while others have reported that they will attack anything in the aquarium. Therefore it is best to careful. To be on the safe side these fish should be kept in a single species tank.
If you really want to put them in a community environment you need to be really careful, only go for tank mates which are and big enough and tough enough to look after themselves. A common mistake fish keepers often make with fish is to house them with large cichlids such as Oscars. While Oscars will eat nearly everything in sight, their aggression is only food related and they are too placid to be kept with Green Terrors
There have been cases of males growing to 12 inches in length, you will to take their eventual size into account when selecting an aquarium for them. For a single fish you will need a tank around 210 litres . If you are going to include them in a community tank, you will need to give the other fish enough space to get out of their way when they get aggressive, which will require a tank of around 400 litres.
When it comes to water chemistry they ideally need a pH of around 7 , but they can adapt if its slightly more alkaline or acidic. They require their water temperature to be between 20-24C.
These fish love digging up plants, so while it’s nice to have plants in an aquarium they probably won’t last long in their aquarium. Plants secured to rock and wood are a better idea. Floating plants are also a possible, as these cannot be dug up. Includes rock and wood are more important than plants for these fish.
With practice they will accept most foods , of course as with most fish live food is always a welcome treat.
One of the great things about breeding cichlids is being able to observe them caring for their young. Most other fish groups do care for their young after birth, so parental care is fairly unique to cichlids and Green Terrors are a great example.
To start off move your breeding pair to a separate tank. This is not to stop their eggs getting eaten by other fish, it is because the breeding pair will kill other fish which come near their eggs. To encourage breeding raise the temperature in the breeding tank slightly. The pair will first clean the chosen area; this is likely to be a flat rock.
The female will lay between 300 and 400 eggs. After spawning the female will care for the eggs and the male will guard against possible intruders. The eggs should take around 4 days to hatch. The parents will continue to care for their fry after they have hatched.
The fry will eat crushed flake food and brine shrimp.
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