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No one considers the red devils shy guys. Big ones are in your face.
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Red devils come in a variety of colors.
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Most red devils start out grey and develop their colors with age.
Origins:
Not sure if some of the red devils were manufactured or not. We see
an awful lot of variation in these fish that reminds us of other species.
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Primo red devil. We like the white ones with red heads even more.
Appeal: Most cichlids
mix poorly with non-cichlid fishes. Red
devils mix with nobody unless you provide lots of room to run or hide. They kill whatever you add to their
tank. Some eat goldfish. Others just kill them for the
sport. People like them because they are pretty and rowdy.
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Four-inch red devil with great fins.
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Red devils do not scare easily. They will come at you..
Size: Think in terms of
a 12-inch minimum. Red devils grow larger than oscars in the same tank
because they usually kill the oscars before the oscar can mature.
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Even non-red red devils look good -- especially over dark gravel. He will get
redder.
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Ten-inch red devil lacking red. Good-looking but needs more carotenes.
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You can see the red devil ancestry in this flower horn cichlid.
Foods: Make sure you
feed foods with color enhancers in them -- reds especially. Goldfish
work, if they eat them. Many red devils prefer pellets. Most
like plankton and krill.
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Male red devils develop good head bumps. Colors vary a great deal.
Housing: Red devils like as large a house as you can give them.
Adults prefer nearly bare tanks. Young
ones need the security of wood, rocks, and plants to hide behind when they feel
threatened. When secure, red devils come
out front and patrol their tank.
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Red devils like to tear up tanks.
Décor: Red devils shred live
plants. Try plastic plants. Weight
them down unless you feel like replanting daily.
All cichlids like to re-arrange their living rooms. They will
eventually tear up your plastic plants also.
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1.5-inch red devils.
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Same fish a week later -- after a few good meals.
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Another two weeks and they're conditioned to passing traffic.
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Two-inch red devil getting the tar beat out of him by his tank mates.
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More two-inch red devils with shredded fins and tails. They do not like each
other.
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One week later they were all healed and getting along (at least temporarily).
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Three-inch non-related red devil starting to develop his colors.
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Three-inch red devil showing off. No red yet. Possible female.
Note trimmed fins.
Tank Mates: You can keep
red devils with other fishes at first.
Eventually they argue with each other. They like
ripping on other fish.
Temperature: Keep nearly
all your cichlids at tropical temperatures – 75o to 80o.
Red devils look and act awful in cool water.
Cool water also makes them susceptible to disease.
If you want to spawn them, bump the temp up 5o. Separate
them if the conflicts look serious.
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Obvious male (bump on head) red devil -- particularly mean large cichlid.
Breeding: If you keep
the two sexes together, you may see typical cichlid spawning behavior.
S.A. cichlids clean a rock or piece of wood or dig a pit.
Some prefer caves. We’ve
never spawned red devils before.
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Another Color Note: Use Penn Plax Aquarilux
fluorescent tubes. These color-enhancing bulbs bring out the reds in your
red devil.
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Like shooting fish in a bucket -- three-inch red devils in a five gallon
bucket.
