Some time ago I purchased a few of these reddish looking fish called Cichlasoma species (or as I later found out Cichlasoma labiatum or "red devil") from a pet store in Oconomowoc for just a couple of dollars. Guess the owners wanted to get rid of the six fish. (You all know how I can’t pass up a bargain!) Little did I realize how big these fish could get and what bad boys they really are and how aptly named too!

Since my main interests are Tanganyikan cichlids, and mostly shell dwellers, of my 62 tanks my largest tank is 55 gallons. So that’s where they ended up. As they grew, they proceeded to

annihilate their various tank mates: plecos, synodontis cats, red hump geophagus, etc.

After over eighteen months and the loss of three of the six fish, they were now in the six-inch plus range. I came home from a weekend in Madison and after doing a few chores, I proceeded to manage the fish. They had spawned on the backside of a large stone in the corner of the tank and also on a couple of smaller stones in the immediate area. These stones were located in the corner of the tank that was not readily accessible for viewing. The view was terrible from where I was looking, but I could see that there were some eggs on the rocks. There was load of eggs that had been deposited. If all the eggs were to hatch, I’d have trouble feeding them. All I know is that in the end, after spawning, there were only two fish alive in the tank. The third fish had passed on and was floating on the surface of the water. After removing the dead fish, the two that remained seemed to be fairly content. They still would eat the trout chow and Cichlid pellets they were fed, but maintained a diligent guard in the corner of the tank. I could not tell which of the remaining two fish was which sex. They looked alike to me.

I did no weekly water changes, just fed them and watched and watched for 3 weeks! Well, none the less, the water in the tank started to foul and I had no choice but to do a water change. You see I have a tendency to over feed. In the course of siphoning the bottom, I managed to siphon up some of the fry, a fairly large group, swimming around. I don’t know how many I managed to suck up and put down the drain before I noticed them; but I was able to save a small bunch. (Hey, these things happen!) The fry were really small, with the parents guarding them at all times.

The tank was kept at 80°, 8.0 pH and filtered by use of four Hydro sponges and a power filter that was modified with a sponge on the end of the input tube. In this way, the fry would never get sucked up into the power filter. An underground filter was useless with these fish, as they seemed intent on rearranging the landscape and live plants were out of the question. Mind you, that this tank is only a 55-gallon. There are no other fish in it at this time (they’ve since departed), just a lot of rocks and plastic plants.

The fry seem to be growing at a fairly good rate of speed. Presently, I have them in a 20-gallon tank and am feeding them baby brine and crushed flake. Seems to be working… they are still alive. Even with tons of rocks and plastic plants, the aggression level remains high. They have grown dramatically in the past two weeks and chase each other constantly.

I have no plans on keeping the parents, as they are just too large for my likes…but kinda pretty if you like a big ugly fish that likes to beat the snot out of everybody!

Summary: This species seems to be an aggressive fish and not suitable in a community tank unless the co-occupants are large themselves and active members of the WWF. Also, make sure that a suitable sized tank is available for them - 75 gallons or more. I understand they can grow much larger than those that I have, and I would recommend a larger tank than the 55 gallon I used. These guys can get very nasty! (Major understatement!)