Salvini Cichlid
Scientific name – Cichlasoma (Nandopsis) Salvini
Common name(s) – Salvini, Salvin’s Guapote, Tricolour Guapote, Yellowbelly Guapote.
Distribution – throughout Mexico, Belize, and surrounding area, different variants occur in set locations.
Max Size – Males 10 inches+, females <7 inches.
Preferred temperature – 78-84 degrees Farenheight (some variants have been found in water as warm as 90 degrees).
ph – approx. 7-7.5
Temperment – Highly aggressive
Feeding Habits – Omnivorous with strong piscovorous tendencies.
Min. Tank size for single specimen (no tankmates) – 40g
Min. Tank size for breeding pair (no tankmates) – 65g+
Reccomended tank size for single specimen with tankmates – 75g+
Reccomended tank size for breeding pair with tankmates – 100g+
Sexing – Females have a solid black blotch on the spiny rayed dorsal fin, and depending on locale, possibly a black opercular blotch as well. Males get much larger and lack the dorsal blotch, and the opercular blotch on males is typically red with a blue halo.
Additional info:
Nandopsis Salvini hails from riveriene and lagoon environments from Mexico, Belize, and surrounding areas. Depending on the locale, the species has great variation in colour. Typically, most captive stock available comes from a few select rivers in Guatemala. However, it is the lagoon specimens which are the most colourful, especially those which inhabit the Tabasca lagoons in Mexico, or those from Belize. Male specimens from these lagoons typically display an overall blue shade with blood, almost wine red stomachs, and the distribution of the red is incredible, covering the whole ventral area. Females from these areas are often a fire hydrant yellow with bold black patterns outlined in blues, and the tone of red is typically brighter than the males’. The average male N. Salvini attains a length of around 7-8 inches, although specimens up and over 10 inches have been reported. Females are alot smaller, averaging 4.5-5 inches, and rarely pass 6 inches. In the home aquarium, several problems may be encountered concerning the husbandry of N. Salvini, most particularly the aggression. There’s no other way to put it – N. Salvini is generally a highly aggressive cichlid, with incredible speed, endurance, and power for a fish it’s size. The large canine/pseudocanine teeth aid the salvini in capturing prey, and make efficient weapons in battle, and between the size of the teeth, the strength with which the fish can strike, and the speed/manoueverability of the species, N. Salvini can rapidly destroy most cichlids it’s size. A breeding pair is particularly lethal and can easily terrorize/kill fish even twice their size. The bright colours of N. Salvini serve as a warning, and most predatory fish don’t find it worth the trouble of dealing with a pair of pocket battleships to get a few fry. A solitary salvini is typically a shy and inactive fish, the colours often wash and leave the fish looking rather unattractive. However, if kept in a community or as a pair, the colours return and the fish become a bit more animated, guarding their territory with the vigor and strength of a fish twice their size, and often performing routine inspections of their territories in search of intruders or possible prey. In it’s natural habitat, young N. Salvini generally consume small invertebrates and tiny fish, and as they grow, the size of the food items grows as well, and crayfish, freshwater shrimps, and even small frogs are added to the list. In captivity, Salvinis aren’t the most open eaters, often darting out of a hiding place, looking for a few moments, making another dash, stopping again, inspecting the food item for a few more seconds, then a much more rapid dash is made, the prey is struck and the salvini retreats to a hiding place to consume a meal. Feeding does not pose a problem, as they typically accept the standard cichlid fare of pellets, frozen foods, etc. Gut loaded feeders, crickets, earthworms, and aquatic invertebrates make excellent supplements. To bring out a Salvini’s colours, feed foods high in carotenoids, such as frozen prawns which are typically available from the supermarkets. Tankmates for N. Salvini should be well able to take care of themselves, and if tank size permits, it’s a good idea to select fish which will, in the long run, end up growing larger than the salvini. If you have the space, red devils, managuensis, losiellei, tetracanthus, cyanoguttatus, carpintis, istlanum, grammodes, bartoni all make good tankmates. In many cases an adult male salvini would have no problem defending it’s territory from the vast majority of the species listed, and a breeding pair could likely dominate a tank containing any of the above. Keeping 2 adult male salvinis in a tank less than 150g is nearly impossible, as they have an adament hatred for each other.
Additional notes on breeding:
I had a breeding program for Nandopsis salvini a few months back, and I’ve bred them dozens of times. Egg eating or spousal abuse is generally a sign of an unbonded pair, or immaturity. Completely normal, just keep an eye on them, as a male salvini can literally kill a female in minutes, and once the male’s fed up, the female doesn’t have much hope. Once they breed do NOTHING to disturb the parents – an unbonded pair often eats their own eggs if disturbed too much. Also, you may notice that the female won’t allow the male near the eggs/brood – this is completely normal for unbonded pairs and happens rather frequently. Once the eggs hatch however, you’re basically home free from there, as parents rarely eat thier own fry. At this stage they will become horrendously aggressive, and you’ll have to keep an extra close eye on the male, as this is the point when he’s most likely to do damage to the female. Often, the male gets carried away with the brood care signals and you’ll see him strut around the tank at a very fast pace, fins and gills flared out, then he may/may not make a charge at the female. Most of the time he’ll turn away at the last second when the female flares up, but I’ve seen several males smash right into the females and bite them up. I actually lost a female that way – the male hit her full speed on her flank and I’m guessing an organ was ruptured. Once the fry are free swimming, the male calms down a bit but the female gets worse. Spats between the pair are far and few between in this stage. Feed the fry on crushed flakes and frozen/live baby brine shrimp. For maximum colour results, feed cyclop-eeze as soon as they are large enough to take it, as it has very high astaxanthin/carotenoid levels and fry colour up VERY quickly when fed this. Fry are slow growing and best left with the parents until they reach at least 0.5 inches, prefferably 3/4 inches. If removed before that, they do very poorly and growth is exceedingly slow. However, if the parents are showing signs of laying eggs again, remove the current batch of fry. Once the fry get about 1/2-3/4 inches, they can be graduated from artemia nauplii to adult brine shrimp. However, they are still rather delicate at this stage, and this is when the losses of the fry become very evident, as the typical nasty temper that the species is reknowned for starts to come in, and you’ll notice the fry taking up individual territories. This is when you can separate the best looking of the fry. What I do is divide up a tank, take each baby that shows promise for colouration, and give him/her a section. After each fry is established, throw in 2 or 3 runts with each baby for him/her to dominate. Dominant fry grow more quickly and tend to display more vibrant colouration. The rest of the culls can be given away or used as feeders. Once the fry near 3/4-1 inch, the dorsal/opercular blotches start patching in and standard male/female differentiation methods become applicable. By the time they reach 2-2.5 inches, they are sexually mature and ready to breed. However, breeding requires alot of energy, and at that easly age they are still growing, and their growth energy stores will be severely drained, thus slowing down growth even more. I’d leave the breeding to specimens up and over 3.5 inches. Within the first year, fry can reach 4-5 inches, possibly 6. After they reach 6.5 inches, the growth slows dramatically and they begin to fill out. Expect most males to max out at around 7-8 inches (although the odd male with the right genes and conditions can reach/exceed 10 inches). 5 inches for a female is standard, and anything above 5.5 is exceptional. I personally have never seen nor heard of a female passing 6.5 inches.