Sigh. Because I like to keep up with what is going on in various fish keeping communities, I subscribe to several Facebook (FB) cichlid groups. That’s the good news. The bad news is following these communities exposes me to fish keepers that, frankly, probably shouldn’t be keeping fish.
Just this morning, I came across a post showing a fish tank (not the one shown above) with several large fish, including jaguars, pikes, red devils, dovii, etc. Not only was the tank too small but it was also completely bare. I mean, there was absolutely nothing in the tank but the fish. No substrate, no caves, no rocks, no ornaments, no plants, no nothing. To make matters worse, there was a comment from another FB reader about the dovii, which wasn’t full grown, and the other fish. In response to that comment, the original poster (OP) stated, “…he is the weenie in the tank, my trimac jaguar, red tiger moto all are way more aggressive then (sic) he is, him and the red devil get punked the most sadly.”
Think about that quote for a second and what that might say about the fish keeper. One, the keeper disrespects the mix of fish in that tank. Two, the keeper acknowledges that some of his/her fish are getting “punked” (i.e., getting picked on), yet provides no rationale for why that is okay nor how he/she plans to address it. Clearly, no one owes me or you an explanation for how they keep fish. However, in my opinion, when you make statements such as that in a public forum, you shouldn’t be surprised if you get criticized. Based on some exchanges in the FB post between the OP and others who were critical, it was obvious that the OP could care less about the criticism.
I recognize that a tank void of anything prevents certain cichlids, like the various species the OP has, from creating territories, which can mitigate aggression. However, I also recognize that a completely empty tank denies fish some “environmental enrichment,” something that has been proven, at least in mice, to encourage development of neurons in the brain. Such enrichment is a form a “challenge” to the brain, to which neuron development is a reaction.
I have posted about enrichment before. See my post titled Cichlid enrichment. Also, see the interview I did with a pair of French scientists Drs. Chloé Laubu and François-Xavier Dechaume-Moncharmont.
The point? Some cichlid keepers truly care about their fish, and some don’t. Please don’t be the latter.