My young jaguar cichlid

I've had him about 4 years now. I'm guessing about 12 - 13 inches. I"m not good at estimating length. I kept saying my big one was about 13 1/2 inches, but when I put him in his new 120 3 years ago I measured him at 15 1/4 inches. Hard to get good pictures of this one because every time I get the camera close to the tank he goes after the camera. Difficult to catch him in the flash zone, thats why the lighting is off on the first one. Notice his pectoral fins are against his body. He is at speed in each of these coming around to make another pass at the camera. My big one had mellowed out by the time he was this size. This one is nasty.



I have floor tiles on the bottom so if a little bottom gets exposed you can't see the glass. Trouble is he digs up the whole thing then moves the small pieces I had cut for the back or carries them to the other end and dumps them.

Hi Ron, i like how his colors show against the bg. is he surving alone? how long do they live? i am not familiar with fish ( except the munchy ones! sorry ) so what family does he belong to and what does it eat? looks like he would snap your finger off.

Do fish ( like this one ) start a relationship with humans? like other pets..camels,dogs, horses etc.?

fahim mohammed said:

Hi Ron, i like how his colors show against the bg. is he surving alone? how long do they live? i am not familiar with fish ( except the munchy ones! sorry ) so what family does he belong to and what does it eat? looks like he would snap your finger off.

Do fish ( like this one ) start a relationship with humans? like other pets..camels,dogs, horses etc.?

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Hi Fahim, Thank for the reply.

Yes he is alone. It is possible to keep them with other fish of the same aggression level if the aquarium is large enough for them to set up their own territories. A small aquarium would mean death to the weaker fish. They can live for about 20 years with proper care. He is from the cichlid family. The family is spread around the world and can have a great variety of shapes and habits depending on how they have developed over time to survive in the habitat that they live in. This one is a fish hunter or anything that gets in the water that is small enough to eat. He has quite a set of teeth and could give a nasty bite if he wanted to.

They don't get like a dog or other pet, but do learn the person that feeds them. I have one that I can reach in his aquarium and can rub him with out it bothering him at all. This one will eat from my fingers with out biting me.

Hi Ron
Thanks for showing this nice guys! he's certainly part of your family though a lot 'independant'!
BTW certainly a capture (I mean photographically!) that needs pretty good skills…

The last one is my preferred.

Bravo!

Thank you Nicolas.