this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2026
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Aquariums and Fish Keeping
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I had one in a ten gallon by himself named Heinrich because he wouldn't stop attacking everyone else despite there being plenty of room! He was a fun fish, but way too aggressive to keep with other fish.
Yes they are extremely temperamental sometimes. You certainly aren't going to have a large community of fish without an ungodly amount of space when you're dealing with cichlids.
Contrast that with swordtails. Schools of them swimming about just doing their thing. I have a 20 gallon I keep having to move swordtails out of. Because they keep having Young. And there's just not enough space to support them all. 30 or 40 at a time in there from juvenile to adults. The trick with them anymore is finding the nice brick red ones. The silver and green ones are more their natural color. But I grew up in a seventies and eighties with the brick Reds so they always have a special spot for me