Ok, I have been keeping most african cichlids for quote some time, but I have never kept jewel cichlids.... I found a few on a good deal, and have been keeping them with my mallawi guys.... Everyone seems to be gettin along just fine, so was wondering if anyone has had trouble with these guys?? Ive read they can be pretty nasty to other cichlids, but really they seem pretty peaceful in my tank now.

Can someone who has had exp please tell me a little more about them?

So no one has kept jewel cichlids before??? Wow, I must be onto something... maybe I will breed them, start gettin them popular.... lol... but seirously, any help would be appreciated.

just got one of those guys, anything youve found i should know?

Nothing Ive found yet.... they eat really well.... and they turn red when there mad... lol i try to keep them mad allot, cause they look way cooler when red.

haha mine seems to be doing OK swimming around nibbling on everything that moves but my little jack is teasing him and taking all the caves, jewel is like 10x the mass of my little jack and hes takin it seems way gentle and only has just a hint of red along the rear edge of its tail fin

They turn red because they are going into breeding.. They get Really red when they are about to breed.. I had mine laying eggs every couple weeks because they were young and eating the eggs i think... and since the eggs were gone they seemed to immediately try again..

I recently took mine out of the 90 and put them in the 110.. My 110 has higher ph and has Fullebournis Convicts and convict babies, Some orange parrots 2 pairs of Rainbow bosemanies a rope fish and a black ghost knife.. Nobody does anything too aggressive.. Just a little dominance chasing. Its not even the jewels that are being aggressive. I am waiting to see if they become more aggressive once they get bigger.

seems to do it when hes pissed off now, goes red like a display of some sort when the bigger fish mess with him, then back to normal in 20 mins or so

is there a way to sex em?? I.E. this guy/gal??

very skittish and doesnt hardly ever turn red, it is also about 2.5 inches. *edit* Also it is very peaceful and un-territorial. Allows the lil fishies to uproot it from its cave.
What ive heard is u can tell by the tail and anal fin but to me they all look the same (Silverdale Petsmart, which are only like 1.75-2 inches)...

Typically the male will have allot more metallic lookin jewels on him... the female a little more dull..... Both sex will turn that redish, color when breeding, aggession display, etc etc.

Im not sure if there is a trick with the anal fin??

so Nuka what would be your verdict on this guy/gal??

WIth mine i got all of them the same size and my male shot of in size quickly compared to the other ones and their dorsal comes to a slight point like most male cichlids.. Weird that your jewels turn red when showing dominance.. Mine only ever went solid blood red in color only when they were going into breeding and during.. But i dont have huge fish with them either..

Billie.... I actually started this thread to see if i could get more experienced fish keepers that had jewels to answer some of my questions... lol.... So I am not the best person to ask....

but if I was gonna take a stab in the dark, I would go female on her?? but honestly, this is just a guess, maybe a lil' educated guess behind it. Anyone else agree/discagree?

i would say female as well...

LOL whoops >.< didnt realize it was you who started the thread.... thanks for the edumacated guess =-P

Alrightty so i went down and purchased another Jewel Cichlid looking for one with either a more pointed or rounded dorsal fin, I happened to get a more rounded dorsal finned one, but also has Black edging to the lower half of tail and anal fin is all lined... My First one is now RED and active as hell... soo should I let them get used to each other or try my hand at dorsal fins again?? I did rearrange my tank when I added the new one... any ideas from what you've noticed or general african cichlid tendencies i should know about??

I had a tank full of Jewels a while back. Fuskers got all violent and the tank was a killing field! lol..

Well I need a lil' more infor... like how many of what kinds of cichlids are in the tank... how big is the tank.... what is the temp... and water parameters.... all that stuff is important if you want them to do the dirty dance. I also like to do the whole multiple thing... 2-3 females for every male...

The red one could be just excited there is someone in the tank.... even if it was the same or opposite sex, my guys used to get red with aggression displays not just breeding... It may pass after a night with the lights off.

im not tryin to Breed them lol.. i wanted to get another but not have the male territorial fighting.. but if it makes the difference ill get it all checked.

just get a bunch of them and supply hiding places

I second the idea on overstokin it... Tends to kill the aggression.