Alright, I want all our New World cichlid keepers and experts to post on this thread. I want opinions of the top 5 most aggressive New World Cichlids. From the few that Ive kept, Im gonna give my opinion to get the ball rolling.

1. Dovii, Wolf cichlid - (Never kept it, but everything Ive ever read said it was the #1killer)

2. Jag Cichlid - (Again, havent kept it, just heard it was a monster)

3. Talapia Butterkoiferi (got one smaller than most of the fish i had, and he killed everyone!)

4. Midas or Trimac (Loved my midas... was sooooo aggressive would attack the vacume, my hand, and if you tapped on his tank he would smash against the glass)

Butikoferi is not an american cichlid... I will post from my experiances. The top 5 in my opinion.

1 neetropolus nematopus
2 dovii
3 umbee
4 salvini
5 convict

There are 3 smaller cichlids in my list. They are some of the most aggresive fish I have ever kept. This is from my esperiance. And of course is not set in stone. Every cichlid has a diffrent personality. Like dmds old midas was super docile. If my list were to continue it would have seiboldii and istlanum and trimac as the next three in no specific order. But by far the most aggresive fish I have ever kept was a cichlid from the rivers of africa. The five star general.

If we are going off size of fish. IE we put said fish together in tank at max size, which is most aggressive:

1)Dovii
2)Festae
3)Red Devil
4)Jag
5)Grammode, Beani, Istlanum, Cuban (all of these are comparable)

Now if we were talking in reference of size, IE if all fish were at say 10" max size.

1)Convict hands down
2)Dovii
3)Festae
4)Red Devil
5)Seiboldi, Salvini, Nicaraguenses,

I am sure there are a couple that I over looked. My list is based off of my experience with each of them.

I have had a 12" glass banger Midas Midas as a kid who respected me when I stuck my hand in the tank, and then I had my easy going 11" Midas who went through a "horny" phase where he would bite me because the "entire" tank became his breeding area. So that one is a tough one for me.

I have convict growing out by himself in a 29g that is super bold and has a lot of spunk for such a little fish.

So size not a question
Dovii
Convict

The Dovii at Aquarium Paradise in Lakewood is the meanest fish I've ever seen. Very cool fish though

Hey dont beat yourself up, LOL I have a Bleekeri in my show tank with all my Centrals.

Difference is... you knew it didnt belong.. lol

True

anything breeding will most of t6he time be the most aggressive cichlid. my male jag would tear my hand to bits if he had the chance

These three are my top picks hands down, and I agree Ike at AP is def a good spokesman for the species, a beast by nature lol! If a convict was the size of a dovii or umbee he would be the hands down killer.
Dovii
Umbee
Con's

1.dovii
2.rtm
3.jag
4.red devil
5.red texas

I have all these fish and this would be my order i have hybrids that are way more aggressive than any of the pure american cichlids ive owend i have a dovii yellowjacket mix hes a true killer hes is breeding with one of my rtm females and these two fish are an awsome pair[url][/url][url][/url]

now for size yes convicts can be mean but i have never had a convict rip another fish apart however my 110 is baffeled with 4 fish cuz my male jag and my male freddy hoffa were trying to kill eachother in my experience convicts are comunity fish i have a pink male who is bossy but hes no killer

When stores like Aquarium Paradise promote these hybrids and give them interesting names it does encourage the process to continue. I am not a fan of these fish. I am curious when I hear of a hybrid and want to see what it looks like but would never own one personally.

Back to the original topic of aggression, many of these hybrids seem to get the worst part of this when it comes to these mixes. Case in point is that most flowerhorns are much more aggressive that the base fish used in their construction.