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Questions on Dwarf Pike Cichlids?

Aviant

New Member
Messages
22
Location
Lawndale, CA
Hi everyone, I've been looking online for some general information about dwarf pikes, I like them. The problem is most of the ones I see get too big for me to house with my Apisto's.

Are there any really small pikes around? I couldn't find any info, but im sure there is. The smallest I've read was 4inches. Thats pretty big compared to my apistos atm.
 

henkh

Member
5 Year Member
Messages
81
Location
Netherlands
Yes there are dwarf pikes available on regular basis like crenicichla regani, crenicichla notophthalmus, crenicichla compressiceps. Very beautiful species and very interesting behavior and relative small. However, i advice you not trying to keep them unless you have lots of experience with this kind of tropical fish. They can (and will!) become very agressive to eachother and to tankmates. I kept several creni's and it cost a lot of casualties. Most of the time one dominant male survives after killing all other individuals in the tank.

When you still want to give it a try, then you must have a very large tank with lots (and i mean lots!) of hiding places, small hiding places too (where f.e. small females can hide and can not be followed by larger males) and lots (lots!) sight breakers.

Feeding: live food and frozen food. They can learn to eat dry food. They learn from tankmates. But a warning, the change of disaster is far greater than succes.
 

Mike Wise

Moderator
Staff member
5 Year Member
Messages
11,201
Location
Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.
The smallest Crenicichla that I know about is C. sp. Erepecuru. Males reach a maximum of 6 cm/2¼" SL; females 5 cm/2" SL. As far as I know, the species is not collected commercially. Although we know where it is found - in rivers near where Brazil, Guyana, and Surinam meet - it is a really out-of-the-way location. This is probably why it isn't collected. It's a good looking fish, too.
 

freshwaterfishfan

Member
5 Year Member
Messages
168
Location
Kansas City, KS
I have always considered apistos and dwarf pikes to be mortal enemies. I once kept a female notophthalmus in a breeder box in a tank with some various apistos and they did not like her at all. I can't imagine what would happen if you had a good sized male noto with some average apistos.
 

dwarfpike

Member
5 Year Member
Messages
176
Location
Seattle, Wa
With good reason freshwaterfishfan ... Noto's have been observed hunting the leaf litter for apisto fry in the wild.

My dwarf pikes have left other dwarf cichlids alone, but I've yet to try them with apistos. Part of me would be insanely curious to watch them hunt apisto fry through leaf litter in my tank, but the other part of me is a little worried about the adult apistos. I don't think the dwarf pikes would kill them out of hand, but when the parents tried to defend the young, it would cause issues. I've had even dwarf pikes take out larger central american cichlids because they would start to bluff and posture against the much smaller dwarves, but pikes don't really bluff in my experience. If they get into a fight, they usually try to finish it.
 

Apistomaster

Active Member
5 Year Member
Messages
703
Location
Clarkston, WA
I have kept Crenicichla compressiceps and Cr. notothalmus with Apistogramma successfully.
These Dwarf Pikes did not pay any attention to the smaller Apistogramma.
The situation was a 75 gal, heavily planted tank with a variety of sized caves.
I never kept both species of Dwarf Pikes together.
I found Cr. compressiceps to be much harder to keep together due to infraspecific aggression. Cr. notothalmus were much less so. I gave up keeping Cr. compressiceps after two groups of six eventually were reduced to one or two dominent males.
Of course I would never expect the Apistos to successfully raise any fry in a tank with any Dwarf Pikes.
Other fish present included adult Green Neons, Black Phantom Tetras and some Amano Shrimp.
 

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