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Question about adding new juvenile haps to tank

1K views 11 replies 4 participants last post by  DanM1939 
#1 ·
I know you should never add just one cichlid to an established tank, especially an all male tank, for obvious reasons. However, does the same apply to juveniles? Can you add just one 2" to 2.5" juvenile hap to a tank that already has juvenile haps and peacocks?
 
#4 ·
DJRansome said:
I would never add one of any fish any size to an established tank.
If this is a 'rule' in any sense of the word, then it has so many exceptions so as to be meaningless. One dramatic example- Tropheus form social groups with rigid hierarchical structures, and it is very difficult to add new individuals, either singly or multiply, to an established colony. However, such colonies readily absorb newly introduced juveniles, even if they're added singly.
 
#5 ·
I have had a different experience, but interesting to know you have successfully added single juveniles.

Would you consider a 2.5 inch hap a juvenile?

What I do is quarantine the single new fish for 3 weeks, and add several of the existing tank fish to the quarantine tank at the same time the new fish is put into the quarantine tank. Then after the 3 weeks of quarantine, I am able to add a group.
 
#9 ·
That is a bigger species that matures at 8 inches, but I either buy fully colored, sexed adults if I am stocking all male, or juveniles <= two inches if I am stocking mixed gender.
 
#11 ·
Sexually immature "juveniles" are usually much easier to add, because adults mostly ignore them since they are not competition/ or ready to breed. They fit in at the bottom of the pecking order. Adding sexually mature fish is harder because they draw the attention of the other fish to fight for pecking order immediately or new females may be harassed to death.

You usually should add multiple juveniles because they may be singled out and get totally stressed out. Multiple additions spread attention around, but you can get away with adding one, depending.
 
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