[Bamzam]

*** had 5 unsexed juvies for a couple of months. Largest one is getting close to 3" with the remaining closer to 2-2.5". The largest one is showing a little color but not a lot. I have 5 auloncara also in the tank that are all larger than him, so maybe that's why he isn't showing a lot of color yet.

I ordered 8 more juvies (theyre all tiny, 1.5-2") and they have been in quarantine in a 10g for the last 3 weeks. I noticed a lot of aggression in the quarantine tank so I figured they were getting tired of being crammed together. Transferred all 8 into my main tank last night bringing my total for this species to 13. The new ones are all smaller than the smallest of my original 5.

The coolest thing is that maybe 4 of the new fish are showing a ton of color at 1.5", a lot brighter than my largest one thats been in the tank for a while. I'm guessing this is because they're trying to determine the pecking order between them? And if I end up with 5/13 males am I setting up for failure or is 13 a high enough quantity to not worry about ratio?

 

[Fogelhund]

The honest answer is... nobody knows. Most often, you should be fine. But fish have personalities, and can be funny, so you might have to remove one or two along the way, to make things work. But you will know as you go, and it's not likely that anything too disastrous happens. But, I probably wouldn't keep 7-8 males, if you get unlucky, and get that kind of ratio.