Thorichthys pasionis

**notho2000** · 01-08-2013, 10:32 AM

I presently have 10 Thorichthys pasionis that I'm growing out, ultimately to house with some Thorichthys meeki 'Rio Subin'. They are around 8 months old now and have developed a rich golden coloration. Here are a few pictures of this magnificent Thorichthys.

**TMSB805** · 01-09-2013, 7:15 PM

My fav of the thoricthys. Currently have 4

**Sajika** · 03-04-2013, 11:38 AM

Hi Jim, do you have problems betewn the 2 spieces? I have a project with the two similar species but some people told me that buecase the meeki´s are bigger and agressive I will have som problems if I try to mixed on same tank.

Regards.-

**Sajika** · 03-04-2013, 2:21 PM

Hi Jim, do you have problems betwen the 2 spieces? I have a project with the two similar species but some people told me that becuase the meeki´s are bigger and agressive I will have som problems if I try to mixed on same tank.

Regards.-

**notho2000** · 03-05-2013, 7:41 PM

Hi Edoardo,
I haven't kept the two species together yet. I plan to do that once I grow them out a bit more. Rusty Wessel has mentioned that they exist together in nature and are in quite large numbers. So I plan to have say 7-10 of each in the tank along with a couple of other species of cichlids. Also, I would like to find some nice swordtails to keep with them since they are present in the natural biotope as well. Here's a portion of an article written by Juan Miguel Artigas Azas on the CRC forum.
Thorichthys pasionis tends to live in extremely high densities in the lagoons within its natural range, and although normally outnumbered by Thorichthys meeki, it is a plentiful species as well. A throw of a casting net at the shores of the lagoons where it inhabits often produces an incredible number of both Thorichthys species, plus many other fish, cichlids and non-cichlids. The densities in which these fish live in the wild always amaze me. In the aquarium I have observed that a good number of specimens do fairly well, as they tend to establish small territories and live happily with it. Pairs establish their territory marks with any object present in the aquarium in as little as 30 centimeters square. A good amount of interaction is constantly present, but rarely is any fish injured. The interaction among Thorichthys pasionis pairs is normally limited to facing each other, making small frontal runs in which the individuals put their gill covers forward and extend their gular pouches (which in the case of the yellow meeki are of an attractive black coloration) in an attempt to intimidate each other. For this purpose as the gill covers are projected forward, their black subopercular blotches or "eyespots" separate resembling eyes more widely placed. After a brief advance pair retrocede and repeat this behavior a few times before returning to their respective territories. In this regard they behave much like their cousin the firemouth, in which Radeater and Ferro (1979) have studied this behavior with the aforementioned conclusions.
Jim