Astaheros macracanthus, Blackthroat cichlids, Hắc Hầu (the Sino-Vietnamese means “black throat”, not “black monkey”. The character Hầu can also mean throat/windpipe).
This community tank holds two batches of fry born close together, all F2. Their parents are F1 (offspring of wild-caught fish). There is no size difference between the fish — no dominant individual stands out. To me, that reflects the gentle nature of Blackthroats. Because there’s no heavy bullying or intense competition, all the fry end up with good hormones and develop evenly. With many other species I’ve kept, after two months you’d see a size split: a top quarter would be huge compared to the bottom quarter. And when hungry, the bigger ones would eat the smaller ones. So Blackthroats can genuinely be considered a community-tank candidate.
However, the fish become a completely different animal once they start pairing up to spawn. I’ve tasted their ferocity firsthand, and it hurt. When my F1 parents paired off, they killed 13 fish from 3 other species in the same tank. One of those species was wiped out entirely; another had a single survivor. This is part of the animal kingdom. When “coupling” begins, the males of most species become extremely aggressive — it’s an essential element of survival: the strongest earns the right to pass on its bloodline.
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