Agreessive Problem

[GatorJ]

I have recently come into a problem a buddy of mine had an electric yellow cichlid in a 10 gal with a couple of gourami and 2 other fish (they died i never saw them to try and identify). The cichlid was beating the other fish up pretty regularly so i offered to take it off his hands because i have an "aggressive" tank at home, said electric yellow cichlid is about 1.75 inches.

The tank he went into currently houses (55 gal)
1 electric yellow - 3-3.5 inches
1 pseudotropheus acei
1 chichlasoma
1 light blue cichlid (not sure what kind)
1 convict
1 large pleco 8 inches.

The new electric yellow cichlid is constantly being harassed by the bigger yellow cichlid, now the bigger one does pretty much run the tank but we have put other fish in there ie newer (convict, blue cichlid) that were same size, even smaller than this yellow cichlid we just added and he usually lets them be after a while but I am concerned about this one because its been about a week and the lil guys fins are getting snipped and he hangs at the very top of the tank behind the filter.

What can I do?

 

[fatheadminnow]

Can you tell if the new Cichlid is male or female?

As the dominant male will harass other males, so there is less competition for the females.

-FHM

 

[GatorJ]

well this got movedto less popular forum so probably wont get answered now... sigh.
anyways.
Unfortunately I do not know if they are male or female, the only fish that has "egg spots" is the smaller blue cichlid.

So anything else i can do or just let them hash it out?

 

[fatheadminnow]

How is your tank set up?

Do you have plenty of hiding places for them.

It could be because they are both trying to compete for the same area in the tank to call their own.

You have to be ready with having Cichlids to have aggression issues in your tank.

I have had my Cichlid tank setup now for about 4 months, and the while time the Cichlids are aggressive to eachother, but everything is still fine.

It is in their nature to act like this.

Since you have Malawi Cichlids, you want to try to over-stock the tank.

Over-stocking a tank will help with aggression issues.

-FHM

 

[dthoffsett]

As fatheadminnow said, the main reasons mbuna fight are 1) territory, 2) breeding rights and 3) to assert dominance. To help alleviate this you should have tons of hiding spaces for the less dominate fish to hide, and also for everyone to stake out their territories. You should also add some more fish, electric yellows (labidochromis caeruleus) are best kept in groups of 5 or more and acei would be happier with some friends. If you post a pic, we can help you identify the blue cichlid too.

 

[GatorJ]

I think I have a decent amount of hiding places, I wouldnt mind adding somre more things for sure but let me know what you think.

Picture of the blue guy, sorry he wouldnt really stay still and didnt want to use flash, it has 2 very disctint egg spots on the bottom.

Since I was taking pics thought I would hit the other tanks up, heres my other 55 with real plants (2 angel, groumi, plec, red tail shark, 2 pictus catfish)

Lastly 10 gal with real plants as well (3 black skirt tetras, pleco)

I could always buy more fish for my agreesive tank however I am waiting on getting a new tank (keeping all media/filters etc) but that one is a very old tank and has calcium (from what I have been told) build up that could not be removed so with my birthday coming up trying to get the wife to get me some new glass .

The little yellow cichlid has lost a little more of its rear tail and continues to "hide" behind or around the filter.

 

[dthoffsett]

From the best I can see, I'm pretty sure your blue cichlid is metriaclima callainos. Take a look at the pics in the link and see if that's what you have.

As for hiding spaces, IMO, you don't have nearly enough. Check here for what most typical mbuna tanks look like.

Adding some more labs would really help, but if you aren't ready to do that, try catching your bigger lab and putting him in a bucket of tank water. Then rearrange your decor and add Mr. Aggressive back in, turn the light off for a couple of hours. Hopefully he/she will be more concerned with setting up a new territory and ignore the submissive one. If that doesn't work, you may need to separate them either by putting in a divider or moving one of them to another tank.

Edit: forgot to add, love your other tanks.

 

[GatorJ]

Looks to be exactly like my fish appreciate it, going to write it down so we know.

Ok looking through some of the other thanks it does appear that i could add a few more places but cmon half of those pictures I have way more hiding spaces, the crocodile and big rocks all have the ability to go through and hide in them in multiple places but fair enough I will look for some more things to add.

Anytime I add new fish I rearrange the tank and black out the lights as mentioned then add the fish. This time it just did not work as well, would you reccomend trying it again?

 

[dthoffsett]

Looks to be exactly like my fish appreciate it, going to write it down so we know.

Ok looking through some of the other thanks it does appear that i could add a few more places but cmon half of those pictures I have way more hiding spaces, the crocodile and big rocks all have the ability to go through and hide in them in multiple places but fair enough I will look for some more things to add.

Anytime I add new fish I rearrange the tank and black out the lights as mentioned then add the fish. This time it just did not work as well, would you reccomend trying it again?

You don't have to add any more rock/decor, just my opinion that more is always better.

I'd give another rearrange a try if you are still having problems. This time see if you can catch the aggressive fish and put him/her in a bucket of tank water. Then rearrange the tank and put him/her back in. Perhaps being removed from the tank and coming back to a "new" one will calm him/her down. If not, you may need to rehome one of them.

 

[GatorJ]

I will try to take the big one out and rearrange the tank, if there are still problems (new fish is loseing back and top fins now) could I move him (new one) to my tank with 2 angles, 2pictus cat, blue groumi, red tail shark and pleco? Just maybe keep an eye on all of them?
Otherwise I would just have to let them fight it out which is sad.

 

[forby3]

thats basically how a malawi tank should look in my sig ALOT of hiding places helps towards aggression and breeding

 

[dthoffsett]

I will try to take the big one out and rearrange the tank, if there are still problems (new fish is loseing back and top fins now) could I move him (new one) to my tank with 2 angles, 2pictus cat, blue groumi, red tail shark and pleco? Just maybe keep an eye on all of them?
Otherwise I would just have to let them fight it out which is sad.

The new fish would probably be ok with the angels and others as a temporary measure, but I think in the long term he might start picking on the angels. Then again, if your angels pair off and breed the lab may be on the losing end.