Alpha Male Chasing Another Male

[guppiegirlie]

OK so I've had my gorgeous german blues for a while, two male and two female.

Now they had seemed to have paired up, one set settling at one end the others at the other end.

This seemed to be happy this way and would only really chase one another away if one would venture into the others 'patch' if you like.

Now the past few days I've noticed my 'alpha male' (he was most definitely the boss, even in the tank at the LFS) seems to have stolen the others girlfriend and continues to chase the other male away. They no longer stick to one side of the tank any more

Now my other male seems fairly stressed out, his black dots are faded when alpha is near, his dorsal fin clamped and a spotted line appears across his side, stress line perhaps?

His female still hangs around him buy as soon as alpha comes along he chases him away again.

I don't really know what to do for the best, will they sort it out amongst themselves or will removing him be the best solution?

Alpha from what I can see doesn't attack him he just chases him away but I can see he's not happy, what should I do?!

 

[AmtotheBurr]

Some men just can't handle not having all the girls... sigh!
I hope someone can help with your question- they are gorgeous fish!

 

[guppiegirlie]

Thank you, I think so too.

This is alpha, for those who have seen my previous posts about my GBRs he is 'loveheart'

http/imgur.com/a/VDoqS

And this is the other male as you can see he is not too happy

http/imgur.com/a/ZyPmJ

(please excuse the streaky glass, I have a one year old and a two year old who like to smear their kisses all over the tank lol)

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Separate tanks would likely be the best solution.  You could move the alpha pair, if the alpha is messing with anyone else in the tank... or the other pair if you prefer.
 
Keeping them in the same tank is likely not an option any longer.  You could move around decor, and put in more plants and sight line breaks, but its unlikely to fix the problem long term.

 

[guppiegirlie]

I did ask my LFS if I could return a pair if this happened and they said it would be fine.

I really would love to keep both pairs but I agree that it's just not going to work out and at the minute, unfortunately the only other tank I have that would be suitable for them is an uncycled 90l which is just not an option.

So would you recommend I remove the pair or just the weaker male?

Would it be OK to keep alpha with two females?

If I have to chose between them I'd keep the alpha, he doesn't bother anything else in the tank just the other male and that's only been just recently.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

An uncycled 90L could be brought back up quickly with parts from your existing tank... filter media, a few plants, decor etc.

 

[Munroco]

From bitter experience I would strongly advise you to keep only the pair. Female rams can be just as aggressive towards competitors.