Community Tank - Everyone Scared Of Ram

[clutterydrawer]

Hiya, I'm posting this on behalf of my friend, who's looking after a smallish community tank for *her* friend, whilst he is travelling the world.

She doesnt have much experience with tropicals and phoned me last night to say that up to now the tank has been problem-free, but suddenly the bolivian ram has become much brighter in its colouring, is being very assertive, and all the other fish are cowering in terror in a corner. As far as I remember the other fish are some tetras, a small plec of some kind and a red tailed shark.

What is happening and can she do anything about it?

Thankyou

 

[Miss Wiggle]

sounds like it's either just come to sexual maturity at which point some cichlids which have been peaceful before will become agressive, or it's wanting to breed. Is there just one ram or a pair and do you know how old it is?

 

[clutterydrawer]

definitely just the one - I'm not sure how old but I can find out this evening.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

if it's approx 1 year to 18 months then it's just coming into sexual maturity

how long is she looking after the tank for?

a short term fix could be to re-arrange the decor, this removes territories and can calm agressive fish down. however if she's looking after the tank for a while then she may need to look for a more long term solution i.e. re-homing the fish

 

[clutterydrawer]

I will suggest the rearranging....I'm not sure how long he's travelling for but can find out tomorrow when Isee her. thanks for the advice

 

[tenohfive]

What about getting a female bolivian ram (if you have the room) or is that a stupid suggestion?

 

[clutterydrawer]

would that dissipate the aggression and territorial-ness, or would it just get worse when they mated and had littl'uns to guard?

 

[tenohfive]

I'd expect it dissipate his aggression but truth be told I don't know for certain. If someone hasn't given you an answer here by tomorrow stick a post up in New World Cichlids and you should get an answer pretty quickly.

 

[clutterydrawer]

ah I forgot that forum existed will do that