Establishing Territory

[Darr3ll]

I've never had any fish that have needed territory so to speak, but I just added some apisto agasizzi's to my tank which had a blue ram in it. I am noticing the male pushing the blue ram around and the female seems to be trying to mate with it lol (or could be attempting to bully even though shes about 1/5 the size!) anyway I know with cichlids they need space/territory but just wondered how long it usually takes for them to establish boundaries etc?? If this is how its gonna be on a permanent basis the apisto's may have to go as I dont need this kind of boisterous atmosphere in my previously very calm and tranquil aquarium!!

 

[Wills]

I usually give cichlids about 2 weeks to sort things out between them selves and then after that take some action.

Try doing a water change and re arranging the decor it breaks up the territories and then the fish become occupied with sorting their space out they forget about the others.

Wills

 

[Darr3ll]

Cheers, I thought I'd give em a day to settle and I already added some new rocks to try and break up the big open space i had in the middle, creating a new cave in the process. This is insane watching how my tank is in turmoil now, fish getting chased all over the place, I'm just not used to this!!