Firemouth Being Aggresive

[camaroguy357]

is it normal for my firemouth to attack everything in the tank i mean him and my pleco have been fighting for the past 20 mins seems like the bigger the firemouth gets the mean he gets hes flaring up at my 7 inch oscar whos way bigger and my pleco who is 2 inchs bigger the firemouth is only 4 inchs and snapping and nudge and being very aggresive i didnt think this was natural for firemouth to be so aggresive

the firemouth

 

[drobbyb]

They are cichlids after all. Each fish has their own personality and act differently Do you have enough structure in the tank for them to pick out their own territories?

 

[camaroguy357]

i have two caves and 50 gallon tank and the firemouth has the one cave and when the sucker goes in to clean it up he freaks out or when the oscar goes in he freaks out and attacks and they all one this one cave lol

 

[Mr Bliss]

Yeah. All cichlids can be aggressive given the right combination of individual personality and environment (I bet somewhere in the world there's even a downright nasty keyhole cichlid), and firemouth is hardly the most community-friendly cichlid to begin with. There are some very aggressive firemouths, just like some oscars are wimps that get bullied by everyone in the tank, despite their reputation. In my own experience firemouths are very territorial even outside breeding time. I once had to keep a pair of firemouths with a pair of convicts of similar size for a while, and in the beginning I feared for the safety of the firemouths, but it turned out that the firemouths quickly dominated the entire tank.

As a side note, isn't 50g a bit on the small side for an Oscar?

 

[draconis]

I always considered them very aggresive. I first saw them in a pond at my university and it looked like world war 3 in there. I bought one once and had to returned it because it was chasing everything in the tank.

PS,
Beatufil fish you got there.

 

[camaroguy357]

thank i picked him when he was only a 1inch long for his beauty he was the most colorfull in the tank and i knw the 50g is small i plan on upgrading to 220 just waiting to he gets bigger and working on trying to figure out how to get my 220 to fit in my living room wall right now lol iv always wanted fish tank in the wall

 

[camaroguy357]

i mite have to get rid of my firemouth hes making it to were my oscar and pleco cant even eat hes flaring up and taking control of the 50 gallon tank and i dont like it my pleco and him are fighting over the tank right now go around in circles attacking each other either that or i mite just wait and watch my oscar eat him in couple months when his mouth is big enough cuz i knw hes getting pisd with the firemouth