How Should I Introduce New Fish?

[Scott MacAdam]

I am considering setting up a African tank but the problem here is I already have one on his own that is about 4 inches long... I think if I just throw in a few more 1" ones at a time (as to not overload the ammonia) I would have some possible losses in the tank because I don't think they will be able to hold out if the 4" one gets really aggressive....

so there is the problem, should I risk the loss of fish through aggression by introducing them in small groups.... OR..... Risk the loss of fish by introducing to many fish at once.....

I believe that the second would be less risky and possibly yield a better result, but it appears you guys would know best! any help is appreciated...

just for reference, the tank size is undecided (probably a 55g), and the fish (4", in a 30gal long) is a male melanochromis auratus

Thanks in Advance, any ideas would be great!

 

[dthoffsett]

Well, first are you cloning or fishless cycling the 55gal?

If your doing a fishless cycle, I would add all of the small fish first, wait a day or two for them to get established, then add the auratus last.

If you are cloning, you could add the small fish in batches, then once you reach the stocking level you want, add the auratus.

Whatever order you stock the fish, you have a pretty good chance of having problems with the auratus, they are extremely aggressive.

 

[Scott MacAdam]

yeah.... I've heard bad things about them, but unfortunately only about a year after I bought him...... for my stocking, I'd like to have some Mbunas but I really don't have too much preference.... I'd like a good colorful display and keep the fish in the 4-6" range if possible....

I will be cloning the tank and I like the Idea of leaving the Melanochromis until last.... I'm so tired I didn't even think of that.... hahahaha! but still, he is so calm it's unbelievable.... I, at a moment of crisis, had to put him in a community tank (the 30gal) to do some repairs to the tank he was in... I expected him to be aggressive but he seemed to be fine... I watched his behavior all day and he was ridiculously easy going to all of the other fish.... (3 spot gourami, some danios, a plec, and so on) so I simply left him there.... I would imagine he would be quite a bit more aggressive to other Africans though......

now I know this is a little unorthodox to keep an African cichlid in a community tank, but it just worked so well at first and all the other fish were not bothered by him, so I let it be for the time being..... Now I would like to set up a tank for him and hopefully quite a few others.....

Has anyone had this stocking problem before? how did you deal with it?

 

[PufferFishRule]

the red zebra will eventualy or try to establish tank dominance...ive had trouble with the one i had...he killed 3 of my cichlids...including 1 ventusus 1 orange blotch 1 blue dolphin....what really pissed me off is...the guy at the lfs said he was friendly.....lying little turd

 

[Scott MacAdam]

well, funny thing..... I don't have a red zebra....... hahahaha! but good info to keep in mind....

unless this is just a future, keep in mind when buying fish, post.... in which I will.... so thanks!

 

[jgray152]

From experience. I would setup a 55 gal or bigger. Put the smaller fish in and wait untill they get bigger. About 3-5 months. Then add the aratus. This way the Aratus won't think he is king of the tank because he was in there first. This seems to work for me everytime.

The one issue I have is when adding new fish to the 55 gal that has adults and the new fish are young. I have to let them grow up in a 30 gal then move them into the 50 and pay close attention for the next 7 days.

I have 2 aratus, one is now black and the other is normal, both I have very little issues with. My JD or parrot usually puts them in there place if they start to show signs of aggresion. So most of the time they are calm. I have mostly one of each type in my tank except for the labs and aratus.