[charboog]

I'm just wondering if anyone has tried anything successful for dealing with agressive behavior.

I have had to permanently remove some of my fish to small tanks. I take out a beaten fish and nurse it back to health, return it to the 90 gal and more often than not, it happens again and again. I now have 7 tanks and I only want 3. My husband thinks I should take the aggressive ones out and isolate them. I figure that there will always be new bullys to take their place. I won't leave the weaker ones to be killed, I just couldn't do that.

The tank in question is a 90 gal with impeccable water quality. Lots of rocks and clay pots for hiding. It has been established for almost 3 years now. I crowd the fish to try to avoid the aggression (3 aulonacaras, 2 electric yellow, 4 red zebra, 1 ob zebra, 1 cyno afra, 1 placidochromis electra, 1 astat. latifasciata, 2 kenyi, 1 psudo socolofi, 1 sci. fryeri, 1 johanni, 1 cyr. moorii, 2 nymb livingsonii, 1 lab fullerborni, 3 unitenified and a synodontis eupteris.) Everyone is healthy. They get fed twice a day in hopes that that will calm the behavior some. There seems to be 4 main bullys, the johanni, the socolofi, the ob zebra, and an unidentified male that seems like a cross between a johanni and a kenyi.

Is my husband correct to tell me to take the bad guys out??? I'm going to reach my wits end soon, it's difficult to go on vacation and ask someone to take care of 7 tanks!

If anyone has any suggestion, I really appreciate it.

 

[cichlidaholic]

Unfortunately, your stock choices are the reason for your aggression, so yes, your husband is right to an extent.

You either need to make a decision to go all male with the tank or reduce the number of species you have considerably (perhaps 4 - 5 max) and build breeding groups around those species.

There is no possible way to achieve harmony with that stock list, IMO.

I bet those poor peacocks are stressed to death!

Yellow labs almost always do poorly in small groups like that. They feel more secure in larger groups of 5-6. The singles and "pairs" are problem areas, as well, especially if some are females.

You're just going to have to make some decision and make the necessary changes, because as all the fish reach sexual maturity, things will only get worse.

I just read back through your previous posts and it looks like the aggression problems have been going on for quite some time now.

 

[charboog]

Thanks for the insight. I had thought about taking the females out of the tank at one point. You mentioned the peacocks and the yelllow labs, they are all males and I have had no problem with them being aggressive or being attacked. Probably because they are males. In fact they don't seem bothered by anything.

I think I'll set up a female tank and see how that goes.

Thanks again, I really appreciate the help. It's great to have a site like this where rookies can get answers from the pros!!

 

[cichlidaholic]

I think I'll set up a female tank and see how that goes.

You sound like me! :lol:

I tried separating males into one tank and females into another one time...I thought I really, really needed an all male tank. I found I actually enjoyed the interaction between the males and females, and threw them all back together! I was really glad I held on to all those females, though!

Good luck!

 

[charboog]

Thanks!