[Someonelse812]

Hello all, I'm new to this forum, I came here because I have a cichlid question.

so, here's the situation, I had two tanks that were a bit overcrowded. I got a 120 gallon tank and put all my fish in there. all together I have two 7 inch Dempseys, 3 convicts (the largest of which is about 4 or 5 inches), a 4 inch fire mouth and a 4 inch chameleon.
now they are in the 120G, most of the fish get along well enough with each other, but the two dempseys, who had been separated previously for fighting, started fighting again (I had really hoped they would find a way to settle their differences without resorting to violence :wink: ). one of them got beat up really bad and I put him in a 30 gallon by himself to heal up.
now the jack in the big tank is going after the chameleon.

I thought maybe I could remove the aggressive one and put the weaker Jack in the big tank, but I'm afraid the convicts would beat him up.
I have already found a fish store who will take in the injured Jack.
the only other way I know how to get this tank to calm down is to over crowd it a little. I was thinking of getting an electric blue, a bumble bee and a jewel.

any thoughts?

 

[convictkid]

I didn't know chameleons could swim in a fish tank?

 

[MetalHead06351]

overcrowding will not calm down the fish, only add to the problem. That works with african cichlids, but central americans are very territorial. I would remove the weaker jack and see how that goes for a couple weeks. I don't know what a chameleon is, but if it similar in size and agression to the other cichlids you have, you might be able to get away with one of the fish you want to get. If it is bigger and more agressive, I would kepp the current stock.

 

[under_control]

I would NOT add africans to this tank. That is far from a wise decision.

Get rid of the Aggressor. Then allow the injured jack to heal. I would do daily 20-30% water changes, and consider salt or melafix as treatment.

Allow him to heal. I would make this a bare bottom tank as well. Just makes it easier to keep clean and ideal for the injured fish.

Once the injured fish is healed, try reintroducing him. At full health he should be able to take on the cons, but consider removing the breeding con factor as well.

If it was me, I would remove the cons and find something like Firemouths.

 

[Someonelse812]

here is some info on a chameleon cichlid http://www.aquahobby.com/gallery/e_facetum.php

the chameleon changes his colors and to match the most aggressive fish in the tank, in this case the jack. so if you didn't know better, you would look at this fish and think it was a smaller jack dempsey, I think that is why the aggressive jack is picking on him so much.

of the 3 convicts, one is really big, one is medium and one is very small, in fact the smallest fish in the tank. two of them have paired up and share a hiding spot together, my girlfriend thinks they might be mating.

so, maybe I should get rid of the aggressive jack and the biggest convict?

 

[MetalHead06351]

I did not suggest to put africans in the tank, I pointed out that overcrowding is a technique used for africans to slow agression, and not ca\sa's.
On another note, those chameleons are pretty sweet! I might have to look into them if I can't find a losellei I like.
With the mating, if you want a community tank the pair might ruin the peace for you, I would get rid of them both. Convicts are always breeding, I would have all the same sex if you want to keep that under control.

 

[under_control]

I did not suggest to put africans in the tank, I pointed out that overcrowding is a technique used for africans to slow agression, and not ca\sa's.
On another note, those chameleons are pretty sweet! I might have to look into them if I can't find a losellei I like.
With the mating, if you want a community tank the pair might ruin the peace for you, I would get rid of them both. Convicts are always breeding, I would have all the same sex if you want to keep that under control.

My post was not directed at you. Did you read the entire original post?

 

[MetalHead06351]

sorry, my mistake. I didn't reread the op when I posted the second time.

 

[TheFishGuy]

A chanchito will hold it's own. But the advice given has been good advice. Lose the aggressor, and keep the hospital tank bare with lots of water changes. Your chanchito will not get much larger... Keep in mind adding cichlids to an already established chichlid hiarchy is not easy.