[Aussie_cichlid]

HEy,

*** kept thes fish for almost 2 years, and everything was going fine, im moving house in 4 months time where i will have a 8 foot, by 2, by 2 tnak to transfer this tank into.

anyway in the last few weeks things got crazy, fights were breaking out, my Male venustus Killed the same sized female venustus, my flameback (i think) killed each other till the population was down to only two (one missing an eye) *** seperated them now to

my Zebra ((i think thats what he is, the big blue one with the strips) started attacking the toher two, *** seperated the bigger one out (took ages to catch) so now *** got one large one small, and it seems ot be settling.

the big zebra seems to want tot have all the hidy holes / caves to himself, and he goes around non stop all day moving everyone out of them, constantly he attacks the clown loaches to get them out of the holes.

Is it becuase they have reached maturity? or is my 4 foot, by 2. by 2 tank too small for them?
my population in tank has dropped from 28 too 12 :S and im concerned as aggression hasnt gone

basically is there anything i can do? i re arranged the tank to make more hidy holes but it made things worse, i then re arranged to make less holes and its still the same

any help or suggestions would be great

Thanks in advance

Bryn

 

[Dewdrop]

Maybe you should list all the fish you had in the tank and the ones that are still in there.

 

[Aussie_cichlid]

opps sorry,

tank is 4 foot by 2 by 2,
the fish remaining are

i have 5 clown loaches
one bristle nose
ONE Venustus
two pseudo Acei
2 flameblack
two zebra

i have a few fish seperated into another tank, so no point listing these guys.

I witnessed my larger Male zebra (( few monhts ago he destroyed the lip and all the fins of the zebra that was the dominat male) and he become boss. then just receently the venustus killed the female one.

but last night i watched the male venustus and the dominat Male zebra fstaring at each toher and both opening their mouths as large as they would go,,

mind u, when the venustus opened his mouth i swear that the zebra would fit inside it , so ofcoruse he backed off.

still, im farly sure venustus is boss, but **** seems ot be breaking out inside the tank

cheers and sorry for long post

 

[danielratti]

What size is the venustus?

Haps and mbuna shouldn't be mixed in the same 4 foot tank. i have a single mbuna in my tank and it picks on no one and no one picks on him wounldnt add more to mine cause im sure they will all start fighting. Also you you could have a female of some sorts in there that is causeing all the aggression all mouth breeders will cross with another if they have the chance.

 

[AnThRaXx]

yeah... try adding more rock not less... dont just rearrange what you have try adding too it. also add plants with larger leaves as the leaves can be used for hiding as well (swords work well) just realize that your fish like at least 3 caves each and they cant defend em all, all the time also try feeding them less each time but more often throughout the day, *** got just about everything u have and none of my fish are really aggressive. but ya more rock will help ya. try adding river rock if your cheap (lots of smaller boulders) about 10-20 rocks depending on tank size maybe more maybe less. if you feel like spending a bit to make it prettier, there is texas holey rock aka honeycomb limestone, lace rock, dead coral frags, petrified wood works also. so just try adding some new stuff and see how your fish do if you really like ur fish id personally reccomend the lace rock or honeycomb limestone (limestone harder to find) try checking craigslist in your area for the lace rock thats what i did and all my fish love it. there is just a million hiding places u cant even begin to see when u throw it in there. my fish literally hide inside the "pores" of the rock and just look like little rocks
well GL to ya just remmeber that you want LOTS of rock if your working with mbuna as they are naturally used to lots of rock and lots of fish

 

[Aussie_cichlid]

hey, the Venustus is about 8-9 inch roughly i think, ill take a pic and update this thread asap

The tank started off (( long time ago ( 4-6 monts back) looking like this. Both those venustus got blue faces ( both males) and i dont think i have a female in the tank. i tried to not get any as i wsas told it would bring down aggression.

Since this photo, *** re arranged the tank a few times, so it does not look llike this anymore, but is that the sorta thing i should try for again?

and alot of the fish have died, or been removeD

the rocks used in the picture are only half what i have so i can simply keep stacking it in, but found that the intake to the canister filter (( not shown here) was covered really bad behind rocks..

thanks for the responses

 

[Aussie_cichlid]

here is my big boy, i dunno actualy size, but i am just guessing / estimating, he doesnt sit still close enough to the glass for me to get a tape mesaure up there.

 

[houstonhimself]

In my experience sometimes when you have an established tank (there is a set pecking order) and one or two of the sub domininate males start to get around to the same size as the dominate male or they just reach maturity moving the rocks is like lighting the fuse, all he77 breaks loose. :x Everyone wants to be the boss.

I am currently in the same situation you are... after my last rearrange the benga and electric blue started challenging the dominant rubescens. Everyone started taking a beating, even the smaller fish started fighting, I've had to seperate them and now I am getting rid of about four of the large males in my tank.

Sorry went off on a tangent...

My advice for you is to add more hiding spots, if you don't want to add more rock cut a few peices of PVC and hide them behind your rocks, drop the temps down to around 74 -76 they will become less active and less likely to attack eachother, leave the tank lights off for a few days, and feed them more throughout the day. That should help bring down the aggression and hopefully get your tank back to equalibrium. Hope it helps... :thumb:

 

[AnThRaXx]

ya i have heard from many sources that if you just keep doing rearranges once a month when u clean the gravel it helps because none of the fish have hiding spots that they are used to. also when gravel vaccuuming it should scare em all enuff to just put the rocks back in and turn lights off.. expose em to darkness to help reduce that innitial stress. maybe that will help who knows.. also if you just went without any females thats y ur having problems.. females will help lessen the stress of an all male tank... everyones trying to be on top really...

 

[justin323]

I think it's time for a bigger tank I would think at least 75 gallon but preferably a 125. Most of those fish are pretty much fully mature, lotta attitude in a small box. Good luck

 

[Aussie_cichlid]

this morning, i fed my fish, and then went for a shower,

when i walked past the time on way to the kitchen, i noticed that my venustus had gone into one of those fake logs, and tried to swim out a hole that was way way to small for him...

he was stuck, i quickly pulled all the rocks out to get to the log and picked it up and he eventually swam backwards out of it.

he has scrubbed way alot of scales above and below his head where he was stuck, and alot around his tail due to freeaking out..

problem is now, my zebra is constantly hounding him, almost as if it knows it is injured and wants to kill him to become dominant and the venustus is not fighting back but running scared