[Outcastgsx]

I have a 135 with 1m 3 f cheweres, 1m 1f snow whites, 2m 1f cobue and 2 syn mult. I am planning on getting more fish soon, some saulosi, tropheops chilumba. My issue that I need help on is my male chewere has taken half the tank over since adding the snow white male which fought him enough to claim a spot. He was the alpha male before and was really aggressive but not this bad. He will not let anyone on his side. Has anyone had this issue before? The chewere is my fav but ****, could it be the lack of fish is the issue? I have huge lace rocks in there but I could add more to help with creating more hide aways. Any suggestions? Thanks

 

[DJRansome]

How long is your 135G?

For starters, I'd add females: 2 cheweres (afra?), 3 socolofi and I'd either remove the cobue (may not color up with aggressive tank mates, crossbreeding and fighting risk with chewere) or add 7 females if you want to give it a try.

And I'd triple the number of synodontis.

For additional species, I'd stay away from blue barred fish.

 

[Myrock]

I agree. Stay away from barred fish. Anything that looks like him will get harrased and killed. I love chewere, one of my fave fish in the day but they are prone to become hyperdominant. Try this. It will sound crazy but it works. Another male chewere in the tank will be his number one target so create one without it being one. What? you say....lol. Tape a small mirror on the outside- side of the tank. Whatever side he is on. Make sure the bottom of the mirror is even with the top of your substrate. When he see his reflection he will turn on his aggressive color........The reflection will look like a challenging male. He will spend half of the day fighting and fanning subsrate trying to get to this "false male" giving your other fish a chance to settle somewhere on the other side of the tank. Soon they MAY....Depending on how tough they are take a stand to defend there new spot. But a Elongatus once dominant is tough to tame.

 

[Outcastgsx]

Thanks for the info guys, my tank is 6 foot long, the chewere is ps. elongatus. The only afra is the cobue, sorry about that. I will add more rock to make more hiding spots and I will add 2 more females for him. It just seems like he is overly aggressive since he only has one side of the tank. I have had a alpha male chewere in the past in a 55g that was never this aggressive but there was alot more fish. This one is a little devil. I would just hate to add some beautiful saulosi that will be smaller and have them get banged on. I will try that mirror trick sounds like it will help.

 

[DJRansome]

If he is elongatus I would up the females to seven.

 

[Outcastgsx]

Sounds good DJ, I am going to add some more females. Does over stocking help curb aggression as in this case? I will be adding 10 saulosi at about 1.5 and maybe 10 tropheops chilumba the same size. I know I have some pretty nasty fish so some of this is my fault, if I could I would add polits as well. I did have them but lost all, due to my poor judgement with the cycling. I do have a 55g which was my first tank and has been running since Nov, so I will mess with it just in case I need to move fish around if need be, I hate losing fish man.