[LMCichlid]

Hi everyone! I could really use some advice concerning my tank below and upgrading to a larger, hopefully happier tank.

Background: I have had my tank and cichlids for about 3 years now. My tank is a 40 gallon (breeder style?) it is short and wide. I have made upgrades in this time, mostly trying to decrease their aggression through giving them: ceramic rocks with holes in them, sand instead of pebbles, lake salt added during water changes...

It seems though they have gotten more aggressive! Especially the king of the tank in the picture below who changed from blue and acquired a yellow color and then got really mean! I hold him mainly responsible for killing 2 of my other cichlids and a good size catfish.

I recently acquired a 55 gallon which I plan to move my remaining 4 cichlids to. I am not concerned about the move and have done a lot of research on how to minimize their stress during this process.

I don't want the same old aggressive tank where I never see my fish and they try to kill each other every time someone moves. What do you think? Should I remove the rocks with holes to hide and replace with a normal rock structure? I recently found out about heavy stocking of a tank to decrease aggression. I would love to increase the number but is it necessary to get multiples of the same species? Any advice is greatly appreciated. This tank is a hostile environment!

 

[DJRansome]

I will move to Unidentified for identification.

But I'm doubtful as to whether a 55G will be sufficient. You might have to swap out some males and add females once you have appropriate species for a tank that is 48" x 12".

 

[fish_gazer]

My line of thinking was to remove the bully, not the fish being bullied. It has not been easy but it has worked for me.

I had to rehome two of the 8 males I had in a 55 gallon, one of which went super-alpha (tried to kill anything that moved, male or female!).

I have since upgraded to a 75 gallon and things are calm, relatively speaking.

In my opinion, which is not professionally based, therefore it is basically useless; I think the over-aggressive fish should be removed.

 

[noki]

1. Fat Kenyi (male?) or maybe a bossy fat female
2. Beat up White Tailed Acei
3. Fat Yellow Lab in middle, Fat Kenyi above
4. Fat Elongatus Chewere male

Much easier to keep in bigger groups, like at least a dozen. Four fish usually ends up with one bully and three fish hiding.

Since the Kenyi is probably the biggest problem and not very attractive, get rid off. Add smaller fish. Stop feeding so much.

 

[LMCichlid]

Thank you very much for the identification and suggestions. They are fat I guess I never realized but will manage their food better going forward. Had some rough times with the automatic feeder and wife / kids changing settings.

My Goals remain the same: Upgrading to a 55 gallon and want to overstock this time. Watch my fish grow and hopefully produce some fry which I can grow into adults.

Step 1
I already took the Kenyi into a local petstore and traded him for store credit that I used towards Discuss fish who seems very happy in my tropical tank.

Step 2
I have posted and am attempting to rehome my other three larger Cichlids. I will either start the 55 with all new 1-2" juveniles or I will incorporate my existing fish with the juveniles. Do you think my (Fat) White Tailed Acei, Yellow Lab, or Elongatus Chewere male will be ok to put with my new juveniles? Should I even attempt this or better off not?

Step 3
Picking out new Cichlids for my starter tank. I would like to order 3 -5 different colonies of 1-2 male and 3-5 female per colony. I am looking for colonies that will work fairly well together and fish that will grow to relatively the same size as adults. My water source is in the 7.6 to 8 pH range which has served me well with some seachem added during water changes. Willing to make adjustments but hope I can just plan my fish to match my water here.
I would also like to get some different colors with different colonies. I heard if I go with all Peacocks then breeding between colonies may happen so I guess I would like to avoid that if possible. Got any suggestions? Maybe 1 colony of Mbuna (yellow labs?), 1-2 of the smaller ~5" Hap colonies?, 1-2 Peackock colonies? Am I crazy?