[JoelRHale]

Hello, long time lurker, first time poster here. I have a 75 gallon central/south american setup and everything was fine until I redesigned the tank.

I had ignorantly decided that I wanted a huge piece of driftwood but couldn't find one big enough at a store so I went into the woods and got my own. I did everything you're supposed to: cleaned it, de-barked it, and soaked it for 4 months, changing the soak water every week the first month, biweekly the second, and then once the third and fourth month. Everything was ready to go and no less than a week in the tank it started leaching. It wasn't bad at first but even if water changes it slowly turned into what looked like flat coke or very dark tea.

It had to come out. I decided to switch to pool filter sand and rocks. I get it all in the the tank and got the fish back in (had moved them to two 20 gallon tanks I had for the weekend), and now my JD who has never been overly aggressive is now chasing my pink convict (they are same size) relentlessly, to the point I fear he will kill him. Any ideas to stem this aggression? If not, anyone in the Parkersburg, WV area that would want to trade for a spunky 4" JD?

Edit: here is the little guy-

 

[Flippercon]

They are re establishing the pecking order. The jd is getting mature so aggression will be there but if your con is the same size it should be fine. Just keep a close watch especially after lights out. Good luck.

 

[JoelRHale]

Thanks! Before the tank got changed they both had distinct territories and didn't bother each other. I figured they would work out the same deal but now 2 weeks later it's not calmed down and the convict has spent the entire time hiding behind my sump's return nozzle. Just getting concerned about the well being of the convict. The maturing comment makes sense.

I'll give it a few more months before making a decision of whether or not to keep him.

Beautiful EBJD btw, I'm slowly finding homes for my CA and SAs before I move to grad school and switching to Malawis. If I was staying with New Worlds I would love to have a few EBJDs.

 

[Flippercon]

Thanks. You can try to re arrange on your next wc. Do a 50% wc and re arrange right after draining. Then fill up. It might help. Sounds like the jd wants the whole thing to itself.

 

[JoelRHale]

He certainly does, he keeps my two, foot long pacus on the sides of the tank too!

On my next change I will try your suggestion. Here's hoping!

 

[mlancaster]

Hi JoelRHale,

My advice would be to add more caves and create line of site barriers (i.e. walls dividing the tank). If this doesn’t work you may have to remove the aggressor or choose to give the tank all to the aggressor. I was thinking that getting a mate for your convict creating a pair could balance out the aggression; but with two large pacus in your tank I would probably just go with the aggressor and the pacus.

I also wanted to note the cichlid in the video in your first post is actually an H. carpintis. It could possibly be an H. cyanoguttatus; but, it is defiantly a "Texas" cichlid of some kind.

Thanks,
Matt

 

[JoelRHale]

Thanks for the advice, I will add some more live rock this afternoon. If you couldn't tell, I come from a reef background but being in college takes both money and time so I chose arguably heartier and just as entertaining fish.

This fish was sold to me as a JD and figured it was just immature and not showing colors like so many African juveniles. I had suspected it was not a JD because I got it from a pet chain (won't mention the name to avoid mud slinging). I am a bit happier knowing it is a Texas though, just googled it and love the mature coloration.