So here is my trouble. I have a 55gal that is a blue acara pair tank with 5 glow light tetras and 3 black neons. recently after a batch of eggs went bad (do not know if they were fertile) my male beat up the female pretty bad. well I separated them immediately (with a tank divider). I was not sure what to do because had it kept up I think the female would have died. That got me thinking how can I prevent this major aggression. now before somebody says this is what you get for setting up a cichlid tank, I get that but I can not let my fish get bullied to death if I can help it ether. So I put a convict in the tank (what I actually ordered the divider for 2 days before this happened) for the second time because he had been in a small travel tank (just for 2-3 days until the divider came in) He was in a 10 gal before I put about 12 of the baby blues in it and put him in the 55 because he had never been with the male acara before and both acaras got beat up bad that time and so he ended up in the traveler tank.Well i put him back in the 55 because if the male acara will do that to the female ( the convict did too before I got the male. Long story that involves Oscars and such) maby he is ready for Al Capone( the convict). Well they locked lips after about 10 minutes of being in the tank together and I think the convict won but he is currently not beating on the male like he was the first time and he seams content on hiding in a Greek temple i have in the tank. so here is some of the solutions I have to this problem. keep in mind the female is still on the other side of the divider than the convict and male acara
getting ride of the female is also NOT an option.
Solution one
keep the convict (I will get rid of him without this solution as this was the original plan) and add a firemouth or other cichlid of similar size
suggesting would be nice
The one thing about this plan is I do not want the female to get caught in the middle of 3 aggressive cichlids because if this happens I will be back to stage one only with one more cichlid find something to do with. I Could also get rid of the convict and just get another cichlid.
Solution two
this is probably stupid but I could add Like 2 rams to act basically as dither fish (like I said probably not a good idea) but I do not think it would be that bad for them unless the male snapped like he just did) I am probably a little
with this idea but this plan or one very similar one might work. the reason I think this instead of tetras is the ram are a cichlid so maby it will work better because they will be more of a threat but still won't be as able to beat up the female.
solution three
possibly add more tetras or a different kind of tetras to be dither fish.
I like bleeding heart and serapae tetras if they would work better than what I have got
other suggesting would be nice
other possible solutions would be nice too
So any feed back would be nice Thanks
here is a pic of the convict and male acara locking lips too if you wanted to see.
getting ride of the female is also NOT an option.
Solution one
keep the convict (I will get rid of him without this solution as this was the original plan) and add a firemouth or other cichlid of similar size
suggesting would be nice
The one thing about this plan is I do not want the female to get caught in the middle of 3 aggressive cichlids because if this happens I will be back to stage one only with one more cichlid find something to do with. I Could also get rid of the convict and just get another cichlid.
Solution two
this is probably stupid but I could add Like 2 rams to act basically as dither fish (like I said probably not a good idea) but I do not think it would be that bad for them unless the male snapped like he just did) I am probably a little
with this idea but this plan or one very similar one might work. the reason I think this instead of tetras is the ram are a cichlid so maby it will work better because they will be more of a threat but still won't be as able to beat up the female. solution three
possibly add more tetras or a different kind of tetras to be dither fish.
I like bleeding heart and serapae tetras if they would work better than what I have got
other suggesting would be nice
other possible solutions would be nice too
So any feed back would be nice Thanks
here is a pic of the convict and male acara locking lips too if you wanted to see.
