Aggression issues in a 55 gallon

[AudriSampson]

I was wondering if I could get your opinion on a tank issue I have.

My tank is a 55 gallon, Sand substrate, fake plants that cover parts of the surface, rock caves, driftwood, Emperor 400 filter and it gets weekly water changes of around 10-15 gallons

The tank stock is:

1 pair of Festivums
1 pair of generic Angels
1 F1 Scalare (called Peruvium Altum at my LFS)
6x Columbian Red and blue tetras
4x Black Neons
6x Corys
3x Banjo Cats
1x Columbian Zebra Pleco

The issue I'm having is the Male Angel fights with the Larger male festivum and anything else he can. He is shredding everyone's fins and his have been shredded down to just the straight upper portions. I will be pulling them out this weekend but I'm terrified that when I do the male Festivum will just target the Peruvian angel and the other festivum and eventually kill them.

Should I not be worried about just having two other cichlids after removing the pair of Angels? Should I replace them with something else? If replace any suggestions?

 

[kewpiefishypewpie]

I would personally up the water change schedule a bit, not going to help with the aggression situation but it will keep the fish healthy.

You can try taking out the aggressors, rescaping the entire tank and then putting them right back in but I don't know how effective this truly is, it does occasionally work.

 

[dan518]

With angels you normally need a group of about 6 or more otherwise you will suffer aggression issue like your experiencing now.

 

[Gourami Swami]

I think with the one angel and the pair of festivums you will have a good chance of it working out. Dan is right about the groups of angels, however if the one angel is alone I think it will probably be fine. Festivums are pretty mellow in my experience.
Best of luck

 

[AudriSampson]

Thanks for the advise everyone

 

[AudriSampson]

Well an update on things.. A friend asked for the angel so he got rehomed. Now I think things have gotten worse.. The male festivum has turned his aggression to the female. He has torn up her scales and keeps her pinned in a plant on the far side of his territory. Re-arranged the tank but no good

An earlier post mentioned that Angels needed groups of 6 and I know Geos are like that.. are festivums?

 

[virgil2090]

I have not heard of festivum needing groups.you might have an above average aggressive fish.you can buy or make a divider for the tank as a temporary solution.

 

[Stanzzzz7]

Well an update on things.. A friend asked for the angel so he got rehomed. Now I think things have gotten worse.. The male festivum has turned his aggression to the female. He has torn up her scales and keeps her pinned in a plant on the far side of his territory. Re-arranged the tank but no good

An earlier post mentioned that Angels needed groups of 6 and I know Geos are like that.. are festivums?

Yes.They live in large groups in the wild and do well in large groups in tanks.
I think you would need a tank of at least 75 gallons for a small group though.

 

[duanes]

I agree with Stanzzzz7, but beyond just the shoals the angels and festival live in, in nature.
Whenever there are aggression issues, its because the tank is too small for the kind, or amount of stock in it. To me a 55 is only large enough for temporarily growing out juvie cichlids, the tetras and Corys, alone would be proper stocking.
And in such a small tank, I would think a 50% to 75% water change per week would be minimal.
In my tanks,
I try to do 30% water change every other days, so 90% to 110% per week is not unusual.

 

[neutrino]

Some things are just personal experience, doesn't make them absolute. I've kept single Mesonauta (they called them all festivum at the time and didn't distinguish the species we do now) in a tank with discus, a mated pair of large angelfish, a laetacara or two, various tetras, driftwood, lot of plants, etc. No problems at all. Sure, the angelfish would guard a corner of the tank when they spawned; the other fish learned to keep a respectful distance, no big deal. The female angelfish and one of the discus benevolently ruled the tank (large 'dinner plate' gold pearlscale angel, a type available years ago that I never see anymore). The Mesonauta didn't bother anyone.

So I don't agree you must keep Mesonauta in groups, I've seen or kept various combinations. I've also kept plenty of angelfish singly, in pairs, or threes and fours, and so have numberless others. One nice tank I had was four large, wild angelfish, pair of rotkeil severums, some red head geos, some guianacara. Only troublemakers were the guianacara fussing with the geos, so I moved the guianacara-- perfect. So, again, it can be done. Individual fish differ, plain and simple. It's often a matter of hitting the right combination of individuals, or not, that makes the difference. Couldn't tell you how often I've seen the same species described as peaceful by some and aggressive by others. Sometimes it's individual fish, sometimes it's what else is in the tank-- aggression tends to be relative.

What I do agree with is tank size. You can crowd the fish we're talking about in a large enough tank; by crowd I don't mean crazy overstocked, I mean a busy tank with a lot going on. But in my observation, there's something with some heroine types (angels, mesonata, severum types-- discus not as much) in too small a tank that makes them feel crowded and gets them more aggressive.

I've taken "killer" angels or severums off people's hands that were in too small a tank, put them in larger tanks and had them be peaceful citizens. Not foolproof, many cichlid species vary by individual and you can get an unusually peaceful one or an unsually surly one you can't do much with, maybe put them with larger, tougher fish they have to respect.

Long post but one more thing. Sometimes you can divide a problem fish in the same tank (some tank size needed again) with a divider that lets him see the other fish, or the particular one he's got a problem with, and just let time go by, don't rush it, and eventually they'll accept each other's presence and you can put them back together. Not foolproof, but I've had success with it.