At my wits end with aggression...

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Dark Rose

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 27, 2013
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United States
Having more aggression problems. The thing that's really frustrating me is that the bullies and targets seem to keep changing...
My firemouth was a target, he's now in a separate tank alone, hiding and healing...
Today I see my Bumble Bee cichlid has gotten beat up pretty good in the last day or so, and he's one of the three biggest fish in the tank...
uploadfromtaptalk1393125262321.jpg

At the moment I think the culprit this time is a Mbuna, I think it's an albino zebra... which is almost as big as the BB...
uploadfromtaptalk1393125328258.jpg

I've added more rock... not sure if I need to add more fish, remove a couple of fish... add dithers/target fish or what...

Should the white zebra find a new home?

Btw, 75 gallon tank.

Can come back and add full stock list later if needed, it's on my comp.

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Dude, When I switched from 75g to 200g now all aggression has vanished. It's been 5 months now and everybody are now the best of friends. I have 2 largemouth bass and 2 bluegill. They used to be deadly enemies, I had to build caves for the bluegill to hide in!!! Now no caves, and they all even play with each other!!!

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slayer5590 said:
stock list would be helpful, but with mbuna more is better than less
Click to expand...

I've only got a couple Mbuna in there...

I think my BB may be a goner. .. This morning one of his eyes is a little cloudy and he swimming a little off and bumping into things... My hospital tank is already housing the FM that was being beat up... And the bumble bee was responsible for part of the beating...

Stock list pending in a few... moving back to the desktop pc...



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Stock list:
[TABLE="width: 412"]
[TR]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]Maylandia estherae[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]Red Zebra (White)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]Labidochromis caeruleus[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]Yellow Lab[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]Nimbochromis venustus[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]Venustus[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]Aulonocara stuartgranti[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]Dragon's Blood[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]Nimbochromis livingstonii[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]Livingstonii[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]Pseudotropheus crabro[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]Bumblebee cichlid[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]Sciaenochromis ahli[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]Blue Ahli?[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD="colspan: 3"]Aulonocara jacobfreibergi (Undu Reef)[/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]Lemon Jake?[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]Aulonocara jacobfreibergi[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]Eureka Red?[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD="colspan: 3"]Dimidiochromis compressiceps[/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]Malawi Eyebiter[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]Cyrtocara moorii[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]Blue Dolphin[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]Astatotilapia calliptera[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]Tropheus moorii[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]Moliro Firecracker Red[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]Peckoltia sp. L066[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]L066 Gypsy King Tiger Pleco[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]Synodontis euptera[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]Featherfin Synodontis[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]Parauchenoglanis altipinnis[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]Spotted Highfin Pleco[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]


At the moment the Zebra seems to be the main culprit, in the past the Venustus and Eureka Red (which seem to really be a Regal Blue) were main bullies... The Dragon's Blood is also a common target, but has never been in as bad of shape as the BumbleBee is right now...

My local Petco (only pet store I have local) is running a sale this week for 50% off all fish and live plants. Their cichlids normally aren't big enough to put in my tank, but maybe I could find some dithers or target fish... Thought about buenos ares tetras... I hate silver dollars... They usually have Auratus and Demasoni cichlids, though small... not sure if adding them would help spread aggression or not...

No more tanks for hospital tanks... So trying to solve the problem in-tank...

Edit: I believe the German Red is actually a Aulonocara nyassae, (Blue Peaock) and the Lemon Jake is actually a Sunshine Peacock Aulonocara stuartgranti "Maleri"
 
You will find an equilibrium one day, but those mbuna are not to be trusted. I've found that cichlids in general won't necessarily end their aggression if you remove the least dominant fish. Often cichlids form a dominance hierarchy, and they will pick on the next-weakest individual when the weakest is removed. If you remove the dominant fish the second-in-command will often take their place as an aggressor.

It's a delicate balancing act that might take a little time and effort. You are right to add more territories, and remove the weakened fish. But just realize that these things don't always get fixed overnight.

I find that usually equilibrium is reached when you get a docile, dominant fish. For instance, I had a CA community tank years back where the male salvini was the ruler. He had his territory, and kept to himself a lot. However if I added a new fish or if someone was getting too aggressive, he would come out, put it in its place, and go back to his den. You too can reach equilibrium if your dominant fish relaxes a bit or if you get a new dominant fish (in one way or another).
 
slayer5590 said:
I would remove the bb and zebra. the rest of them should get along fairly well
Click to expand...

I have no problem removing the zebra, but I really like my BB... I know eventually my Malawi eye biter will have to, as well as my Venustus, because those two will probably outgrow my tank...

I'll start figuring out something for the zebra

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I agree with just removing the weak and moving the rocks around. And also with having a relatively docile tank boss like my red zebra keeps things in check without going crazy. But my auratus is way more aggressive but not the dominant, picks on others I'll say he's the number 3 fish.

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