I don't know much about fish, the tank is actually my husbands, but I noticed the two cichlids attacking our tire track eel. They were chasing him around the tank and pushing their way under our rocks when he tried to hide. We have a semi aggressive tank but everyone is pretty small, the cichlids aren't even 2 inches, our tire track eel is about 4 inches. We have a peacock eel as well who is only about 2 inches, but they didn't start messing with her til after I took out the tire track, so I took her out too. The peacock will pretty much hold her own but after watching the cichlids chew up the tire track I didn't want to take any chances. The larger cichlid we've had in the tank for a while and we didn't have any problems, it wasn't til we put the smaller one in that we noticed our eel acting strange. At first we thought he was sick, but he looks fine except for is tail being chewed up. Should we separate the two cichlids??
Cichlids attacking Tire Track Eel
- Thread starter KLeskovac
- Start date
-
- Tags
- cichlids eel semi-aggresive
The larger one is a maingano, she's about an inch and a half. The other is a giraffe, which is only an inch. I can't tell what the sex of the giraffe is, but from what I've read the about them the maingano is a female. The giraffe is the newest one that seems to be the aggressor.
I would either get a divider or remove either the cichlids or the eels. The cichllids will kill them im time. There are many cichlids which would not bother the eels.
In nature eels are natural enemies of cichlids, they prey on each others young, and
it is natural for cichlids to want to get rid of the eel. You may think, "but this is an aquarium an these cichlids were probably born in an aquarium", and yes, that is true. But the small number of generations of aquarium life, is nothing compared to the millions of years of evolution that created an instinctual memory and/or need for the cichlids to get rid of the natural threat. In nature, the eel would simple move away a dozen feet or so, and the attacks would cease, but in the confines of an aquarium (unless your tank is more than a normal cichlids territory (4 ft x 4ft x 4ft (about 250 gallons)), there is no where for the eel to escape to.
it is natural for cichlids to want to get rid of the eel. You may think, "but this is an aquarium an these cichlids were probably born in an aquarium", and yes, that is true. But the small number of generations of aquarium life, is nothing compared to the millions of years of evolution that created an instinctual memory and/or need for the cichlids to get rid of the natural threat. In nature, the eel would simple move away a dozen feet or so, and the attacks would cease, but in the confines of an aquarium (unless your tank is more than a normal cichlids territory (4 ft x 4ft x 4ft (about 250 gallons)), there is no where for the eel to escape to.
